The Presidency has described the call for restructuring Nigeria,
particularly from those who were in power for 16 years as suspicious. Special
Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, stated this
yesterday even as he said that the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was not
opposed to restructuring but is opposed to anything that will splinter the
country.
Adesina spoke at the Change We Need Nigeria Initiative 8th Annual Lecture
Series with the theme: Disintegration or Restructuring: Which Way Nigeria?
The presidential spokesman who described the theme of the lecture as
timely, said restructuring doesn’t necessarily need to be accompanied with
disintegration, noted that Nigeria has always restructured but has never led to
the country falling apart.
Adesina said, “In the history of Nigeria there was a time where 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, southern protectorate, that was restructuring of what has
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 saber-rattling or did it send the country into tailspin, no? And then
we we got to a point that we had regionalism in the country, the regions were
formed and we begin to grow, that was another restructuring, it happened almost
naturally and each region began to work on its own pace.
“We will get to where we are going on restructuring and Nigeria remains
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.”
But in his response, Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu who was
represented by his Chief Press Secretary, Godwin Adindu, disagreed that
restructuring was an opposition thing. He said, “restructuring is not an
opposition thing, it is what we all need so that we can move the nation
forward. Restructuring is not the demand of the opposition.”
The Afenifere spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, also disagreed with Adesina that
restructuring was an opposition thing. He insisted that Nigeria’s unity is
negotiable warning that those kicking against it risk disintegration.
He said, “The unity of Nigeria can be negotiated. It is fallacy to say it
can’t be negotiated. By restructuring we are saying Nigeria should move from
money sharing economy to a productive economy. If we refuse to take this
national course, I’m sorry to say time is running out of Nigeria.
“Let us restructure Nigeria now, return to the Nigeria our founding
fathers initiated. Our best is in the past. Let us join hands to build a
Nigeria that we will all be proud of.”
The guest lecturer, Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu, said restructuring will be good
for Nigeria. He said, “By restructuring I mean a reorganization of the
governance structures of Nigeria to make it a more viable and more prosperous
nation where the different nationalities will proudly call a home.
Any construct that will occasion greater efficiency and economic
viability will be okay. The six regional structures that seem to have gained
reasonable mileage among a large segment of our population should be
constitutionalized. I will support the call for a six-regional arrangement with
some minor readjustments.”
0 Comments