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Tag: Restructuring

  • Restructuring: PRONACO set to reconvene its peoples confab for Nigeria

    …adopts 2007 Peoples’ draft Constitution as Confab Proposal

    Pro National Conference Organization, PRONACO, a Pan Nigerian Movement initiated under the leadership of Late Chief Anthony Enahoro and Prof Wole Soyinka to resolve Nigerian perennial Constitutional challenges, has announced plans to reconvene its adjourned National Confab following the persistence of the logjam over the Restructuring of Nigeria

    According to the group’s Spokesperson, Olawale Okunniyi who addressed the press in Lagos on Monday, the move to reconvene the Nigerian peoples’ Confab, which adjourned in May 2007 has become necessary following series of consultations with eminent Leaders of thought and we’ll meaning political leaders in the country over Restructuring and self determination agitations of the Nigerian people.

    He said “PRONACO would not like to watch the country slide into a major civil strife before invoking its standing mandate to intervene in the worrisome political tension and ethnic acrimony currently embattling the country’s political space owing to contentions over the constitutional structure of Nigeria.

    The Confab group however hinted that it will soon interface with President Muhammadu Buhari, who incidentally was the most senior ally and backer of the Movement from the north while its Confab lasted in 2007 on the urgent need to convene a government driven national consultative panel to advise him on how to proceed on the contentious matter rather than allow it degenerate into a major distraction for governance in the country.

    PRONACO Secretariat, while commending the role of political leaders such as Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for their resourceful interventions so far said it has finalized plans to request some other frontline National Leaders in the country to play key roles towards the success of the proposed peoples Confab tentatively billed to commence in a consultative mode in January 2018.

    “Some of the eminent Leaders of thought already identified to play key roles as stabilising forces at the proposed peoples ‘Confab include; Prof Ben Nwabueze SAN, Dr Ahmed Jodah, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, Dr Paul Unongo, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Bisi Akande, Dr Usman Bugaje among others from the Northern and southern divide of the country”.

    “The proposed confab is expected to be composed of delegates and elective representation from Territorial social movements, ethnic nationality groups, political parties, labour centres, the Private sector, Professional bodies, Youth and women groups as well as governmental agencies, which shall be attending in advisory capacity to join other voting delegates to consider both the 2007 PRONACO’s peoples Constitution as well as the Nigerian 1963 Constitutions adoted as Confab Proposal” PRONACO concluded


  • Nigeria must restructure to create balance —Tinubu

    Nigeria must restructure to create balance —Tinubu

    A national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said restructuring will bring much needed balance to the country.

    The former Lagos State governor, however, said he was against the split-up of the country.

    Tinubu’s assertion followed repeated pronouncements by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that Nigeria’s unity is settled and not open to negotiation.

    Tinubu, who was the keynote speaker at the annual dinner of the King’s College Old Boys’ Association, on Saturday, described Nigeria as a nation that had not sufficiently defined its governance.

    The APC leader said, “We are like the bewildered couple who has got their marriage licence after a lavish wedding; yet neither of them really understands the meaning of marriage or their roles as husband and wife in it.

    “Legally, they are married but functionally, their union is a crippled one. This couple will be at loggerheads until somehow they forge an agreement on what type of home they want and what are their respective duties in making that home come into existence.

    “It is a rather curious lapse that a nation with such diversity as ours has not taken the time to give our legal marriage its proper functional underpinning. In other words, we all lined up to call ourselves Nigerians without gathering to discuss what it meant.

    “We may be defined by political borders and boundaries but we have not glued ourselves to collective purpose and vision. Too many of us are born in Nigeria but not of it. Thus, our society is not a collective enterprise as important to each of us as our own personal endeavour. It is a platform, an arena, to claim whatever one can by whatever means available.

    “Thus, we argue over matters that long ago should have been settled. The longer such fundamental questions fester, the more extreme become the proposed answers. Thus, we have people clamouring for secession in one part of the country and the murmur of such a course grows stronger in other sections.”

    Tinubu noted that blame and recrimination had become the political currency, while statesmanship had fallen in short supply as the dominant urge was to confront instead of reconcile.

    “Constitutionally, we are a federation of 36 states. However, the vestiges of past military rule continue to haunt the democratic road we hew. We function like a unitary state in many ways. We cannot become a better Nigeria with an undue concentration of power at the federal level. Competition for federal office will be too intense, akin to a winner-take-all duel.

