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Tag: restructure Nigeria

  • ‘Restructure Nigeria along US, UAE lines’

    ‘Restructure Nigeria along US, UAE lines’

    A group, The Directorate of the Concerned Patriots in Nigeria and Overseas, has called on the Federal Government to restructure the country along the US and UAE systems of government.

    The group under the leadership of Prophet Moses Akinwale Olagunju , the Presiding Bishop of Divine Seed of God Chapel Ministry, Ibadan said making each component state sovereign will bring rapid development to the country.

     Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, Prophet Olagunju said: “We are not promoting regional restructuring.  We are promoting national restructuring. What do I mean by this?  We are talking about a sovereign country, sovereign states united without any form of division.  For example, Lagos State will become a country as well as a state under the United States of Nigeria just like it is in America.

    “America has 52 states. California is a country and a state under the United States of America.  In Dubai, they have seven countries and seven states.  They came together to form the United Arab Emirates.  We have practiced a regional system of government before but it has become outdated. I am not faulting those who are propagating it. People are talking about regionalism because of corruption and tribal sentiments to hang on to power for a long time.  If every state should be independent, I believe we will be giving a permanent solution to Nigeria’s problem.”

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    Continuing, he said: “The kind of restructuring we are talking about is not breaking up Nigeria or regional restructuring.  We want to preserve the entity called Nigeria so that there will be no crisis again.  When each state stays on its own, there will be rapid development.

    “The kind of restructuring we are talking about will take off from the local government level.  Every local government can have its own Amotekun, civil defence corps, forest guard and federal police will complement their efforts.  If they embark on animal husbandry and agricultural mechanization, development will take off.  That is the kind of restructuring that we are talking about.

    “Resource control should be embraced by all. We practiced it before during the regional system of government. When that is embraced, the states will be contributing something to the centre.  We have petroleum in Ondo State, you just have to let me control my resources. We just have to renegotiate Nigeria, otherwise there will continue to be crisis upon crisis.”

  • Restructure Nigeria’s faulty federation to end insecurity, Igbo group tells FG

    Restructure Nigeria’s faulty federation to end insecurity, Igbo group tells FG

    Igbo think-tank group, the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), has said that the chaotic nature of the Nigerian federation is the basis for the perennial terrorism, banditry and violence witnessed across the country.

    The national president of the ADF, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, who stated this in Enugu during a press briefing after their state executive meeting on Sunday, identified restructuring as the solution to insecurity and economic crises bedeviling the nation.

    Awuzie also suggested that there should be a return to the 1963 regional constitution.

    He said: “The ADF believes that the chaotic nature of the Nigerian federation is the basis of the perennial terrorism, banditry and violence which have made life unbearable in Nigeria today. 

    “To build an equitable federal structure based on social justice, we advocate the reconstitution/renegotiation of the Nigerian Federation.

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    “This should be done through the making of a new people’s Constitution and not the amendment of the 1999 Constitution as embarked upon by the current and former National Assemblies from 1999 to date.

    “We are convinced that only a return to Regional Autonomy and Fiscal Federalism can resolve the problems bedeviling the crisis-ridden Nigerian federation. There should be a return to the 1963 Regional Constitution which was agreed upon by Nigeria’s founding fathers.”

    He explained that the 1999 constitution cannot be amended, saying that the National Assembly had been wasting the nation’s resources in its attempt to amend the constitution.

    According to him, amending the 1999 constitution will involve the state houses of assembly.

    Awuzie, therefore, advocated that there should be a return to what he described as people’s constitution, nothing that the 1999 constitution was imposed on the people by the military.

    He maintained that the governors have much influence on the state houses of assembly and will therefore not  allow them to do what they (the governors) do not want.

  • June 12 coalition urges Buhari to restructure Nigeria

    The June 12 Coalition of Democratic Formations has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure Nigeria through a new constitution.

    It praised the President for honouring the late Moshood Abiola, but said he should go further by declaring Abiola the winner of the 1993 presidential election and to compensate his family.

    In a statement by its Acting Chairman Linus E. Okoroji and General Secretary Nelson Ekujimi to mark June 12, the group said the President demonstrated courage in honouring Abiola.

    “Compatriots, let us praise our Change President for this positive step in the right direction! We salute his courage, temerity and sagacity for this singular reconciliatory effort! Having begun a good, positive and patriotic move to reconcile Nigerians to Nigeria, we urge him to take another step further.

    “He should without further delay ask the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to complete the announcement of the June 1993 Presidential election results and declare Bashorun MKO Abiola as the winner!

    “He should be pronounced posthumously as a former President of Nigeria and accorded posthumously all the paraphernalia of the highest office of our land!

    “We also must add that, compensation should be paid to his family for his unfortunate and controversial death in the custody of the Federal Military government of Nigeria! These reconciliation efforts must not be halfway!”

    The coalition said it was embarrassing and disgraceful that 18 years after the military handed over power to civilians, the political and elite class could not find the will to give Nigerians a new constitution that is truly the peoples’.

