Write your name in gold, restructure Nigeria now - UK Afenifere tells Buhari, APC

By Clifford Ejenavi

The Afenifere Group in United Kingdom (UK) and Europe has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the All Progressive Party (APC) to write their names in gold by restructuring Nigeria now 

The Secretary of the Group, Engr. Anthony Kayode Ajayi stated this while speaking with Nigerian Impact from UK today.

According to him, restructuring is a song on the lips of many Nigerians, saying that it has trended for decades and it is an inter-generational topical issue in Nigeria. 

He said that the persistent call for restructuring takes numerous dimensions particularly outstanding in the dimension of politics. 

"It is no surprise though because the philosophy behind the existence of every state and the control of its resources bothers on politics. Therefore, when there is a damaged cog in the wheel of the politics of the state, it becomes imperative to politically restructure the state", Engr. Ajayi said.

The Group according to Engr. Ajayi strongly believe that, “Since massive corruption, insecurity, embezzlement of public fund, poor accountability; high cost of governance and the crisis of legitimacy; recurring ethnic, regional and religious clashes; abuse of constitution and constitutionalism, etc have thwarted Nigeria’s socio-economic and political development, we therefore urged that Nigerian's federal status as presently constituted be restructured along a legal framework that would grant a reasonable measure of autonomy to the states and component parts of the federation as the current poor socioeconomic situation of all Nigerians across the regions does not show sign of significant improvement in citizens’ living standard.

"To ensure peaceful coexistence of Nigerian multiethnic nationalities as one peaceful entity called Nigeria and effecting of rapid and competitive development of the different regions of the country among other factors consists the need for restructuring; while elite interest, fear of ethnic dominations, political idiosyncrasy among others construe the challenges facing political restructuring in Nigeria.

"The current Nigerian political structure right  from its inception till now has shown symptoms of administratively sick system of government resulting from such issues as the issue of resource control, outcry of marginalization, issue of ethno-tribal and regional discrimination and issue of  ensuring that every citizen irrespective of age, sex, religion, ethnic, linguistic, regional or tribal affiliation is given a sense of belonging to the country. Most importantly, the issue of resource control vis-à-vis political restructuring has become a contentious issue in Nigeria body politic, having been a key problem facing theNigerian state since the onset of ethnic politics.

"Despite the lopsided nature of the  country’s political structure, Nigeria  has persisted in the practice and has always resolved to the effection of punitive measures to the dysfunctional issues marking the nature of the federalist political structure operational in Nigeria. These measures manifest in form of the different reforms, structural policies, intergovernmental relations, unification programmes etc which had been adopted in the past by different Nigerian government regimes. Irrespective of the practice of imbuing the Nigerian political structure with corrective and curative measures, both scholars and other interested parties have gone to town for donkey’s years to continue their clamour for the restructuring of the federalist political nature of the country with   emphasis highly placed on the issue of intergovernmental relations between the federal and sub-national governments, issue of resource control and allocation, issue of revenue allocation, efficiency and functionality of the constitution, inequality of states and local governments in geopolitical zones, security and marginalization amongst others. 

"We therefore call on President Buhari and APC leaders not to miss this golden opportunity to restructure Nigeria now as history may not be kind to them if the country collapse under their leadership going by the reality of the day across the country".