    “Those who lose will bristle at the lack of power in the periphery they occupy. They will scheme to pester and undermine the strong executive because that is where they want to be. The executive will become so engaged in deflecting their antics, that it will not devote its great powers to the issues of progressive governance for which such powers were bestowed.

    “Things will be in a constant state of disequilibrium and irritation. Such a situation tends toward the maintenance of an unsatisfactory status quo in the political economy. It is against reform.

    “It would be better to restructure things to attain the correct balance between our collective purpose on (the) one hand and our separate grass-roots realities on the other. We must listen to what is being said so that we can determine what is really meant,” he added.

    Tinubu, however, noted that there were opportunists on the path to achieving balance in the polity.

    He said, “Let us be frank. Many who cry separation do so because their personal ambitions will be better served by such a thing. They believe they will have greater chance at political power under a different arrangement. Yet the cry for separation has gained traction among average people. This is due to the chronic failure of government to meet basic aspirations.

    “If over the years, government had delivered on the promise of growth, prosperity, and justice, those calling for such extreme remedies would be but a small fringe of little consequence.

    “Our task is not to condemn but to listen and understand. I care not at all for this proposed solution. But I dare not discount the concerns and problems that have led many people into advocating such a thing.

    “Here, I want to plainly state my position. I am a firm believer in Nigeria. I believe this land will become a great nation and a leader among other African nations. We can resolve our dysfunctions in a manner that will make this nation rise as a standard of decency, justice and prosperity for all Nigerians.”

  • PDP to boycott APC’s hearing on restructuring

    PDP to boycott APC’s hearing on restructuring

    The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has said it would not participate in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) public hearing on restructuring.

    The PDP argued that the decision was diversionary and a delay tactics.
    Speaking with newsmen yesterday at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, shortly after a delegation from China visited the leadership of the party, PDP spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the party will not participate “because the APC has no genuine interest in restructuring”.

    “It is a delay tactic to kill restructuring and we are not interested, we are not going to participate because the APC has no genuine interest in restructuring. They betrayed their real intentions. When this issue first reached the front burner, the APC leaders were campaigning against it, kicking against it. They said it was not in their manifesto.

    “Their national chairman and one of their governors came on television and said that the APC had no plans for restructuring, that it was not in their manifesto. So why have they now changed their mind?

    “And if you changed your mind, people are agitating for something and you say you are holding conferences, you are holding hearing. Have you become the National Assembly to be holding hearings? It is the responsibility of the National Assembly to hold public hearing; it is not the responsibility of any political party.

    “So, the APC is just deploying delay tactics to kill restructuring and it’s a shame on them. It is a sabotage of the whole process. The PDP organised a national conference in 2014, we came out with a concrete proposal unanimously agreed upon by the participants from all the six geo-political zones of the country.

    “We were planning that if we won election, that would be the first item on the agenda of the second term of the president but we didn’t have that opportunity. But it was an item that was presented to the present government during the handing over.

    “And now they’re telling us they want to have hearings. They think they are fooling Nigerians. The APC believes that they can take Nigerians for a ride; they can fool Nigerians all the time. They can tell lies, they can deceive the people but one day, nemeses will catch up with them because there is no need for you to say you are holding hearing.

    “There is a report on ground. Subject that report to another critical evaluation or throw it to the National Assembly to enact it into law and then we will know that we have started something,” Adeyeye said.

  • Photos: Meeting of Northern Governors committee on restructuring

    The Northern Governors committee on restructuring held its inaugural meeting on Wednesday in Kaduna.

    See photos below:

    L-R: Governors Umar Tanko Almakura of Nassarawa State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto and Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Professor Sonni Tyoden at the inaugural meeting of Northern Governors Forum/Norther Traditional Leaders Council’s committee on restructuring of Nigerian federation in Kaduna.

     

     

    L-R: Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Umar Tanko Almakura of Nassarawa, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto and Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Sonni Tyoden, at the inaugural meeting of Northern Governors Forum/Norther Traditional Leaders Council’s committee on restructuring of Nigerian federation in Kaduna.

