RESTRUCTURING DEBATE GAINS MORE STEAM
Discussion on restructuring has retained a pervasive and feverish dominance on the polity, writes
Having taken his crusade for the restructuring of Nigeria to every political platform in the country, Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, recently reiterated at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, that it was the only to panacea to ensure peace and development. Dickson faulted the assertion by President Muhammadu Buhari that those clamouring for it are nursing a parochial agenda.
He wondered why Buhari could make such utterance, while maintaining that advocates of restructuring were genuine patriots who are passionately committed to the healthy growth of the country and peaceful co-existence among all Nigerians. According to him, Nigeria cannot be productive with the current structure.
The governor has been in the forefront of the crusade for restructuring, true federalism, power devolution as the foundation for a stronger, egalitarian Nigerian nation.
Recently, while receiving a high-powered delegation led by former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who paid him a courtesy call at Government House in Yenagoa, Dickson disclosed that the 2019 general election would be a referendum on restructuring, adding that only aspirants who believe in restructuring would get the support of the Ijaw nation. The governor said there was no going back on his call for restructuring, and pledged to take his consultations to all parts of the country until Nigeria achieves a true federal structure. He said the people of the Ijaw from Ondo, Edo, Delta, Rivers to Akwa Ibom States had been fully mobilised and conscientious on the importance of the 2019 general election and what it portends for restructuring.
Everywhere in Nigeria, restructuring has become the catchword with key political leaders and socio-political groups pushing forward certain ideas and views suggesting that it may determine how certain parts of the country view presidential candidates in the 2019 election. They believe it is the way out of the cries of marginalisation by various segments of the country and impedes optimal development and the realisation of the peoples’ aspirations.
One major plank of their argument is the contention that the unification of the South and North in 1914 was misconceved.
They state that the South and North were not put together for the benefit of the development of Nigeria but for the promotion and development of the industrial revolution in Britain-production of materials for the use of companies in Britain.
However, the constitution of 1952-1960-1963 which the military suspended in 1966, was for the development of the regions created by 1914 unification of South and North, when tremendous progress which are still visible in South-west are the only development, in this area of the country. The army, however, took over the governance of the whole country and destroyed this structure and replaced it with a structure in which the federal government is the controller of virtually all power and all resources as well as the power to develop all resources, and in which the states have no control over their resources and must depend on federal allocations of funds to exist.
Proponents of restructuring are of the opinion that the federal government is over-burdened, controls too much money, has become egregiously inefficient and destroying the country. The states, which are component entities of the federation are impotent, cannot develop their resources, cannot fight poverty in their domains, and cannot make their contribution to the progress and prosperity of Nigeria. The cumulative effect of all these is that Nigeria and Nigerians have become so poor that most public facilities such as roads, electricity, water installations, public administration, are not working or have perished.
Crime has made life very unsafe all over Nigeria. In various regions of the country, youths are demanding the breaking up of Nigeria or an alternative administrative platform, arguing that in spite of being together for over 50 years, there is still evidence of injustice, inequity and prejudice in the governance of the country.
This has manifested in varied forms of protest and agitation; some subtle and peaceful sublime like Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), while others have taken a violent form resulting most times in the destruction of lives and property as exhibited by Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) and other Niger Delta militant groups. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com