Restructuring a task Nigeria must make if.. – Atiku

By Raphael Ede Enugu

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said that restructuring Nigeria is a task that the country must make urgently to engender equity; fairness and rapid economic development envisioned by the founding fathers. Atiku said with political will, it would not take more than six months to restructure Nigeria, starting with the transfer of all the items in the concurrent list to the states, a decision he said would not require constitutional amendment. Th e former Vice President spoke yesterday at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) in a lecture series of the University’s Senior Staff Club on “Restructuring”. Th e event was chaired by President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo and attended by former governor of Aka Ibom state, Victor Atta, former governor of old Enugu state, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo and spokesperson of Afenifere, Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Yinka Odumakin, among others.

Atiku said he had been a proponent of restructuring right from when he was a member of late former military persistent, General Sani Abacha’s constitutional conference of 1994/1995, but regretted that the 1999 Constitution signed into law by former military persistent, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, which was supposed to be the outcome of that exercise, was entirely diff erent from what they agreed upon. “To me, restructuring means making changes to our current federal structure so it comes closer to what our founding leaders established, in response to the very issues and challenges that led them to opt for a less centralised system.

It means devolving more powers to the federating units with the accompanying resources. It means greater control by the federating units of the resources in their areas”, he said. “It would mean, by implication, the reduction of the powers and roles of the federal government so that it would concentrate only on those matters best handled by the centre such as defence, foreign policy, monetary and fi scal policies, immigration, customs and excise, aviation as well as setting and enforcing national standards on such matters as education, health and safety. Chairman of the occasion, Nnia Nwodo, and Afenifere spokesperson, Odumakun commended the former Vice President for his courage in taking the gauntlet of restructuring.

Leave a Reply