The Presidency said yesterday that it was not opposed to calls for the restructuring of the country.
It, however, said that the restructuring of the country would not be done in a way that it would cause its disintegration.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, made the clarification at the 8th Annual Lecture Series of The Change We Need Nigeria Initiative in Abuja.
Describing the theme of the lecture, Disintegration or Restructuring: Which Way Nigeria?, as topical, germane and current, Adesina said restructuring is not an exercise that is new in the life of the nation, adding that President Buhari is not opposed to it.
He said: “When we talk of restructuring, we don’t necessarily need to accompany it with disintegration, because we can talk restructuring without falling apart.
“In the history of Nigeria, there was a time the various people and communities lived in this space that is today called Nigeria. And then the colonial masters came, formed what is called the Northern Protectorate and the Southern Protectorate. That was a restructuring of what had subsisted.
“And then in 1914 precisely, the northern and southern protectorates were amalgamated into one country. That was another restructuring. Did it come with any sabre-rattling or did it send the country into tailspin? No.
“And then we got to a point when we had regionalism in the country. The regions were formed and we began to grow. That was another restructuring. It happened almost altruistically and each region began to walk at its own pace.
“Eventually, independence came, we had parliamentary system at the beginning and we continued to grow. Today, we have a presidential system of government. That is another form of restructuring: from parliamentary to presidential.
“And then there was a time we had a unitary system when the then Gen. Ironsi tried to formalise through the unification decree.
“We have a unitary system which to a large extent still subsists in the country; it is a form of restructuring. Don’t forget there was a point in this country we had diarchy—President Babangida was at the centre and the civilian governors were in the state; another form of restructuring. Did we disintegrate? No, we didn’t.
“We have a unitary system which to a large extent still subsists in the country; it is a form of restructuring. Don’t forget there was a point in this country we had diarchy—President Babangida was at the centre and the civilian governors were in the state; another form of restructuring. Did we disintegrate? No, we didn’t.
“Nigeria has always restructured. There was a time we had 12 states, and then at a point it became 19 and then to 36 states. That is restructuring.
“Why then must restructuring be accompanied with sabre-rattling? ‘It is restructuring or disintegration,’ that is what I disagree with.
“Restructuring will come. This country will be renegotiated, restructured, but then, we will not disintegrate.
“I begin to get suspicious at times that is this call for restructuring another form of opposition? When you find people who have been in power for 16 years now being champions of restructuring, I begin to suspect that restructuring is becoming another form of opposition in Nigeria.
“Nigeria will eventually be restructured. This Government is not opposed to restructuring but the government is opposed to anything that will splinter the country.
“We will get to where we are going on restructuring and Nigeria will remain one, united, indivisible entity. That is my thought.
“And from the first paper I have heard, I know this issue will be dissected properly today, and at the end, we will come up with something that is pragmatic, something that is not emotive, something that is not knee jack, something that can take this issue and clamour for restructuring forward.”
The Spokesperson of Afenifere Group, Yinka Odumakin, stressed that Nigeria as it is today, is in terminal crises.
He said: “Nigeria is currently careering dangerously to the edge of the precipice because we have erected our super structure on a wrong sub-structure. This is at the core of the call for the restructuring of the country so that we can return to the spirit of federalism in the 1960 and 1963 constitutions that our founding fathers negotiated.”
According to him, the expression ‘Nigeria’s unity non-negotiable’, which is always used to reply calls for restructuring, have missed the whole concept of nationhood.
“There is nothing that is settled in the life of any nation. A nation is like any living thing that grows and therefore a daily dialogue.
“It is therefore my considered view that the whole idea of non-negotiability of Nigerian unity only developed on the strength of keeping the rents from oil from Niger Delta and proceeds from Lagos and VAT. It has nothing to do with the love of the union beyond reaping without sowing.
Stressing on the need to restructure in order to avoid disintegration, he said that Nigeria will blossom and prosper when the rights of the nationalities within it are recognised.
The government, he said, should desire to build a centre that coordinates rather than being overlords.
He said: “Our exclusive list must become leaner. We need a central government and federating units that are coordinates and not a colonising centre and vassal states.
“The resources that are under the soul of each section of the country must belong to it and agreed percentage should go to the government of the federation. We must move away from a rental and indolent economy to a productive economy where every section of the country becomes a productive centre.
“We have the capacity to generate a N50 trillion economy annually as against the current N6 trillion we are killing ourselves over.
“We would have no choice than turning our huge population to human capital as against beggars and destitute who are just numbers.
“This is the spirit of the over 600 resolutions reached at the 2014 National Conference which had the best of Nigerians.
“But if we remain obstinate and refuse to address the structures of Nigeria, we risk the fate that befell the USSR, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. They have all disappeared from the World map. Let that not be the fate of Nigeria,” he said
The Lead Discussant at the event and General Overseer of the Charismatic Renewal Ministry (CRM), Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu, blamed the military over its incursion into Nigeria’s politics.
He said: “The aftermath of the military incursion into political leadership is value somersault, cultural disorientation, economic bastardization and political rascality.
“Nigerian military laid the foundation of most of what has become our governance culture today. They introduced executive impunity that shows no regard for the pronouncement of legitimate courts of law or to the court of public opinion,” he added.
Stressing that Nigeria has been held captive under an obnoxious unitary system of government for 51 years, he called for immediate convocation of a Constituent Assembly as a way forward.
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, who was represented by Hon. Godwin Adindu, disagreed with the position that the opposition parties are behind the calls for restructuring.
“Nigeria needs it, and that is the position of my governor,” he said.
Besides supporting creation of state police, he urged the Federal Government to convene a meaningful and open dialogue.
On her part, Hon. Nkoyo Toyo said that the calls for restructuring are not peculiar to Nigeria.
According to her, the country as it is now is only working for few people.
Noting that restructuring is a complex process, she said that it would be too much for National Assembly to handle, saying that a body should be established to handle it. (THE NATION)
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