Clamour for restructuring divides Nigerians

.Restructuring Nigeria inevitable, says Middle Belt forum

.Say campaigners for restructuring are haters of unity of Nigeria, self-centered

The clamour for the restructuring of Nigeria sharply divided two groups of Nigerians on Thursday, with each insisting that its position will promote unity of the country.

While a group of prominent politicians, comprising former Governors, ex-Ministers, serving and former Senators and federal and state lawmakers from the Middle Belt region of the country declared that the restructuring of Nigeria was inevitable, another group, made up of human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and
Trade Union Congress (TUC) among others described the call for restructuring as unrealistic, saying that those behind the call are haters of the unity of the country and self-centered.

The prominent politicians from the Middle Belt declared their support for restructuring of the country at the end of a crucial meeting in Abuja on Thursday.

In a communique issued at the end of their meeting, which lasted for five hours, and signed by National Secretary of the Middle Belt forum, Elder John Dara, they also called for the full implementation of the recommendations of the 2014 national political reform conference held in Abuja.

The political leaders from the Middle Belt made it abundantly clear in their eight point communique that the pressure from the northern and southern parts of the country is creating tension in their region.

They declared their support for the restructuring of the country “together with appropriate
devolution of powers to the federating units, and a commensurate revenue allocation formula”.

The communique reads in part: “After intensive deliberations on factors, structures, systems and forces behind Nigeria’s chronic instability, the Conference considered and passed the following Resolutions:

“In a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious country like Nigeria, the federal system makes enormous sense, because it allows the federating units to fully look after their local affairs and to develop at their own pace. Therefore, we hereby renew our loyalty, love and strong support for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We appeal to all separatist agitators to please allow the restructuring initiative to run its full course including efforts to implement the 2014 national conference report.

“We need to work together to effect the necessary leadership changes that will facilitate restructuring in Nigeria.

“However, we are resolutely of the view that the current federal structure is unbalanced, unfair, over-centralised and therefore unstable.

“Accordingly, we firmly support the demand to re-structure the federation, together with appropriate devolution of powers to the federating units, and a commensurate revenue allocation formula.

“Since these fundamental matters were considered and resolved at the 2014 National Conference, we urge the Federal Government to take appropriate and urgent steps to ensure full implementation of resolutions and recommendations contained in the Conference Report.

“We believe that a faithful and effective implementation of those recommendations will promote peace, harmony and greater security, thereby giving Nigeria a new lease of life.
The political leaders from the Middle Belt in the communiqué also condemned the quit notice order issued to the people from the South East living in the north to relocate to their states of origin.

They said: “We denounce, in the strongest possible terms, recent calls and threats to Nigerians from the South-East, living in the northern States of Nigeria, to move back to their areas of origin.

“Being free, equal and legitimate citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, such calls on south-easterners are totally unconstitutional and unacceptable. We urge the Federal and State Governments to take effective steps to ensure the safety and security of all Nigerians, wherever they may choose to reside.

“Whereas we love Nigeria and all Nigerians, we are constrained to make it abundantly clear that, in the catastrophic event of other components of Nigeria insisting to be entirely on their own, we resolutely wish to remain and continue to be the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with our Capital at Abuja.

“This Conference most profoundly appeals to leaders of various communities and components to continue to mutually and tirelessly work together for peace, reconciliation, social justice and harmony, so as to build a free, peaceful, secure, and democratic society, with a vibrant economy, and a bright future for all Nigerians.

The political leaders condemned the murderous activities of the Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria and called on the Federal Government to step up measures to curb this menace.

The also called on the Federal and Borno State governments to rescue the remaining Chibok girls and resettle them in their ancestral home.

The National President of Middle Belt Forum and former Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana, in his opening remark before the meeting went into closed door session, said for Nigeria to be peaceful and stable, the over 600 recommendations of the 2014 National Conference must be implemented.

The former Minister of Information and Professor of Geography wondered why northern delegates should turn around to reject the recommendations, which he said, were arrived at by consensus.
According to him, “What they (the Northern delegates to the conference) should do is to lobby, this is democracy. If there is anything they want to be included, let them lobby other delegates. This is allowed”.

Former President of the Senate and one-time Minister of Education, Professor Iyorcha Ayu, lamented that the Federal Government is failing in its responsibility to provide security to the people.

He decried the activities of Fulani herdsmen, especially in the Middle Belt region, adding, “We are under siege. How do we improve security in the region because it undermines the unity of the country?”