     

    L-R: Governors Umar Tanko Almakura of Nassarawa State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto and Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Professor Sonni Tyoden at the inaugural meeting of Northern Governors Forum/Norther Traditional Leaders Council’s committee on restructuring of Nigerian federation in Kaduna.

    L-R: Governors Umar Tanko Almakura of Nassarawa State and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto with the Emir of Kano, HRH Muhammad Sanusi II discussing during the inaugural meeting of Northern Governors Forum/Norther Traditional Leaders Council’s committee on restructuring of Nigerian federation in Kaduna.

     

     

  • Wanted: A restructuring of minds, by Femi Adesina

    Hearing some Nigerians speak (whether based at home or in the Diaspora) you discern that they are “in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” They spew out things that give them away as “whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones.”

    What happened to grace? Where did decency disappear to? Are words not to be seasoned with salt again? What has happened to us as a people? The more rotten, the better, it seems. The fouler and odoriferous the cesspit, the more attractive, followed by applause.

    That seems to be the philosophy of some people today, and it doesn’t matter who they are. High or low. But we cannot continue that way, if we want to be acceptable to God, and to our fellow human beings. National development does not come by a sudden flight. You work at it.

    The sing-song in the country today is restructuring of the polity. We want more states. We want a return to regional structure. We want a revision of the revenue allocation formula. We want six vice presidents, one from each geo-political zone. We want those zones to be the federating units, rather than the states. And so on, and so forth.

    In fact, so loud is the cacophony of voices over restructuring that if you ask 100 people what they mean, they give you 100 different explanations. But as a country, I believe we will get there someday. And soon.

    However, is political restructuring the most urgent thing Nigeria needs now? I don’t think so. For me, what is more urgent is the restructuring of the Nigerian mind. A mind that sees the country as one, that believes that we have a future and a hope, that believes that we are one people under God. But what we see now is ruinous for any country. It is hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition.

    On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that we had exited from economic recession. It was cheery news for majority of Nigerians, save for those in the gall of bitterness. They spat in the sky, and collected the spittle with their faces. Who gave Nigeria the permission to exit recession? Who gave her the audacity of hope? How can the economy attempt to rebound, when it should sink deeper and deeper into the miry clay?

    They were in the doldrums, unhappy because good news came for the country. In their befuddled minds, Nigeria must never see a silver lining in the sky. The ravening clouds must ever remain victorious, must forever possess the sky, simply because of primordial reasons.

    The party in power is not my own, so why should Nigeria make progress under it? The President in office was not the one I voted for, so why should he succeed? He does not speak my language, he is not of my religion or ethnic stock, so why must Nigeria prosper under him?

    They, therefore, throw all sorts of tantrums, like a child whose lollipop is taken away, and attempt to rubbish the news on exit from recession. And those same people would canvass for a restructuring of the polity. Big mistake. Wrong priority. They need to have their minds restructured first, so that they have goodwill towards their own country, and towards all men. Left to them, they wish that when NBS releases results for the next quarter, Nigeria should have gone back into recession. Filthy dreamers! Awful imaginations! They need a restructuring of their minds, and quickly, too.

    Some people spend their lifetime expecting thunderstorms and hurricanes, so they never enjoy showers of blessing. Their addled minds expect negative news, so they never enjoy good tidings. They are the type that swallow poison, and then begin to hope that it will kill the person next door. Restructuring, restructuring, that is what such minds need.

    Chase after him. If you catch up with him, kill him. If he outruns you, poison his footsteps. That is the chant in most parts of the country today. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Hate has become their natural language. When they speak hateful words, they speak their native language, their mother tongue. Don’t mind the elevated offices they occupy now, or which they have occupied in the past. They are in the throes, in the paroxysms of bitterness.

    Only a restructuring of the mind can save them. My dear senior friend, Ikemba Obosima, from Imo State, has good counsel for them, in a text message he sent to one of them recently, which he copied me:”Pain will follow him who speaks or acts with evil thoughts, as does the wheel of the foot of him who draws the cart. He is greater man who conquers self than he who kills a thousand men in war…Love will purify the heart of him who is beloved as truly as it purifies the heart of he who loves.” But will they listen? If they have not danced too far, and have not become like the dog fated to get lost, which refuses to hear the whistle of the hunter. Let them return home, to sanity.

