Chairman of the Nation newspapers editorial board, Prof. Olatunji Dare, has said that “Nigeria presently needs a substantive re-structuring.”
Dare stated this while delivering a lecture entitled: “One Hundred Years after Amalgamation: The Nigerian Condition” at the University of Ibadan in honour of former vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Jacob Festus Ade Ajayi, on his 85th birthday.
He said the substantive re-structuring “stands as the only way towards removing Nigeria from the socio-political and economic woods the nation has continued to find herself 100 years after its creation.”
He said: “Without substantive re-structuring, the Nigerian state will wither away. A re-structured federation, based on a new constitution truly warranted by the preface We the People.”
Dare said it was glaring that the ongoing national conference intended to correct many of the ills in the country, including insecurity being unleashed on Nigerians by the Boko Haram sect might not achieve such considering the discordant tunes being sung by many of the delegates at confab.
“There was much hope that the on-going Constitutional Conference may bring that about. But judging by the hazy status of the conference and by the reports on the deliberations, the hope could turn out to be misplaced.”
He stressed that the genuine restructuring of the nation should be accorded necessary priority, saying that “as the centre faces growing challenge from Boko Haram and other forces, its legitimacy and authority will weaken to the point that those nationalities strong enough or determined enough to break away, will do so.”