Secession may not end marginalisation in Nigeria- Omolegan

Idowu Omolegan is a Lagos based lawyer, public affairs analyst and philanthropist. In this interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he says breaking up the country into regions may not end marginalisation in Nigeria, he also speaks on several other issues

There has been increased call for restructuring of the country, is that the solution to the nation’s problem?
Many of the people clamoring for restructuring don’t know what they are talking about, do they want resource control, true federalism or regional government?

They have to be sure of what they want; there are ways you can go about restructuring if you are not careful the country would be divided. If we want to talk about revenue accruing to the states then let us amend the constitution so that certain ministries can go and the center would also be weakened and this duplication would stop.

If that is the restructuring that they are talking about, fine. I think in the past when we were running the regional government everyone controlled their resources, but if we are talking about true federalism it could be dangerous for the county.

My view is that dividing the county may not be the solution to our problems, imagine when you give the South -South or Ijebu people freedom, they would still dominate themselves, some session would still cry of marginalisation.

If we want to copy the way Americans practice true federalism; we should go back and copy them well. What we have here is a bloated system, duplicated ministries at all levels.

Unfortunately the cry for breakup may not go far because there is no provision for a referendum in our constitution; Nigeria is running a unitary government pretending to be a federal state.

Unless power is devolved among the regions, not much maybe achieved. There is sense in unity, the moment you say lets break up there would be problems. We need to be sure of what we want, if we want restructuring let us do it, if we want true federalism let us do it.

But, how can the agitations heating up now be better handled?
The ethnic agitations are not new. Nigerians cannot be happy with the state of affairs in the country, they are against corruption and our leaders, look at some of them living affluent lifestyle, look at their cars, this is what the people are saying, there is so much anger in the land.

Similar situation happen in Britain before, but they started paying salary to the jobless youths because they were afraid.

Even if you divide the country, some people would still dominate themselves, the Ijebu and Egba would dominate, the people will still complain, you know the saying if we go back to regional governance we can’t be safe. People talking about restructuring should know what they are taking about.

Are you against restructuring?
What we need to do is eliminate duplication in the ministries. If we want to restructure the country, let us sit down and eliminate all these wastages.

There is multiple duplication of ministries, go to the local governments and see the wastages, if we do this alone Nigeria would be a better country.

What about the call for the Igbo to leave the North?
I think that call was a reprisal attack against the agitation for separation from them. The IPOB should be informed of the trouble and damages that arose after the civil war.

I know a lot of Igbo would not want the country divided because a lot of them have made significant contributions and investment in the North. There is sense in unity, our fore- fathers were playing ethnic politics and that is what is affecting us.

Buhari is two years in power how do you assess his government?
Until Nigerians come back to their senses that what we need to do is elect youths into public office, which is better, we not see significant change.

In advanced countries that is what is done, look at Clinton and Obama how old were they when they ruled. Tinubu just went and picked Buhari because he thought Nigerians would vote for a Northern candidate. We did not have choice than to vote for him.

This government is not there, it is the worst government so far. Why is he not prosecuting the corrupt people? What is he doing with the looted funds, I have lost hope in this government and I would not vote for them again.

How would you access the anti graft war?
I have lost hope in the anti graft war. Till now nobody has been tried, the anti graft war is fading out, look at the former SSG, where is the report of the panel to investigate him?

He was accused but it seems the issue would be swept under the carpet. That is why I would support those who say that the anti graft war is selective, let people like Fashola come and clear their names, the war is selective.

Should the National Assembly be scrapped?
Even if it is not the two houses that should go, let’s cut the House to one. The huge expenditure of running the National Assembly is a burden, let’s go and ask America how they remunerate their lawmakers, that is part of restructuring that we are talking about.

But the judiciary has been accused of being part of the problem, judges were arrested?
The arrest of the judges is justified, that is the best way of restructuring the judiciary, the judiciary is doing well and cases dragging for long is being dealt with in the court, a lot of judges are being appointed, there are adverts in the papers for more judges to be appointed, but I think the judiciary have mechanism to clean itself.

Do we still need Special courts to fight corruption?
We have so many of the special courts, like the family court, sharia court etc. I strongly think that if the courts we have now can be strengthened and empowered they would function well.

Even the regular courts are not functioning well and that is because of the challenges in the system. Lets fix the court and things would work.