    “The people over the years have been clamouring for restructuring of the polity to return to or evolve a federal system of government to no avail! Unfortunately, what the country is relying on as the so-called 1999 Constitution remains a Decree 24 of 1998 issued by General Abdulsalam Abubakar (Rtd).”

    The group urged the president to do more about insecurity by sacking non performing security chiefs.

    It said: “We must state emphatically that the issue of security in Nigeria is now on the front burner and must be given the urgent attention it deserves!  Enough of lip services! In our view, there is need for the reappraisal of our security architecture.

    “We hereby call on the change President to do well to demonstrate justice and equity! Any security chief who have performed below par, must be shown the way out, if his or her conscience cannot tell him or her to resign honourably. Fortunately, such positions are not anyone’s birth-right!

    “June 12 represents unity and brotherliness of the Nigerian people to live happily together in a truly democratic and federal state where justice and equity is assured to all citizens irrespective of ethnic or religious leanings, to actualize their individual dreams, aspirations and potentials.

    “But it is not too late in the day for our political leadership and elites, at all levels, to do a rethink and do the needful, which is delivering the dividend of democracy to the masses of Nigeria people in a truly federal system and provide the necessary leadership that the African continent urgently requires to get out of the woods.

    “Thus, we reiterate our demand that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari should look into the various reports of constitutional conferences and the PRONACO draft constitution as a road map to produce a constitution that will guarantee true federalism in a democratic Nigeria.

    “The President should summon courage and demonstrate patriotism and ignore all unpatriotic individuals, groups and nationalities standing against restructuring and true federal system of government!”

  • Restructure Nigeria now, say Nwodo, Clark, Adebanjo others

    Some of the leaders of the Southern regions and the Middle Belt yesterday took their demand for restructuring of the country to the National Assembly.

    They made the same call at the 10th Abraham Adesanya lecure in Lagos on Wednesday.

    During a meeting with Senate President Bukola Saraki, they warned that failure to restructure the country could be a recipe for its disintegration.

    On the team were: Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum Chief Edwin Clark, President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Chief John Nwodo, Afenifere’s Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Air Commodore Dan Suleiman, President Middle Belt Forum.

    Apart from the demand to restructure the country, the leaders criticized what they described as the fragrant disregard of the legislative arm of government.

    Chief Clark who led the delegation asked Nwodo to present the case of the group.

    Nwodo said: “We have come to you at a very difficult time in the history of our country. We are visiting the National Assembly because of its unique position in our constitution. The democratic system we run in our country rests on the three organs of government.

    “For these three arms, the other two function in accordance with laws made by this arm. This arm characterises democracy because in a military government you will have both the judiciary and the executive.

    “But it is only in a democratic government that you have the parliament. The parliament is a microcosm of the people because every section of the country has by adult suffrage delegated its voice to this parliament.

    “We have watched the helplessness of the National Assembly where members of the executive even refuse your invitations to come and make explanations contrary to provisions of the constitution.

    “We have found the helplessness of the Senate when you can be invaded in spite of the security adornment in this place controlled by the executive and the seat of the Senate President is almost invaded but for the personal security of the aides of its leadership.

    “This is because our system makes the tail wag the dog rather than the dog waging the tail. This cannot be in a fountain of legislative authority for executive implementation, and yet they toy with the system.

    “We have come to tell you that it is in our view that it is because we have this over-concentration of Powers in the Federal Government contrary to the agreement that our forefathers entered into for the nation called Nigeria. That governance has failed in our country. That economic development has failed,” he said.

    Nwodo noted that the way out of the problems bedeviling the country is a revisit of the power devolution clause that was rejected by the parliament in ongoing constitution alteration process as promised by the National Assembly.

    “Our youth despair is gargantuan. The federating unit in the unitary system that we call a federal system” Nwodo said.

    Chief Ayo Adebanjo who led South West delegates to the meeting said that they concurred fully with what Nwodo said because “what concerns one concerns all.”

    Adebanjo noted that the way the country is going any interest outside immediate restructuring of the country would amount to playing with fire.

    Adebanjo who prayed the National Assembly to revisit the 2014 National Conference report passionately said “Take your time and read the 2014 conference report because all the problems of the country have been solved by the report.”

    President Middle Belt Forum, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (rtd) said that the Middle Belt region had always stood for the unity of the country.

    The Middle belt leader who noted that the people of his region refer to themselves as “the belt of Nigeria” added that “we should always go for what is best for Nigeria.”

    The Senate President reiterated that to strengthen democracy, the number one institution Nigerians must defend is the parliament.

    He said the 8th National Assembly has been working hard to create enabling environment that will attract investors and that the parliament would continue along that line.

    On the call to revisit clauses that were rejected during the ongoing constitution review process, Saraki said the National Assembly is ready to reconsider the clauses and that it would do so after the passage of the 2018 budget.

    He assured that the National Assembly was prepared to address issues raised by the group “because there is no alternative.”

    He said, “if we want to defend our democracy, it is not about me. We will come and go. It is about the institution. We must work to grow the institution and strengthen the institution. You have raised a number of issues on the economy. There are opportunities ahead but it is difficult for people to invest where there is no rule of law.”

