Pan Yoruba Socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Monday blasted the
Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, over his comment that what Nigeria needed
was diversification of the economy and not restructuring.
The organisation has long campaigned for the restructuring of the country
in order to address the twin diseases of marginalisation and nepotism
afflicting the nation.
Afenifere in a statement issued and signed by its National Publicity
Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, said the Vice-President should educate himself
on the imperatives of restructuring Nigeria in order to speak from a
knowledgeable point of view or keep quiet.
The statement reads:
The attention of Afenifere has been drawn to the statement credited to
the Vice-president of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), that the call for
the restructuring of Nigeria would not make any difference.
The Vice-President in the faux pas also argued that if states are given
half of the resources of the Federal Government it would not make any
difference and that all we need is to diversify into agriculture.
While we understand that the learned Professor, who is from the zone that
has been loudest on this call may have come under pressure to lend his
voice to the upholders of the status quo that has brought Nigeria to this
sorry pass,we would like to respectfully admonish him to be sure footed on
the subject before he speaks next time.
He misses the entire debate by engaging in the reductionist argument
narrowing the whole issue to taking more money from the Federal Government
to the states. Yes, fiscal federalism is part of the argument but the
issue goes beyond the monthly Federal Allocation Committee.
The central plank of restructuring is for Nigeria to go back to the true
practice of Federalism wherein mineral resources that abound in all states
would be freed from the exclusive list so that states would move into
prosperity and not be reporting at Prof Osinbajo’s office for bailout from
a centre that only corners what belongs to the states.They would also have
enough to contribute to sustain the occupiers of Abuja and the functions
that are allocated to them.
Beyond resources,the country is reeling under crime today and the single
police we currently maintain has proved incapable of dealing with the
situation.When you listen to commissioners of police lamenting at the
scenes of crime these days you will think they are part of passers -by
terrified by the horror of crime.It is clear we need multi-level policing
to combat crime and have effective policing.
From the Federal, down to states and Local Governments, we are bogged
down with over bloated bureaucracies that consume as much as 90% of
available resources and with little or nothing left for development. We
must address how long we want to travel with this culture of waste and to
see if we can deliver better governance with a manageable architecture.
The question of diversification is a point that advocates of restructuring
have canvassed as it makes no sense for a country as vast in resources
like Nigeria to depend on a mono-product economy.It is part of
restructuring we are talking about and not an alternative to it.
The restructuring package has a whole wide range of issues that have to do
with justice administration, electoral system and its cost
implications,conflicts arising from clash of cultures and how to deal with
them to ensure peaceful co-existence.
Nigeria is fast falling apart and all genuine patriots have come to a
consensus that we must restructure to arrest the drift.
Yes there is a minority that is insisting that we must continue the way we
are just like the minders of some empires that have disappeared from the
world map did.The Vice-President is free to cast his lot with this group
even when silence could have been golden but he should at least try to
acquaint himself with the issues so people are not wondering what are we
talking and what is he saying.
We use this development to advise all those who seek high offices to
ensure they are not far from issues that shape their political environment
and pay due attention to civic education.
Yinka Odumakin
National Publicity Secretary