Elders from the northern part of Nigeria have endorsed the call for restructuring the country, saying it is in order.
This time, the support for restructuring came from the influential Northern Elders Forum (NEF).
The group said it is wrong for the Federal government to turn a deaf ear to anything about the demand for restructuring the country.
The forum, therefore, called on Nigerians not to get tired, insisting on the restructuring of the country.
The General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, advised last week that Nigeria should either be restructured or risk a breakup, following which the Presidency warned every one making such demands.
In fact, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, pointedly cautioned against such demands, describing it as “threats to the corporate existence of the country”.
But the NEF spokesman, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who spoke on the matter on Tuesday when he appeared on a Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily, said:
“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.
“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.”
He continued: “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.”
According to Baba-Ahmed, “many conferences whose recommendations have not been implemented need to be implemented.”
He added: “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.”