    Other members of the delegation are Chief Olu Falae, Air Vice Marshall, Irangate Idongesit, Obong Victor Attah, Sen. Stella Omu, Prof. Banjo Akintoye, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Prof. Chigozie Ogbu, Prof. Ihechukwuma Maduke, Sen. Basset Henshaw, Air Comm. Dan Suleiman (rtd), Mr. Alfred Mulade, His Highness Anaba Saraigbe and Lady Maryam Yunusa

  • Restructure Nigeria before 2019, Eastern Consultative Assembly warns FG

    The Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) has warned that unless the Federal Government carries out genuine restructuring of the country before 2019, the people of Eastern Nigeria will not participate in the forthcoming general election. The group gave the warning yesterday after a meeting in Enugu.

    A communique, signed by the group’s Deputy Leader, Chief (Mrs.) Maria Okwor and the Secretary, Evang. Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, wondered whether the recent report of the APC Committee on Restructuring was genuine or a ploy to deceive the people to vote for them in 2019. It said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the people of eastern Nigeria will not participate in any election whatsoever, until a new people’s constitution is evolved through a referendum. We will not join in the madness of voting in any elections whatsoever, until Nigeria is consensually returned to true fiscal federalism, anchored on regional autonomy. Those fiddling with the idea, that they would deceive the people with a repulsive report on restructuring are day dreamers.”

    ECA also called on ethnic nationalities to join it in its current resolve. “As the over 300 ethic nationalities continue to cry and to yearn for freedom, we invite them to join the ECA to boycott all future elections until Nigeria is restructured.

    “We plead with the colonial power to yield to ongoing pressure from other western powers, who are advising that they tell their preferred and pampered region in Nigeria to yield to the only sensible way to save Nigeria now. Which is: to restructure Nigeria before 2019 election,” the group said.

  • How to restructure Nigeria, by ex-perm sec

    A RENOWNED public administrator, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, has canvassed ways to restructure Nigeria without causing upheavals.

    He listed them as devolution of more powers to states and local governments, regionalising the six geo-political zones, reviewing the federal character principle and decentralising anti-corruption strategy and policing.

    Olaopa, who is the Executive Vice Chairman, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), spoke at a conference organised by the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NPISS), Kuru.

    Speaking on the topic: “Re-federalising Nigeria and the Challenge of Innovative Governance,” the retired Federal permanent secretary posited that devolving more powers, particularly to the local governments, will enhance their ability to address peculiar governance needs.

    He added that this will also relieve the Federal Government of its heavy burden.

    Underscoring the importance of regionalising the six geo-political zones for economic prosperity, Olaopa said: “Regionalism devolves critical autonomies to the federating units in any federation. While the regional arrangement of the First Republic may have been long compromised, I am strongly convinced that the six pragmatically expedient geopolitical zones in Nigeria could serve as the launch-pad for instigating an economically vibrant development rivalry that constituted the core of the regionalism of the immediate post-independence period.

    “Nigeria’s present structure of an overburdened centre struggling to carry 36 viable and unviable states does not have the capacity to maximise the significant gains of a genuine fiscal federalism.

    “The re-federalising logic in this case is, therefore, founded on a simple principle: political restructuring as a precondition for economic prosperity.”

    Olaopa argued that Nigeria needs to leverage political and economic dimensions for making the regional idea work.

    The political dimension, he said, requires transforming the six geopolitical zones into regions made up of states and local governments.

    “The economic dimension requires leveraging the comparative advantages of each region as the source of development. While agriculture will definitely constitute a developmental common denominator across the region, as a counterpoint to the mono-economic domination of crude oil, each region can then be allowed to explore and exploit its peculiar economic advantage, especially in mineral resources.”

    Arguing that the federal character principle is beautiful for a plural society like Nigeria, Olaopa submitted that its application has been abused with merit constantly sacrificed to the disadvantage of the country.

    On the need to decentralise the anti-corruption strategy and policing, the public administrator said centralisation of anti-corruption fight “paradoxically makes the Federal Government both too powerful but then too weak to adequately fight corruption and unleash development energies”.

    “The Federal Government becomes powerful because the strategy for fighting corruption is centralised in the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). But this centralised strategy immediately reveals the weakest point of the anti-corruption campaign: the multitude of cases concentrated at one point ensures that the campaign will never move forward.

    “We are, therefore, confronted with the imperative of decentralising the anti-corruption laws, regulations and policies in a manner that reposes legal capabilities in states and local government as junctures of justiciable actions.”

    Emphasising the need for multi-level policing, Olaopa said: “One growing sign of Nigeria’s underdevelopment is its multiple security challenge demonstrated by kidnapping, terrorism and insurgency, armed robbery, and sundry criminal activities, which a central policing strategy has no hope of ever arresting.

    “This is all the more so because some of these security challenges have regional locus, like that of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria, and kidnapping in the South-Eastern part, with criminal militancy manifesting in the South-South. Thus, while we have debated the bad points of multilevel policing, I suspect it is high time we began critical interrogating its many crucial advantages.”