    The National Bureau of Statistics announced our descent into recession. They embraced the news, almost with sickening glee. Now, the same agency has announced exit, and they begin to question its impartiality. What kind of people are they? They want to hear only bad news? May their minds be restructured, lest bad news dog their footsteps. Malediction? Am I cursing anybody? Not at all.

    Just a warning, and a call to new attitude, new thoughts, new conduct. The things we expect have a way of coming upon us. Ask the biblical Job. “What I feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me.”(Job 3:25).

    One of the characteristics of a hateful mind is that it conjures a lot of mischief, and purveys same as truth. And the gullible laps it up. During the health challenge of our dear President, a thing common to any mortal, big or small, of high or low estate, they filled the land with evil tidings. Oh, he is on life support machine. No, he is dead and long buried. He will never return to that office, I swear. And then, God did what He knows how to do best. He showed the Deus ex machina, His Invisible Hands. Now, the reputation of those people is hanging on life support. If only men would restructure their minds!

    President Buhari says exit from recession is cheery news, but until the life of the average Nigerian is positively touched by the economy, he doesn’t consider the job done. Very good. Even the NBS, which brought the good news, says the economy is still fragile, and the good work must continue, so that we don’t slide back. That is exactly what this government would do. That is the motive behind the ERGP (Economic Reconstruction and Growth Plan). So, let nobody be filled with diabolic thoughts. Government does not feel it is there yet. Action stations! All hands on deck.

    A final word for haters, wailers, purveyors of fake news, or whatever you choose to call them. Evil minds wax worse and worse. A hater would envy others unnecessarily. He would conjure evil thoughts that would poison his system. He would manifest all sorts of negative tendencies that turn him into a proper child of the Devil. And at the end of it all, his master welcomes him home with open arms. “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” (Dante’s Inferno). And there will be plenty weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

    Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari.

  • Yoruba elders meet in Ibadan, insist on restructuring

    The Yoruba elders have insisted that Nigeria must return to a proper federation as obtained in the 1960 and 1963 constitutions to ensure peace and meaningful development.

    They made this view known at the Yoruba summit held in Ibadan on Thursday, which attracted Yoruba leaders, governors, parliamentarians, social cultural groups, professional bodies, market leaders and youth groups.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the summit after exhaustive deliberations issued a communiqué signed by Chief Afe Babalola(SAN) and Dr Kunle Olajide, the Aare of Efon Kingdom.

    According to them, the country as a multi-ethnic country could only know real peace and development when it is run along federal lines.

    The summit resolved that the greatest imperatives of restructuring Nigeria was to move from a
rent-seeking and money sharing anti-development economy to productivity.

    It stated that this could be achieved by ensuring that the federating units are free to own and develop their resources, while they pay agreed sums to the federation purse to implement central services.

    The summit agreed that the federating units be it states, zones or regions, which must themselves
be governed by written constitution to curb impunity at all levels.

    It demanded that Nigeria should be a federation comprised of six regions and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, while the regions shall in turn be composed as states.

    “The Federal Government should make laws and only have powers in relations to items
specified on the legislative list contained in the constitution of the Federation.

    “Each region shall have its own constitution containing enumerated exclusive and
concurrent legislative lists regarding matters upon which the regions and the states may
act or legislate.

    “Contiguous territories, ethnic nationalities or settlement shall be at liberty through a
plebiscite, to elect to be part of any contiguous region other than the region in which the
current geo-political zone or state boundaries places them,’’ the communiqué read.

    According to the summit, states as presently comprised in the geo-political zones into which they fall shall become regions and continue to exercise the executive, legislative and judicial functions currently exercised.

    “States with a region shall determine the items on the legislative lists in the regional constitution for the purpose of good government and the administration.

    “Also, provision of common inter-state social, economic and infrastructural requirements. Residual powers shall be vested in the states.’’

    The communiqué noted that the power to create states shall be within the exclusive powers of the region, which shall be obliged to create a state provided a plebiscite is conducted.

    This, it said shall be following a request by an agreed percentage of the residents of the ethnic nationality within a state, while the state holds the power to create local governments and assign functions.

    The summit resolved that states shall be entitled to manage all resources found within their boundaries and the revenue accruing therefrom.

    “The issue of the entitlement of littoral states to shore resources and the extension of such rights from the continental shelf and rights accuring to the Federal Government shall be determined by the national assembly.

