South-South leaders are demanding for restructuring

Leaders of the South-South geopolitical zone are demanding for the restructuring of the country. This is in check with true federalism, one that includes the devolution of powers to the federating units. They stated on Tuesday that it will guarantee peace, security and stability in the country.

 Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, The Chairman of the South-South Governors forum and Governor of Delta State, during the regional stakeholders meeting presented the region’s demand and said that the nation was not at peace because the country had failed to practice true federalism. The meeting was led presidential delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

The South-South leaders said such an arrangement where others zones depend on the resources of the Niger Delta decried the present arrangement and could not engender the development.

Daily Times reports that the media aide to Rivers State Governor, Kelvin Ebiri said in a statement on the outcome of the Port Harcourt meeting quoted Okowa as saying that the people of the zone were committed to restructuring of Nigeria in a way that would guarantee true federalism and devolution of powers to the states.

He said that states would be able to create and manage their own police and security architecture under a federal structure.

He called for “true federalism guided by the principle of derivation, revenue sharing and control of resources by each State of the federation as it was the case in the First Republic.”

He made it known that, the kind of federation the South-South geopolitical desires is one where federating units are constitutionally empowered to create their own structures.

“We are all aware of the huge endowment of this country. As such, it is imperative to stress that with a little bit of efforts, imagination, hard work, sacrifice and leadership, every state of the federation as of today, has the ability and capability to contribute to the national purse. This should be encouraged rather than the whole country depending substantially on a region of the country.

“What is worse and even more painful in this ugly situation is the deliberate lack of understanding, empathy and the uncompromising attitudes of some Nigerians, who have refused to understand the challenges of the South-South region of the country especially, the degradation of the environment and our waters.

 “As a result, most of the demands of the region have remained unattended to while the resources of the region have been used continually to develop other parts of the country”.

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Mr Okowa said that it was time to restore the country back to a true federation with all the attributes and nuances of a federal state.

“For us in the South-South, the #ENDSARS protest is a metaphor of almost all that is wrong with us, our refusal to properly understand issues, and imbibe and entrench the virtues of justice, fairness and equity.

“The previous system of true federalism was jettisoned and it created a powerful center controlling and distributing all the resources unevenly.

“There was now a strong desire to restructure the country in order to guarantee peace, security, stability and progress of the nation.

“The region demands true federalism and devolution of powers to the states, including creating and managing their own police and security architecture, true fiscal federalism guided by the principle of derivation, revenue sharing and control of resources by each state,” he said.