– A former minister of health A.B.C Nwosu has said the Nigerian may cease to exist as country if restructuring is not considered
– said it is wrong for President Muhammadu Buhari to have rejected calls for the restructuring of Nigeria’s political system
– He also said the current state of the country is not the dream of the founding fathers of Nigeria
The former minister of health A.B.C Nwosu has said the Nigerian may cease to exist as country if restructuring is not considered.
Professor Nwosu, who was also a political adviser to former president Olusegun Obasanjo said he is surprised that the present administration has neglected citizens’ call fir a restructured Nigeria.
Speaking on Saturday, November 5, at the public presentation of a book: “Dan-Nzelu: The biography of one of Nigeria’s foremost oil engineers”, Nwosu said it is wrong for President Muhammadu Buhari to have rejected calls for the restructuring of Nigeria’s political system.
He added that Nigeria would no longer exist as a nation if it was not restructured in a way that would weaken the power at the federal level.
Nwosu said the present political arrangement poses much pressure and over-concentration of power at the federal level.
He also said this was not the dream of the founding fathers of the country, Nigeria.
“This country will either live if restructured or die, if it is not restructured. Let me repeat it, this country will die if it doesn’t restructure; this country will live if it restructures,” Nwosu said.
“And restructuring to me is not regionalization. We can’t go on the way we are going on.
“If there is a problem in the North-East, it is the federal government, in the Niger Delta, it is the federal government, in Anambra state, it is the federal government. That is not the country our founding fathers envisaged.
“For those who don’t know, I was in secondary school, class 4, in 1960 when Nigeria gained independence. It wasn’t the vision of the premiers then. Even in church, the bishop is not in charge of determining for the parish when weddings take place.
“I am a Catholic, but Cardinal John Onaiyekan (Catholic Archbishop of Abuja) doesn’t determine Holy Trinity here; let alone the one in Gwagwalada, not to talk of my town, Nnewi.
“Why does the federal government want to be in charge of everything? The Federal Government will collect the money for everything, collect the powers for everything and that is why we have wastage.
“You have a permanent secretary and he has so many billions of dollars and millions of naira.
“It is not right, if you devolve this money or responsibilities from the centre to the government nearer to the people, they will know where the pothole is and patch it up.”
Meanwhile, the Indigenous People of Biafra have aligned itself with President Buhari’s recent statement that whoever has another country can leave Nigeria.
However, the group, which have been advocating for the freedom of Biafra have said it does not agree with conditions mapped out by the president for those who would want to leave.
No comments:
Post a Comment