By Adewale Kupoluyi
What seems to be sounding louder by the day is the call for restructuring by the various interest groups in Nigeria. Th e impression the agitators are giving is that the country is structurally lopsided to the extent that something urgent should be done, if the various ethnic, tribal, religious, economic and political interests are to continue co-habiting harmoniously. Th e issue now is; how sincere or genuine are these agitations for restructuring? Over the years, the need to restructure the federation has been at the front-burner.
Th e process of restructuring would involve changes in the distribution of powers, responsibilities and resources, which is contrary to what is provided for under the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended); a product of military regime that arrogates a whopping 68 items to the Exclusive Legislative List alone, unlike the 1960 Independence Constitution that had 44 items on the list while the 1963 Republican Constitution equally granted the regions 50 per cent of their resources.
Th e various interests that had clamoured for restructuring strongly believe that the current structure is nothing, but a recipe for anarchy, insecurity and instability. In other words, a restructured nation would make the federating units explore the resources in their domain, considering the fact that there is no state in the Nigeria that is not endowed with arable land for agriculture or mineral deposits that could make them self-reliant and capable of transforming the lives of the people, if when well utilised and harnessed.
Th is was what the country experienced, development-wise, during the era of regionalism, where there were healthy competitions among the four regions of the Northern, Western, Eastern and MidWestern governments brought about optimal harnessing of resources for development.
For instance, the Western Region, under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, successfully laid the foundation for development in commerce and industry by creating an effi cient Western Nigeria Development Corporation, the parent of the present-day O’dua Investment Company; revolutionised the production and marketing of cocoa by farmers; and established the fi rst television station in Africa: the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV), Ibadan that was established in 1959; the fi rst in Africa, among others.
Apart from the Western Region government, monumental achievements were also recorded by other regional governments in the country. What do we have now? It is unfortunate that today, most of the states in the country appear unviable and under-resourced to deliver good governance, as they depend almost entirely on monthly allocations from the Federation Accounts, the bulk of which they expend on salaries and other recurrent expenditures by leaving out capital expenditures that can actually drive development. From the foregoing, any opportunity that could bring about positive change that would better the lot of the people and the nation should be embraced.
Th erefore, if the call for restructuring is going to turn things around for the better, it is worth trying. But looking at the agitations from another perspective, those calling for restructuring, simply because they have been at the receiving end under the current power equation, should not be seen as being patriotic in their agitation. Th ose who belong to this category are made up of mainly politicians, who belong to several groups and affi liations.
Th ey appear to have joined the call for restructuring for three reasons. First is to protest their exclusion from governance. In other words, they are using the agitations to vent their anger and obvious irrelevance under the current dispensation. Secondly, some of the agitators are joining the call to acquire cheap popularity. Th ose who belong to this category do not have a clear idea of what restructuring actually means. Th irdly, we can refer to those belonging to this group as those warming up for the 2019 general elections, who merely are using ‘restructuring’ to launch their political campaigns and to situate themselves better for the task ahead. Th ose belonging to this third group include new political affi liations and politicians that are desperately seeking relevance because the present arrangement and confi guration may limit their chances to achieve their political ambition, come 2019. I have used the above scenarios to illustrate that not all agitations for restructuring are genuine. On the way forward, eff orts should be made to lay the foundation for a truly federal structure through constitutional amendment.
Th e Federal Government should initiate the process without further delay, by putting in place a body that would fashion out the modalities without compromising the existing legislative framework, already provided by the national assembly. On the likelihood of making use of the recommendations provided by the 2014 National Conference, one of the tasks to be carried out by the new body is to examine the confab report and make suggestions on the useful portions. I do not subscribe to the idea of adopting the report in its totality. Similarly, I do not also believe that the report should be archived. Rather, sincere and practicable recommendations should be adopted. Hence, there is the need for government to decipher and carefully separate the wheat from the chaff in moving the nation forward in responding to the growing agitation for restructuring.