Among those in attendance at the meeting were Professor Gana; Dr. Ayu; Dr. (Senator) Ahmadu Ali, former National Chairman of the PDP; Dr. Jonathan Zwingina; former Deputy Leader of the Senate, Dr. Hassan; Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (rtd) Rev. (Dr.) Musa, National Secretary of CAN; Dr. Nuhu Zagbayi, former deputy governor, Niger State; Mr. Mike Abdul, former deputy governor, Nasarawa; General David Jemibewon (rtd); Senator Danjuma Leah representing Kaduna South district; former Senator Joel Danlamii Ikenya; Dr. Fidelis Tapgun, former Governor of Plateau State; Mr. Labaran Maku, former Minister of Information; Air Marshal (Senator) Isaac Alfa and Prof. (Mrs.) Angela Okagbaye among others.

However, human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and Trade Union Congress (TUC) among others described the call for restructuring of Nigeria as unrealistic, adding that campaigners of restructuring of are haters of the unity of the country and self-centered.

Falana who stated this while attending a world press conference organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other sister labour unions in Abuja on Thursday, said that those calling for undefined restructuring are fanning the ember of disunity as such is being done for personal reasons.

According to him, the dream of the founding fathers of Nigeria is for true Federalism devoid of ethnicity and the likes.

He said that such was the motive and how things were done on nationalistic level during the time of the likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowos among others.

He further stressed that poverty in proper reasoning, has contributed to agitation for federalism or rather restructuring of Nigeria.

“You see, no one can agitate for state restructuring without economic restructuring, we should first of all talk about the economy of the country and on how to address the issue of people’s welfare. This is very germane and we have to address it and do not forget that this is a country where oil blocks are given to an individual while the generality of the people wallow in poverty,” he said.

On the issue of National Conference, Falana said that most of the issues in the constitution of Nigeria remain unattended to, such as the issue of available shelter to Nigerians, social welfare, which he said directly improves the lives of the common man.

“We must criticise the call for restructuring and I must tell you that there are two major points of law that automatically dealt with the issue of rights of common man in Nigeria, which is basic free education and child rights, if such is dealt with as provided by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, then Nigeria will be better.”

While addressing the media, president of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, in company of his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Boboi Kaigama, stated that true Federalism cannot be a rocket science and that it can only be achieved through the process of dialogue.

Wabba said: “There is no country without problems of governance and Nigeria’s case should not be exceptional. What I am saying is that there so many issues we need to address to bring Nigeria under one umbrella. We should begin to address the issues on critical sectors and the passage of laws on citizens.”

The NLC boss further reiterated that in attempting to resolve issues of conflicts of interest for the purpose of having a better union, Nigerians must be irrevocably committed to dialogue, responsible and responsive dialogue that takes on board socio-economic justice, democratic culture, cohesion, political competitiveness, mutual respect and all those other values that strengthen a nation.

He said: “We believe that as huge and diverse as our country may be, just a desktop research will show that we are not so “peculiar or “diverse” that we are not able to manage, just like established federal states like India, USA, the United Kingdom and most countries in continental Europe, particularly Germany, Austria and a whole lot of them which became federation as a result of wars. There is basically no country on the surface of the earth that was literally created by God and installed as a model federal state.

“We are therefore never in doubt about the potential greatness of Nigeria as a federated nation, but only if the greed of our elites, and what our great literary icon, the late Chinua Achebe, calls the unwillingness or inability of its[Nigerian] leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership, will permit it to rise from the ashes of its main challenge of bad governance to assume its rightful place as the capital of the Black Race.”

Wabba noted that he will continue to underscore the need for good governance in the country as a basis for any realistic development and eventual emancipation of the people.

“If the resources available to us as a nation were well managed and not stolen by both the corrupt public and private sector operators, the escalating problems of (youth) unemployment, decaying infrastructure, non-funding of education, health and other social services, would have been adequately addressed”

He also pointed out that in estimation, that most of the issues in contention can be resolved through good governance, sustainable and transparent fight against corruption and addressing inequities and injustice in the system.

He stated that retreating into tribal or ethnic enclaves without first addressing these issues, amounts to abdication of collective responsibility and no more than making a bad case worse. This he remarked is why Nigeria speak to the ordinary Nigerians and Nigerians of good conscience to stand up and fight the evil in the system instead of attempting to destroy the whole nation.