BusinessDay 17 Dec 2017

2 BD SUNDAY
C002D5556 Sunday 17 December 2017
IssueOfTheWeek
Talk on restructuring rears up again
CHUKS OLUIGBO
After what seemed
like a lull, the issue of
restructuring reared
its head again mid
last week when the
Northern Senators’ Forum (NSF),
after a two-day retreat that ended
on Wednesday in Katsina State,
said they were ready to discuss
the issue of restructuring if the
right cards were put on the table.
Describing restructuring as
it is currently being proposed as
ambiguous even to “proponents,
without clear terms and directions
on how to go about it”, the
NSF said the North was not afraid
of any “sensible and meaningful
arrangement, provided it guarantees
justice, equity, fairness and
the unity of all Nigerians”.
It said the region would, in due
course, take a “well-articulated,
firm and common position” on
restructuring, in collaboration
with other Northern members of
the National Assembly.
The forum also resolved to
map out a Marshall Plan for
development of the region, saying
the proposition would be
carried out in partnership with
critical stakeholders, its House of
Representatives counterpart and
the Northern States Governors’
Forum.
The resolution was contained
in a communiqué signed by NSF
chairman, Abdullahi Adamu.
This is not the first time voices
from the North have spoken out
on restructuring.
On July 27, the governors
of the 19 Northern states, at a
meeting with traditional rulers
of the region in Kaduna, said the
region was not opposed to the
restructuring of the country but
that any restructuring should be
done within acceptable criteria
and must be fair to all component
parts of the country.
“It is also my expectation that
at the end of this meeting today
and, God willing, tomorrow’s
meeting of the governors, the
forum and our esteemed royal
fathers will adopt a consensus
position on restructuring of the
country that will be reflective
of the general overall interest of
the people of Northern Nigeria
and which will attract popular
acceptance,” said Ibrahim Shettima,
governor of Borno State
and chairman, Northern States
Governors’ Forum.
“It is of vital importance to arrive
at such consensus position
because it is crucial to dispel the
erroneous impression created and
disseminated by certain interests
in this country that the North is
opposed to restructuring.
“Secondly, it is important to do
so not only to accommodate the
mainstream of Northern public
opinion, our primary constituency,
but to also counter the specific
versions of restructuring, which
generally seek to place the North
in a position of strategic political
and economic disadvantage, but
portrayed as the only versions
that can work for the nation,” said
Shettima.
On July 28, the forum constituted
a high-powered committee
to collate views and comments on
the state of the nation, with specific
reference to the agitations for
the restructuring of the country.
On September 13, the committee
set up by the Northern
States Governors’ Forum and
the Northern Traditional Rulers
Council to aggregate the views of
Northerners on the restructuring
debate agreed to hold public
hearings in the 19 states of the
region.
Speaking after the inaugural
meeting of the committee in Kaduna,
Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto
State governor and chairman of
the committee, said members had
agreed to hold extensive consultations
with stakeholders and leaders
of thought in member states
with a view to coming up with
acceptable position that would reflect
the view of the entire North.
On September 28, at the North
West Zonal Public Hearing on
True Federalism held at the Kano
State Government House, Northern
states of Kano, Kastina, Jigawa,
Nasarawa and Benue said
they would support restructuring
in the condition that there would
still be a strong Federal Government.
Governor Abdullahi Umar
Ganduje of Kano expressed support
for “a strong Federal Government
founded on a clear responsibility
and sufficient resources
to guarantee the development of
the federating units”. Governor
Aminu Masari of Katsina, while
calling for an arrangement that
would recognise the peculiar
needs of the different federating
units, said the powers of the
central government must not be
weakened in the process of the
devolution.
For the records, the call for
restructuring and true federalism
has been around in the country
for a long time. It was part of
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-
Ojukwu’s demands at Aburi-
Ghana prior to the outbreak of
the Nigeria/Biafra war. It was
one of National Democratic Coalition’s
major demands in the
months and years following the
annulment of the June 12, 1993
presidential election.
But at no time has it ever been
as deafening as recently, with virtually
all sections of the country
agreeing that it is the only way
forward for Nigeria.
Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socialcultural
organisation, has continued
to insist that Nigeria needs
a devolved structure and return
to a parliamentary system of
government.
In the South-East, notwithstanding
sustained agitations for
Biafra in some quarters, prominent
political, intellectual and
business elite in the region have
also continued to demand a new
structure where each state or region
of Nigeria will be relatively
autonomous with powers to
largely develop and control its
resources.
Individuals in all the regions
have also continued to speak out.
Yinka Odumakin, spokesman
of Afenifere, said restructuring
must take place before the
next election because to pursue
another election on the basis of
the current constitution would
mean that Nigerians would have
signed for another four years
under the same dysfunctional
constitution.
“If we want to keep this country
together, we must restructure
Nigeria before we hold another
election. The country is falling
apart and it is collapsing on
everybody’s head. The urgent
business of now is to restructure
Nigeria, and not holding elections.
If you hold any election under this
arrangement, you are just fasttracking
the imminent collapse
of Nigeria.
“It is those who cannot see,
those who lack the mental mindset
to understand where Nigeria
is headed without restructuring,
that are saying that it is not an
urgent matter. We can’t afford to
move on with Nigeria without restructuring.
It is an urgent matter,”
Odumakin said in an interview
with BDSUNDAY in October.
Balarabe Musa, former governor
of old Kaduna State, said
the demand for restructuring is
constitutional, fair and appropriate,
adding, however, the problem
was different people have different
ideas of how to restructure.
“As far as we are concerned,
the restructuring will require,
first, reconciliation between
Nigerians. Let Nigerians reconcile
themselves and agree for an
ethnic-free and progressive Nigeria.
We don’t want any ethnic
sovereignty. Let us unite. I will
like a situation where every Nigerian
is of Nigeria,” said the former
governor.
“The second restructuring we
require is political. The 36 states
are not viable; we can’t even
pay salaries of workers. Let us
go back to the 1963 Constitution
where we had regional governments.
Each one of the regional
governments we had then was
capable of taking care of itself.
Each one of them was economically
viable. Let us go back to that
arrangement. Each of the current
zones would be viable enough
without going to government at
the centre. And again, let us have
a centre which is capable of uniting
the country without being too
powerful,” he said.
Perhaps the only region where
there have been muted objections
to restructuring has been
in the North, with many in the
region fearing that restructuring
meant economic emasculation
of the North. That Northern elements
are becoming more open
to discussions on restructuring is
a good sign.
By and large, restructuring
has been a hot-button issue in
the Nigerian polity. The sooner
every section of the country joins
in the debate and comes up with
its position, the better. Anyone
under the illusion that discussion
on the need to restructure Nigeria
will die a natural death had better
have a rethink.