BEVERLY HILLS, July 201, (THEWILL) – Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday disclosed that he is throwing his weight behind the country’s restructuring because of his conviction that it would guarantee a united Nigeria and take power from the elite, giving same back to the people.
Revealing that his interest in the restructuring agenda dates back to his days as a member of the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, he pointed out that the party’s manifesto included the following words: “To improve the people’s welfare and fight for social justice”.
Atiku stated this in a lecture delivered on Wednesday at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, on the occasion of the Senior Staff Club Lecture Series on Restructuring Nigeria/Award of Excellence in Good Governance which was conferred on him.
At the event chaired by the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, he said with the political will, it will not take more than six months to restructure Nigeria starting with the transfer of all the items in the concurrent list to the states, a decision he said will not require a constitutional amendment.
Atiku maintained that reordering of the governance structure would ensure that “everyone has a chance to build and share in this great nation’s potential”, noting that restructuring might not be convenient for the elite who profit from the oil rent economy and the feeding bottle federalism being practised in Nigeria.
“But I believe we need to speak the truth. And the truth is this: our national wealth is being drained by a select few instead of building a country for all of us. This has to end.
“We need to return the resources and power back to the local level, and from the elite to the people.
“Only by restructuring can we guarantee unity, equity and security for our nation,” the former Vice President said, adding that Nigeria was drunk with easy money from oil but needed to change that mindset.
He warned that except Nigeria moved from being a sharing country to a productive one, it would continue to totter, adding that restructuring Nigeria to bring it back to the original dreams of the founding fathers was a choice that the country must quickly make.”
Atiku said, “To me, restructuring means making changes to our current federal structure so that it comes closer to what our founding leaders established, in response to the very issues and challenges that led them to opt for a less centralised system.
“It means devolving more powers to the federating units with the accompanying resources. It means greater control by the federating units of the resources in their areas.
“It would mean, by implication, the reduction of the powers and roles of the federal government so that it would concentrate only on those matters best handled by the centre, such as defence, foreign policy, monetary and fiscal policies, immigration, customs and excise, aviation, as well as setting and enforcing national standards on such matters as education, health and safety.
“Some of what my ideas of restructuring involve require constitutional amendment, some do not. Take education and roads for instance, the federal government can immediately start the process of transferring federal roads to the state governments along with the resources it expends on them.
“In the future, if the federal government identifies the need for a new road that would serve the national interest, it can support the affected states to construct such roads, and thereafter leave the maintenance to the states, which can collect tolls from road users for that purpose.
“The federal government does not need a constitutional amendment to start that process. The same goes for education and health care.
“We must reverse the epidemic of federal takeover of state and voluntary organisations’ schools and hospitals which began in the ‘70s, and also transfer those established by the federal government to the states.
“We do not need a constitutional amendment to transfer federal universities and colleges, as well as hospitals to the states where they are located.”
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