Like Atiku, Ekwueme, Obi, Adebanjo want Buhari to restructure Nigeria

Calls for the restructuring of the Nigerian nation have continued to gain momentum in recent times, with eminent Nigerians adding their voices on Sunday, at the 17th convention of the Igbo Youths Movement, IYM, in Enugu.

All the speakers at the event, including former Vice-President, Alex Ekwueme, former governor of old Anambra State Chukwuemeka Ezeife and a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, Ayo Adebanjo, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure Nigeria in line with the principles of true federalism.

It would be recalled that a former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku had also called for a political restructuring of the nation.

Others at the conference included former Minister of Information Prof. Jerry Gana, former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, renowned author, Arthur Nwankwo and Niger Delta activist, Ms Ankio Briggs.

him the opportunity to reflect deeply on Nigeria’s problems.

This, he said, made him come out with the idea of six geo-political zonal structure, which he pushed for at a national conference much later and it became a convention, and has taken care of minorities in the South and the North.

Ekwueme also insisted that what Nigeria negotiated for and agreed with the colonial masters before independence was a regional government where each has a constitution, annexed to the Republican constitution of 1963.

The Republican Constitution, he said, then provided 50 per cent revenue sharing formula for the regions, 30 per cent to a distributable pool, and 20 per cent for the centre.

“There is need for us to return to the basics from what we inherited from our founding fathers,” Ekwueme said.

In Adebanjo’s view, Nigeria must be restructured to correct the serious damage that has been done to the nation’s constitution by the military and to stop various acts of uprising, including those of Niger Delta Avengers, MASSOB and IPOB.

Also speaking at the event, Prof. Gana, who was the guest speaker, said the nation’s founding fathers were right by agreeing to a federal structure, which he described as the best for peace, equity and justice.

Gana said that the key solution to Nigeria’s problem was through true federalism and devolution of powers to states.

“True fiscal federalism is the only form of association that will allow peace and stability in the country and each region should be allowed to manage its resources the way they want it,” Gana said.

He insisted that the current formula for allocating revenue made the Federal Government to get richer while the states operated like beggars.

“States should be allowed to manage its resources to enable them govern their people the way they want and allocate some percentage to the Federal Government.

“Government should not be far from the people and the federating unit should be made strong to meet the needs of the people,” he said.

Gana however recommended continuous dialogue and the implementation of the resolutions of national confab by the government as the only means the recent agitation and other national demand could be handled.

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