Pan Yoruba Socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Monday blasted the<\/p>\n
Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, over his comment that what Nigeria needed
\nwas diversification of the economy and not restructuring.
\nThe organisation has long campaigned for the restructuring of the country
\nin order to address the twin diseases of marginalisation and nepotism
\nafflicting the nation.<\/p>\n
Afenifere in a statement issued and signed by its National Publicity
\nSecretary, Yinka Odumakin, said the Vice-President should educate himself
\non the imperatives of restructuring Nigeria in order to speak from a
\nknowledgeable point of view or keep quiet.<\/p>\n
The statement reads:<\/p>\n
The attention of Afenifere has been drawn to the statement credited to
\nthe Vice-president of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), that the call for
\nthe restructuring of Nigeria would not make any difference.
\nThe Vice-President in the faux pas also argued that if states are given
\nhalf of the resources of the Federal Government it would not make any
\ndifference and that all we need is to diversify into agriculture.
\nWhile we understand that the learned Professor, who is from the zone that
\nhas been loudest on this call may have come under pressure to lend his
\nvoice to the upholders of the status quo that has brought Nigeria to this
\nsorry pass,we would like to respectfully admonish him to be sure footed on
\nthe subject before he speaks next time.<\/p>\n
He misses the entire debate by engaging in the reductionist argument
\nnarrowing the whole issue to taking more money from the Federal Government
\nto the states. Yes, fiscal federalism is part of the argument but the
\nissue goes beyond the monthly Federal Allocation Committee.
\nThe central plank of restructuring is for Nigeria to go back to the true
\npractice of Federalism wherein mineral resources that abound in all states
\nwould be freed from the exclusive list so that states would move into
\nprosperity and not be reporting at Prof Osinbajo’s office for bailout from
\na centre that only corners what belongs to the states.They would also have
\nenough to contribute to sustain the occupiers of Abuja and the functions
\nthat are allocated to them.
\nBeyond resources,the country is reeling under crime today and the single
\npolice we currently maintain has proved incapable of dealing with the
\nsituation.When you listen to commissioners of police lamenting at the
\nscenes of crime these days you will think they are part of passers -by
\nterrified by the horror of crime.It is clear we need multi-level policing
\nto combat crime and have effective policing.
\nFrom the Federal, down to states and Local Governments, we are bogged
\ndown with over bloated bureaucracies that consume as much as 90% of
\navailable resources and with little or nothing left for development. We
\nmust address how long we want to travel with this culture of waste and to
\nsee if we can deliver better governance with a manageable architecture.
\nThe question of diversification is a point that advocates of restructuring
\nhave canvassed as it makes no sense for a country as vast in resources
\nlike Nigeria to depend on a mono-product economy.It is part of
\nrestructuring we are talking about and not an alternative to it.
\nThe restructuring package has a whole wide range of issues that have to do
\nwith justice administration, electoral system and its cost
\nimplications,conflicts arising from clash of cultures and how to deal with
\nthem to ensure peaceful co-existence.
\nNigeria is fast falling apart and all genuine patriots have come to a
\nconsensus that we must restructure to arrest the drift.
\nYes there is a minority that is insisting that we must continue the way we
\nare just like the minders of some empires that have disappeared from the
\nworld map did.The Vice-President is free to cast his lot with this group
\neven when silence could have been golden but he should at least try to
\nacquaint himself with the issues so people are not wondering what are we
\ntalking and what is he saying.<\/p>\n
We use this development to advise all those who seek high offices to
\nensure they are not far from issues that shape their political environment
\nand pay due attention to civic education.<\/p>\n
Yinka Odumakin
\nNational Publicity Secretary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n