Noble laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Thursday, renewed the call for the restructuring of the country.
Soyinka, who spoke at the 50th anniversary lecture Punch Nigeria Limited titled: “Recovering the Narrative at Civic Centre on Victoria Island, Lagos: “Said Nigeria’s restructuring has become inevitable for it to prevail over its challenges.
He stressed that Nigerians did not have to go through unending hardship to live better.
The playwright noted that restructuring remained the panacea to sustainable development of the country.
Soyinka said those leading the country recognised the importance of restructuring and its inevitability, but were not adopting it for whatever reason.
The Nobel laureate and a few other prominent Nigerians, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, have argued that the restructuring of Nigeria is the ultimate solution to its numerous challenges.
Soyinka said: “It is about time that leaders of this nation stopped taking us for a ride.
“Do we have to go through surrogates, dismantling empires to come to fulfillment?
“Decentralise simply so that government can come closer to the people and productivity ability manifested as a product of citizens, not simply as manna from heaven.
“Let me state quite clearly that no one has ever claimed that ‘fecentralisation’ – a precise word I personally prefer – will end hunger in the land or terminate religious conflicts and other forms of national malaise, no.
“We simply insist that this is central to the incomplete mission of – nation-being.
“It is essential to activities of basic existence such as food production, and access to such products. Palliatives remain crude, short-term, stop-gap measures only.”
According to him, restructuring is necessary to maximize development in the country.
He noted that the provision of palliatives to the suffering masses was just a stop-gap.
Soyinka, who called for genuine action on restructuring, lamented that many conferences on the subject had not yielded positive results.
He challenged the government to restore dignity to citizens and guarantee three square meals a day for the people.