    “The sharing ratio of all revenues raised by means of taxation shall be 50 per cent to the states, 35 percent to the regional government and 15 percent to the government of the federation.

    “For a period of 10 years from the commencement of the operation of the new constitution, there shall be a special fund for the development of all minerals in the country,’’ it stated.

    The summit added that government of the federation shall raise the sum by way of additional taxation on resources at a rate to be agreed by the National Assembly.

    It stated that the National Assembly shall set up a body to manage the funds with equal representation of nominees from each of the regional governments.
    The summit also said that the National Assembly shall set out and specify the guidelines for the administration of the funds exclusively for this purpose, while the president of the Federation shall appoint a chairperson for the entity so formed

    The summit had recalled the great strides made by the Yoruba nation in the years of self-government until the abrogation of the federal constitution in 1966.

    It stated that such was evident in mass literacy, novel infrastructural strides and giant leaps in all spheres of human development.

    The summit warned that Nigeria was working dangerously to the edge of the slope except urgent steps are taken to restructure Nigeria, saying there was need to restructure from a unitary to federal constitution.

  • The APC, PDP fight over ‘ownership’ of restructuring, by Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

     

    It looks ludicrous, even childish that the two leading political parties in Nigeria – All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – would be fighting over who owns “restructuring” of the country, as an item in their agenda for the people.

    There shouldn’t be any skirmish if the parties present and/or represent clear-cut ideologies. Even when they have something akin to ideology, it’s only meant for the campaigns, and would sooner be dropped when actual governance stares them in the face.

    Nonetheless, the APC-PDP imbroglio over who possesses “restructuring” couldn’t have come at an opportune moment when the top issue in the polity is a possible re-examination and redefinition of the “non-negotiable” UNITY of the Nigerian State, as established in 1914 when the British colonial masters cobbled the Northern and Southern Protectorates into one entity.

    The APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, reportedly started the snivelling over “restructuring” when he censured the PDP as “not interested in restructuring,” but only bringing it up through the 2014 National Conference, ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    Trust the opposition to fire back immediately through its national spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, who said the APC’s sudden interest in restructuring was a bait for the 2019 general elections, “after several months of denial” by its top officials that the party “did not promise restructuring in its manifesto and during the campaigns in 2015.”

    Of a truth, the sudden altercation between the APC and PDP wouldn’t have occurred had the top shots of the ruling party not engaged in vacillation, equivocation and doublespeak on the hot-button issue of restructuring of the polity, which the party promised in its ‘Manifesto’ presented to the public on Wednesday, August 21, 2013, by then APC Interim Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, in Abuja.

    In the 11-paragraph ‘Preamble’ to the Manifesto, at paragraphs 7-9, the APC, showcasing itself as an “Agent of change” for committed, transparent and focused leadership, declares:

    “As a change Agent, APC intend to cleanse our closet to halt the dangerous drift of Nigeria to a failed state; with a conscious plan for post-oil-economy in Nigeria.

    “To achieve this laudable programme, APC government shall restructure the country, devolve power to the units, with the best practices of federalism and eliminate unintended paralysis of the centre.”

    And in its seven (eight) cardinal programmes offered to the Nigeria populace, the party specifically lists “Devolution of Power” as the sixth (6) item.

    Indeed, several of the 28 Sections of the “Guiding Philosophy” of the APC Manifesto contain declarations for “restructuring” and “devolution of powers” that are so germane in Nigerians’ agitation today. Samplers:

    Under Politics & Governance, the APC promises to, “Initiate action to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit.” It also pledges to “Amend the Constitution to remove Immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminals cases.”

    National Security: “Begin widespread consultations to amend the Constitution, to enable States and Local Governments to employ State and Community Police, to address the peculiar needs of each community.

    Conflict Resolution, National Unity, Social Harmony: “Initiate policies to ensure that Nigerians are free to live and work in any part of the country by removing state of origin, tribe, ethnic and religious affiliations and replace those with state of residence.”

    Jobs and the Economy: “Amend the Constitution and the Land Use Act to create freehold/leasehold interest in land with matching grants for states to create a nationwide electronics land title register on a state by state basis.”

    Local Government: “We shall ensure that the Local Government system of administration is autonomous so that it can perform the constitutional role demanded of it.”

