Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has faulted the calls for the restructuring of Nigeria, saying it would not make any difference.
In a statement on Sunday by his Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, the
Vice-President made his position known while answering questions after
delivering the second foundation lecture of the Elizade University,
Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, titled “The future is here earlier than we
thought.”
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar had
recently advocated the restructuring of the country to ensure the
development and growth of its federating units.
Atiku had said the country should be
restructured in order to address the feelings of marginalisation by
component units that make up the country.
“Agitations by many right-thinking
Nigerians call for a restructuring and a renewal of our federation to
make it less centralised, less suffocating and less dictatorial in the
affairs of our country’s constituent units and localities,” the former
vice-president had said at a book presentation, “We are all Biafrans”,
in Abuja.
Since then, groups and individuals such
as the Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere; the pan-Igbo
umbrella body, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo; a former Secretary-General of the
Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; and an ex-Chairman of the Nigerian
chapter of Transparency International, Maj.-Gen. Ishola Williams
(retd.), had backed the call.
But Akande quoted Osinbajo as saying
that calling for restructuring of the country simply because the Federal
Government controls a bigger portion of the resources may not be
helpful or make a difference.
“Even if states are given half of the
resources of the Federal Government, the situation will not change. The
only change is to diversify the economy,” the Vice-President was quoted
to have told the gathering.
Osinbajo regretted that Nigeria is no longer earning enough income from oil and taxes.
He however expressed the belief that the
paucity of fund currently facing states in the country can end if state
governments focus on agriculture.
“We are not earning enough from oil and
taxes anymore. The nation is blessed; every state can feed itself and
also export if we engage in agriculture,” he said.
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