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Northern elders back agitation for restructuring, say Nigeria failing
BY NICHOLAS ABE
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) says ongoing agitation for the restructuring of system of government in Nigeria is in order and has subsequently advised Nigerians not to be tired of demanding a change in the way the country is currently constituted from the present government.
The Forum said the Nigerian state was failing, especially in the management of security, hence the need to revisit the way the country is structured to provide security for citizens.
Prominent Nigerians and groups, including the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, have continued to impress on President Muhammadu Buhari and the federal government on the urgency to restructure the country and avoid a break up.
Speaking on Tuesday morning while featuring on Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily, NEF spokesperson, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, insisted that the country must be restructured to address fundamental issues that ought to have been addressed since Nigeria gained independence.
He observed that the two basic functions of the state are to secure citizens and provide for their welfare.
“Now, the Nigerian state is failing in both camps. So, restructuring for us means addressing those failures and identifying ideas, suggestions, and changes that can actually fit into the process of improving them.
“Policing is a fundamental issue. Here in the north where I come from, you could spend three days with bandits ravaging communities and you will not see a single policeman. Something is wrong with the way the country is structured to provide security for citizens. So, we need to revisit some of these issues,” Baba-Ahmed said.
READ: Nigeria @ 60: Restructure now to avoid break up – Adeboye tells FG
The NEF spokesperson stressed that the Nigerian constitution must be revised to “deal with issues that divide Nigerians rather than unite them.”
According to him, “We need to look at our constitution, look at the way it provides for the Nigerian state, the federating units, allocate responsibilities in power, the works of vital institutions, or the failure of vital institutions to work and how we can improve them.
“When we make demands for the restructuring of the country, we are not necessarily saying that the government is deliberately causing the problems – they are cumulative issues, matters that should have been addressed a long time ago but they were not addressed. Nations must accept to revisit how they live.
“Nigerians have a right to ask for changes, for amendment, for improvement in the manner in which we live. There is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is for the government to specifically say we don’t want to hear anything about restructuring.
“Right now, no one will dispute that the federal government carries too many responsibilities most of which it doesn’t discharge, has too many resources and is not well run. It has become a focus of intense competition. The type of competition that makes the political system unstable. Everybody wants the Presidency. Everybody wants to go to Abuja. Abuja is everything. This is wrong.”
Baba-Ahmed, also an Associate Professor in the Department of Government & Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences, Baze University, Abuja, noted that the reports of many conferences whose recommendations have not been implemented need to be revisited.
“We believe that Nigerians should never (be) tired about demanding that their country must be made to work. If the government is not going to do it on its own, it needs assistance. If it needs some pressure, we believe we can provide that pressure,” he concluded.