The former vice president and a presidential hopeful under the People’s Democratic Party PDP on Tuesday said in Kano that the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC has been ignorant about his proposed plan to restructure Nigeria.
According to him,what l am advocating for is that the restructuring of the country, should be carried out in phases, rather than been total, because the power at the centre is too heavy, which needed to be slim down.
“I think the APC must be very ignorant because my position on the issue of restructuring dates back to the reports of constitutional restructuring of 1994. If you check the report you will find my contributions as far as restructuring is concerned” he stated.
Atiku who addressed newsmen in Kano recently described his idea about restructuring as sliming down the Federal Government while the bulk of responsibilities are shouldered by the geopolitical zones or the state governments that are closer to the people.
“By restructuring I mean devolving powers to the states or geopolitical zones as the case may be so that they can assume greater responsibilities of their respective states or zones.
At the moment, the Federal Government has too much on its plate and it is not able to pay attention to all parts of the country. My believe is that by devolving more powers to those states or regions, they are closer to the people, particularly in areas like education, health, infrastructure and so on. I want to see a lean Federal Government, a small Federal Government” he advocated.
The PDP presidential hopeful explained that by restructuring the functions of the Federal Government would be limited to issue, bothering on defence, immigration, currency and the Central Bank.
“A small Federal Government which will deal essentially with matters like defence, foreign affairs, currency, Central Bank and immigration. Very few areas for the Federal Government” he stated.
On why l’m advocating for restructuring, Atiku explained that it would deal with a lot of problems including insecurity and will solve the problems of economic development which he says every part of the country is complaining of.
“So if we give you more powers and resources to develop your respective states then you should hold your states responsible not the Federal Government that is what I mean by restructuring” he affirmed.
On the issue of the PDP having 12 contestants going for primaries, Atiku explained that there is a process which will culminate in the emergence of one person.
“One thing we have all agreed and signed to is that whoever emerges and wins we will support and vote for that person. We did that in APC and it worked and we are called by the party to do exactly the same thing” he declared.
Atiku was received by mammoth PDP supporters led by the embattled chairman of the party in the state Senator Musa’d El-Jibrin Doguwa where he also met with the party leaders, solicited the Kano delegates to vote for him in the forthcoming party’s primaries.
“I am overwhelmed with the support, l received from the people of Kano and North west. Anytime l solicits for the support of Kano PDP, they are always ready to do that, more so, l lived in Kano, I schooled in Kano, I have house in Kano, and as such, the support, l received in Kano, is more than that in Adamawa. So I urged you to vote APC in 2019.