News
Why Nigerians Clamour For Restructuring – Attahiru Jega
A former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, says the persistent agitation for restructuring is caused by bad governance.
Jega was speaking at the 18th Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme: ‘Restructuring in Nigeria: Why? How? When?’ on Thursday.
Ekohotblog reports that Jega said any serious efforts at restructuring should start with equitable redistribution resources of devolution of power from the federal government to the federating unit.
He said, “After a critical evaluation of the benefits versus the costs of each of these notions of restructuring, I believe that the starting point of desirable and serious, even realistic, restructuring is equitable redistribution of power and resources from the Federal Government to the sub-national governments.
The former INEC chairman, however, said that pulling down the current structure to revert to the regional system of yore, the 12 states of 1976/77 or making use of six geo-political regions are unrealistic and not feasible.
He stated, “The social and political costs of such an undertaking would by far outweigh the benefits. In many fundamental respects, creation of states has gone a long way to mitigate real and imagined/perceived marginalisation of minorities.”
Others present at the event included a chieftain of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Chief Audu Ogbeh.
There’s has been strident call for restructuring of the country in some quarters, especially by Nigerians of Southern extraction, with many saying it will solve the problem plethora of challenges that bedevil the nation and usher an unprecedented development which the current system inhibits.
The advocates of restructuring argued that power is concentrated in the hands of the Federal government and this power needs to be devolved to state government for effective and efficient governance.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Restructuring Not About Breaking Up Nigeria But Correcting Its Wrongs – Falana
Restructuring Alone Not A Panacea To Nigeria’s Problems – Jonathan
Advertise or Publish a Story on EkoHot Blog:
Kindly contact us at [email protected]. Breaking stories should be sent to the above email and substantiated with pictorial evidence.
Citizen journalists will receive a token as data incentive.
Call or Whatsapp: 0803 561 7233, 0703 414 5611