    Prisons Service & Correction Centres: “We will explore the option of suspended sentence, community service and more frequent periodic pardon.”

    For initially questioning, “What is restructuring” that’s cardinal to its ‘Manifesto’ and which it campaigned with at rallies for the 2015 elections, the APC literally ceded “ownership” of the subject to the opposition PDP, which is clutching it tenaciously, aftermath of the consensus for it across the country.

    However, it should be stressed that although it didn’t campaign with, and had been silent about it, “restructuring” forms part of PDP’s ‘Manifesto’ and resolution on the party formation passed on Wednesday, August 19, 1998, at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja.

    In the ‘Preamble’ to the document, under items 5 and 6 of the ‘Resolution,’ the PDP promises: “(5) To restructure Nigeria in the spirit of true federalism, so as to achieve a just and equitable distribution of power, wealth and opportunities.

    “(6) To resolve such fundamental matters as proper devolution of powers, power shift and power sharing in a federal structure, so as to create the socio-political conditions conducive for our living together in peace, unity and social harmony.”

    And under ‘Indivisibility of the Nigerian Polity’ in its 32-item programme of action, the party states: “The PDP believes in the perpetual unity of Nigeria under the federal system of government,” and “… shall also promote geopolitical balancing (which the South-East particularly clamours for) as a fundamental principle of power sharing in the country.”

    So, between the APC and the PDP, which is “interested” in “restructuring” of Nigeria: The APC, which promises the matter in its 2013 Manifesto, campaigned with it ahead of the 2015 polls, questioned it thereafter, and finally set up a committee for its possible adoption in the wake of challenges facing the country?

    Or the PDP that drew up the item in its 1998 Manifesto, but never campaigned with it for 16 years nor advanced its implementation even after the 2014 National Conference convoked by the government it controlled?

     

    Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • We don’t need restructuring in Nigeria – Obasanjo

    We don’t need restructuring in Nigeria – Obasanjo

    Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has said the agitations for restructuring in almost every region of the country is uncalled for.

    The former Nigerian leader insisted that what the country needs at the moment is restrucuturing of the mind to towards achieving a greater nation.

    He made his stance known on the sidelines of the African Leadership Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    The former President said Nigerians should restructure their minds before calling for restructuring of the country.

    Obasanjo said Nigerians’ focus should be on how to include everyone in a nation that is already well endowed.

    He said, “We have to restructure our mentality, we have to restructure our minds we have to restructure our understanding of Nigeria, what country do we want and if we decide on what country we want, how do we get that country, all hands on deck.

    “How do we get inclusive, how do we get every Nigerian feeling a sense of having a stake in the country.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that eminent Nigerians such as former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babagangida, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and a host of others have all learnt their voices to the demands for a total restructuring of the country.

  • Restructuring: Ajimobi advocates resource control, fiscal discipline

    Restructuring: Ajimobi advocates resource control, fiscal discipline

    As the debate for the restructuring of the country rages, Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has called on the Federal Government to surrender the control and management of revenue accruing from natural resources to the owner states.

    The governor canvassed the position as a panelist at the ongoing 57th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, where he presented a paper on “Debt as a drag on institution building,” in Lagos, on Wednesday.

    Other speakers at the session were the Ghanaian Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, and the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Mrs. Patience Oniha.

    In what he described as a warped federalism that favours the FG, the governor said that the states have continued to rely heavily on the centre for the bulk of the revenue to manage its affairs.

    Ajimobi said, “There is an urgent need for fiscal independence for the states if we are to be free from going to Abuja monthly cap in hand to collect allocations. Let the states control some of the resources in their domain.

    “Let the FG unbundle some of the responsibilities in its care. Some of the items currently on the exclusive legislative list should be moved to the concurrent list. For, instance, there is no reason why the FG should be giving licenses to miners in my state.

    “We need to revisit this arrangement so that the states will not perpetually be at the mercy of the FG. The practice is stifling the development of the states. Financial independence will reduce the rate at which states obtain loans.”

    The governor had blamed the country’s high debt profile on political and economic instability, policy fluctuations, bribery and corruption, misappropriation, non-adherence to sound economic philosophy, weak institutions and deficient legal frameworks.

    As one of the African countries touted as having the potential of becoming an economic power house, Ajimobi stressed that Nigeria must look deeply at its debt management and servicing tactics to attain the status.

