The beating of the drum of restructuring Nigeria is becoming so deafening that the need to return to the topic is inevitable.
As a matter of fact, it is the former two-term President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in his usual wise counsel, who advised that what Nigeria really needs now is not the physical or regional restructuring but the restructuring of mind-set of Nigerians.
He had said last week in Warri, Delta State: “the answer to most of our problems is mindset change and change of mentality. If we need any restructuring, it is the restructuring of our mindset and mentality. How will anybody in his right senses believe separation is the way out? We have passed that stage. We have problems, there are many ways we can solve them. It is our diversity that makes us a great country. I won’t want a Nigeria where we dance same juju, or wear same attire. Our strength is in our diversity.”
But many supposedly respected and not-so-respected Nigerians are still on their feet, clamouring for restructuring.
An Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark did not only support the restructuring but insulted Obasanjo for dare to speak the truth as it should be.
Clark barked at Obasanjo: “let him keep quiet. Is it because we have a country where people do not know their right from left and everybody is being praised as a worthy leader?”
Clark insisted that regions should be structured in a way that each region is independent in whatever it does.
“If he (Obasanjo) does not believe in restructuring, what were the national conference or political conference and national reform conference, which we all attended for? I was the leader of the Southern delegation even though we walked out, what was if for, was it only for his third term or concern for restructuring of Nigeria? That is a question Obasanjo should be asked to answer.
“There is need for restructuring, there is need to go back to the kind of government we had before and after independence until the soldiers struck.
“What we are saying is that we want the former one where there was devolution of power, where every region had its own constitution even the Midwest region was created based on the demand for restructuring.
“Then, every region was independent in whatever they did. No one held the other down, which was why western Nigeria government did things that other government did not do and others were not envious of it because everybody had his own government.
“At present, Nigeria is running a unitary government, a situation where every state first goes to the Federal Government for money. That is not federalism. “So Obasanjo is not saying the truth, he knows what to say, but he is not saying it. He is saying there is nothing wrong with the structure of the country, which is not true.
“We want restructuring to correct the defects in the current structure of the country. For instance, Kano has 47 local governments but contributes nothing to the revenue of the country, while Bayelsa, which contributes a lot has only eight local governments. I think these are anomalies that should be corrected.
“There should be devolution of powers to the states if the states are going to be the federating units. Obasanjo is wrong to say that there is nothing wrong with the structure of the country, everything is wrong with the structure of the country.
“We believe that the minorities in Nigeria, especially in the north, should have a sense of belonging by creating states for them. Like the Southern Kaduna, the people need a state with headquarters in Kafanchan, which is why we need restructuring.
“We also believe that in every state, governorship should rotate from one senatorial zone to the other to give every section of the state a sense of oneness and participation so that in a state like Kogi, where only the Igalas until recently or Benue, where only Tivs have been producing governors can be checked.”
The agitators for restructuring are becoming so desperate to the point of making it look as if, like I said before, it is the panacea to the development challenges which this country has been contending with.
They are so attached to the idea and spirit of restructuring to the point of making it look as if it is what this country needs to wriggle out of decades of socio-economic mess into which its past leaders had plunged it, no thank to uncontrolled corruption and arrant arrogance in the way the leaders and their cronies sapped the country dry of needed resources to develop.
As a matter of fact, looking at those who cry most about restructuring, one would not be far from the truth to say that the restructuring they are talking about is one and the same with corruption in another name. That is, in effect saying that every segment of the country should control its resources so as to conveniently domesticate corruption unchallenged by the federal might.
Indeed, if the restructuring is that sweet and convenient, why would the current agitators not float and promote it during the regimes before the present one? Why do they think it is only in the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari that restructuring is needed or appropriate? What made them to think that Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would abandon or undermine the content of their original manifesto for the purpose of going into restructuring to satisfy the later day agitators; who seem to have woken up from political slumber with bad dream they want to see actualised? The restructuring that is likely to take the remaining part of the tenure of President Buhari? [myad]
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