By Jide Orintunsin, Abuja

Chairman of the South West Governors’ Forum Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has called for urgent dissection and appraisal of the workability of the nation’s structure.

He said the current socio-economic crisis were products of the skewed structure which must be addressed for NIgeria to forge ahead.

The Ondo Governor spoke in Abuja at the 39th annual National Scientific Conference of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) where he was honoured as the association’s “Worthy Ambassador”.

According to him: “There is no doubt that the country experiences serious socio-economic challenges in virtually every part. While a sizeable chunk of these problems is attributable to the global crises, there are others which call our attention, urgently, to an appraisal of the fundamental issues which define nations.

“It is unprofitable to resort to a facile description of the current upheavals in Nigeria without looking at the factors which militate seriously against our quest for nationhood.

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“We must analyse these issues with a view to determining the workability of the current structure. We must seek solutions to the endemic problems bedeviling the country.

“The over-dependence on oil revenue is retrogressive. Modern economies don’t thrive on monoliths. The country must pay more than passing attention to the issue of diversification.

“In addition, the federating units should, progressively, assume distinctive identities discernible in the economic activities’ peculiar to them and for which they are best suited to undertake.

“The current structure promotes indolence and kills ingenuity. Every part of the country must be encouraged to develop according to its potential. There must be deliberate devolution of responsibilities to the States.

“We must all work towards the enthronement of a national ethos which not only promotes amity among the constituent units but also encourages economic advancement. There must be competition and co-operation among the States.”

He added: “Let us allow all states to develop according to there peculiarities. There must be a delibrate devolution of responsibility from the federal to the states. Some people call it structural adjustment, what ever name you call it, it (restructuring) just must be done.

“We must make the federating units more powerful. There is no other way, there is no other route to make Nigeria great if the states will not have more powers than what we have now.”

National chairman of the association, Dr. Samuel Adekola, said the unrivalled development of the health sector since creation in 1976 by the Akeredolu administration in Ondo earned the Governor his appointment as a “Worthy Ambassador”.