Restructuring: APC rules out regional govt

Tom Okpe, Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has ruled out agitation for return to regional government in the country saying it is an arrangement practiced in the first republic that would only foster the marginalization of ethnic minorities in the country.

Also, the House of Representatives on its part, assured Nigerians of its readiness to act on the report of the committee set up by the ruling party for restructuring to true federalism.

Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Abdulrazak Namdas, disclosed this Thursday in Abuja on the sidelines of a public hearing by the APC Committee on True Federalism saying that the lawmakers would not sweep the report under the carpet.

At the public hearing for Nigeria Women on true federalism in Abuja, the National Woman Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hajiya Ramat Tijani Aliu, decried agitation for return to regional government in the country.

She said: “On the issue of ideal federating units to adopt and whether or not there should be a merger or a creation of more states, it is our considered opinion that the status quo remains. A return to the regional government format is not visible for so many reasons well known to all of us.

“It will only fan the embers of minority suspicions of oppression. On the other hand, many states in the federation as presently constituted are not economically viable and largely, without the allocation from the centre they could barely pay or afford salaries”.

She further observed that a return to the parliamentary system as against the existing presidential form of government would only promote ethnic distrust.

“Even if it is widely believed that the presidential system encourages waste and it is too expensive, it is also believed that the parliamentary system of government in Nigeria was not exactly successful and well known that it encouraged sectionalism”.

She, however, believes in devolution of power to states as she noted that the central government is overburdened with functions better handled by the states and local councils.

“There is need for devolution of power from the centre to states. To fast track development of the country, some of the items on the exclusive list should be transferred to the concurrent legislative list. For instance, it will not be out of place to transfer federal roads to states”.

The House Spokesman assured that the reports of the panel will be given proper attention saying; “We are products of this party. Every lawmaker came to the National Assembly on the platform of various political parties and this committee was put together by our own party. So, naturally we (APC Committee) will collate views of the people here and send it to the party and the reason why we are part of it is that no view can be said to be independent; it has to come through legislation.

“The president said in his speech recently that the only recognized group that can talk about this is the National Assembly but, the National Assembly too is a product of the people. You cannot on your own amend things to suit the people, you have to collate views.

“So, when these views are collated and sent to us, I can assure you, we are going to work on it. I told you that I am a member of the National Assembly Committee on agitations. We call it agitations but it is restructuring. We realized after we voted that Nigerians are more interested in the devolution of powers and certainly, some of these states are not viable because they cannot get revenue on their own. If you devolve the powers to the states and probably restructure the revenue allocation (template), these states will be viable and they can generate revenue and pay salaries”, he added.

In his earlier remarks, former Edo state governor and chairman at the event, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor dismissed insinuations that the ruling party was being stampeded to open discussion on true federalism.