Devolve powers to states – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said Nigeria needs to be restructured by devolving powers from the centre to the states to make the country united and stronger.

Speaking in Gombe at a grand finale to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the state, Atiku said the current federal structure could not be sustained and that the system of government should be made less expensive.

He therefore called on the government to devolve powers and resources to the states to enable them stand on their own. “The federal government should not take responsibility of constructing roads, schools, digging of boreholes and feeding school children,” he said.

Atiku commended the ‘courageous’ leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari which he said had subdued the insurgency that bedeviled the North-east in the past.

“But we still have a lot of work to do to consolidate and ensure return of peace. We can say we have achieved peace only if the Internally Displace Persons (IDPs) have returned to their homes, markets, hospitals and other businesses are reopened, and when women and children are not malnourished and when those that return homes are not psychologically traumatized,” he said.

He said political leaders from the North-east zone needed to do more to rebuild the region, “because so far our speed in that regard is too slow and minimal. The stakeholders must work hard to close the IDPs camps and ensure peaceful return of the IDPs to their respective homes.”

Also on the occasion, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, urged Nigerians to persevere over the economic recession being experience in the country, assuring of APC-led administration’s commitment to revitalize the economy, enhance security and create jobs.

In his remark, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo commended his predecessors for laying the solid foundation for the development of the state.