Former Secretary to the Taraba state government, Senator Abdulahi Bala Adamu, has called on Nigerians to brace up in their quest for addressing the socio-political and economic problems affecting the country.
Adamu was reacting to recent calls for the restructuring of country at the 2017 National Conference of the Public Administration and Management Development Institute (PAMDI) held recently in Lagos.
The conference which with the theme ‘Re-engineering the Nigeria state: Challenges and prospects,’ saw participants discuss the way forward for Nigeria’s problems.
On restructuring, he observed that since individuals and groups had different views on the issue, thus there is an urgent need to reach a consensus in this regard.
The idea of existing federal structure and the clamour for restructuring of the country cannot be wished away with a mere wave of hand.
I think that the perception of domination or injustice is based on a false premise.
The former gubernatorial candidate in Taraba State however urged Nigerians to unite and forge a consensus on how to make the country better.
Also Professor, Diji Daniel Aina, the Vice Chancellor of Caleb University, delivered a paper on, “Federalism and the Nigerian State: An Anti-Thesis.” He was represented at the action by Dr. Olawole Adetoyin.
In his paper, Aina took participants down memory lane on the history of Nigeria and stated that the discovery of oil brought to an end the doggedness of the different regions to continue to fend for their economic advancement.
“Before the so called oil boom we had the North producing and exporting groundnut which helped in the sustenance of the economy of that region. Same was said about the West that also produced cocoa, but the coming of oil disrupted everything including the groundnut pyramids.
Aina said the 1979 constitution gave the central government enormous power, which must not be so if Nigeria is to move forward with the current challenges.
Human rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) who was represented by a human rights activist Stanley Imhanruor, backed the call for restructuring if it involved true federalism and justifiability of Chapter 2 of the Constitution.
He said: “It is difficult to talk about restructuring without talking about true federalism. We must restructure Nigeria economically so that the country’s wealth is fairly distributed.”
Ananaba, who shared similar sentiments, condemned any attempt to balkanise the country.
The chairman, governing council of PAMDI, Prof Uche Jack-Osimiri said re-engineering, rather than restructuring was the way to solve the mounting agitations across the country and urged Nigerians to be their brother’s keeper.
“We cannot afford to leave one section of the country behind. Yes there is poverty in the north east, but the rest of the country must not leave them behind to die. We must help them to grow, just like West Germany helped East Germany after the fall of communism,” Jack-Osimiri concluded.
On the reasons behind the call for the conference, the Director General of PAMDI, Dr. Elijah Ogbuokiri, said PAMDI is committed to contributing to the development of the country through objective advocacy.
The highpoint of the event was the presentation of merit awards to some Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in leadership and selfless services to the nation.
Falana and Dr. Paul Ananaba (SAN) were afterwards conferred with Distinguished Professional Service Award and Fellowship Award.
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