    He identified administrative corruption by political leaders and collaborating civil servants, through diversion of loans meant for designated projects to other projects that would cater for their narrow interests, as a major factor responsible for the country’s rising debt profile.

    The governor recommended the strengthening of institutional capacity, adherence to terms and conditionality of loans, attitudinal change and project financing monitoring as the panacea to the country’s high debt profile.

    The governor said, “There is a positive correlation between meaningful economic growth and strict financial discipline. The reverse may be the case when debt servicing, whether external or domestic, becomes burdensome due to mismanagement of loans.

    “Nigeria, among some other African countries, has been noted to be among the world growing economies and as such we cannot but take loans, but we must look at the diligent approach and management of our debt.

    “It is no longer news that institutional corruption perpetuated by politicians and colluding civil servants has over time caused the country a lot of problems, as the two divert loans meant for particular projects to other projects they believe their individual purposes would be served.”

    In his presentation, Ghana’s finance minister recalled his country’s financial journey post-2007 debt forgiveness by creditors; a period during which he said Ghana witnessed economic growth and turnaround.

    Ofori-Atta blamed what he described as the unfortunate misappropriation of the country’s loans over time for its retrogression to 73 per cent debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio and a decline in growth rate.

    Since the incumbent administration took over the reins of leadership about eight months ago, he said that Ghana had put in place stringent measures to regulate its debt through the creation of debt management office.

    In a similar vein, he said that the country also approved deficit target by the legislature and criminalized any attempt by politicians or civil servants to undertake projects outside budgetary provisions.

    The minister said, “Ghana has criminalized any attempt by civil servants and politicians to execute projects outside the budget. We have created the DMO office and gave legislative approval to deficit target, among other measures to stabilize the debt rise and grow our economy.

    “The most important aspect of the measures is to grow revenue and reduce taxes by 40 per cent for the people to get back to business. There is a lot of optimism and we are having a negative to a positive outlook.”

    On her part, the DMO boss said that her office had done its bits towards attaining fiscal sustainability, stressing that borrowing was part of the budget implementation of the office since its creation in 2000, following the country’s exit from the Paris Club.

    Oniha urged the FG to create paths for states and corporate bodies to raise capitals and bonds as availed by commercial banks.

    She described the country’s revenue as underperforming, equating it to that of Bangladesh, adding that “our revenue level is very low because apart from new borrowing, the old borrowing is piling.”

  • South West leaders to hold grand rally on restructuring on Sept 7

    South West leaders met in Lagos on Sunday to unfold plans for an upcoming Yoruba “Grand Rally on Restructuring”.

    Addressing newsmen after the meeting, the Chairman, Organising Committee for the Rally, Dr Kunle Olajide, said that the rally, scheduled to hold in Ibadan on Sept. 7, would be a one-agenda-congress on restructuring.

    He said: “This endeavour has to do with Nigeria and the aim is for a united Nigeria.

    “The all-inclusive summit of the Yoruba people will have more than 100 Yoruba groups that will declare their stand on the need to restructure Nigeria.

    “Yoruba leaders at home and abroad and organised groups, students, artisans, past and current elected public officials across the political spectrum will be converging in Ibadan to appraise the issue of restructuring and fashion out a workable way out of the quagmire the country is presently in.”

    The meeting, which held at the Protea Hotel, Ikeja, saw key leaders from the zone such as Pa Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Amos Akingba in attendance.

    Also at the meeting were Chief Supo Sonibare (Afenifere Chairman, Lagos), Yinka Odumakin (Afenifere Spokesman), and Prof. Banji Akintoye, among many others.
    Olajide said although the South West governors and all Yoruba would be at the meeting, the gathering would be a non-political one.

    According to him, Nigeria is drifting dangerously and there is the need for those at the helm of affairs to listen to the yearnings of the people and do the needful to maintain unity and peace.

    He added: “We are meeting to take a crucial decision on Nigeria.

    “We are going through a very difficult phase.

    “So patriots have to rise up and find lasting solutions to the difficulties we are experiencing.”

    Olajide further said that legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola, would chair and direct the rally.

    The rally would be coming a few weeks after the Senate voted against amending the 1999 Constitution to accommodate restructuring that would devolve more powers to the states.