For the umpteenth time, I am writing about the noisy clamour for
\nrestructuring which seems to be a cure-all placebo for all manners of
\npolitical discontent in Nigeria today. As in previous times I had
\nwritten, I still hold onto my position that there is nothing more than
\npolitical deceit around the noisome restructuring clamour and no time is
\nthat dubious political content obvious than now.<\/p>\n
If I may ask, why is it that there is still no clear, concise and
\ngenerally accepted idea of restructuring several years after that bogus
\nand inchoate demand made its way into our chaotic national discourse?
\nWhat is amazing is that as at today, so many people mouth restructuring
\nwithout anyone showing the light as to how it could be realised and what
\noutcome would be acceptable to the diverse groups that have invested
\nhope in it to cure all the national maladies Nigeria has accumulated
\nsince independence.<\/p>\n
Strangely, the term has remained bogus, undefined, queer and unclear
\nwhile it has become a ready hatchet in the hands of all manners of
\ndisplaced politicians who employ it to sow rancour, division, hatred and
\nschism among Nigerians.<\/p>\n
As I contended in a previous report I did on the issue, restructuring,
\nas presently employed in Nigeria, is like an elephant felt by 100 blind
\nmen. All describe the elephant by whatever part of the body he feels and
\nthis bodes more confusion and discord\u00a0 among the blind men as to what
\nthe elephant really is. That is the absurd trajectory sorounding the
\npresent clamour for restructuring. It is strange that none of the people
\nor groups welding this political cudgel has attempted to give a clear
\nroadmap into what the term practically translates to all Nigerians. None
\nhas told us how restructuring could be brought about besides noisily
\ntelling the President in a democracy to ‘restructure Nigeria’.<\/p>\n
No one has told us how Nigeria will look like after restructuring except
\nthe pandering of utopian visages of an eldorado that Nigeria will turn
\ninto after ‘Buhari has restructured Nigeria’.<\/p>\n
As it is today, restructuring has become a deadly political weapon those
\nwho find themselves holding the shorter ends of the country’s political
\nstick employ to get back at the country and possibly secure a firmer
\nhold on the politics of the country. What is amazing is that many of
\nthese fellows were once in leadership positions where they would have
\nrestructured Nigeria but criminalised demands for restructuring when
\nthey were in power. Take the case of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
\nCumulatively, he has ruled Nigeria for 11 years, which was long enough
\nto restructure Nigeria to an eldorado. But Obasanjo did nothing of that.
\nIn fact, he was known to roundly abuse those asking for restructuring
\nwhen he was civilian President. The term was practically outlawed during
\nhis regime but today, Obasanjo has made the loud deceitful clamour for
\nrestructuring his sole anthem!<\/p>\n
Some have equally used the duplicitous demand for restructuring to
\nblackmail the north given that a northerner is in power but in our
\npresent 21years of democratic governance, the south had been in power
\nfor 14 years, why was it so difficult for the south to restructure
\nNigeria to its taste in those 14 years? Why did those southern regimes
\noutlaw restructuring when they were in power and now find it so
\nattractive that they are blackmailing a regime that is only five years
\nin power? That shows the dubious, divisive and acrid political wrapping
\nthat encases the present noisy restructuring demand.<\/p>\n
But not to miss the essence of this report, there is little or no good
\nfaith in the present, noisy and distracting demand for restructuring.
\nThere is a huge dosage of mischief and political guile in the clamour.
\nThose that have made restructuring their sole mantra have done nothing
\nto give conceptual clarity to the term, what it is all about, what the
\noutcome holds for each and every Nigerian, who should bring it about and
\nhow such a person should go about it. In the absence of such clear
\nspecifics, restructuring is only a dangerous cudgel that is weilded by
\nethnic irtidentists, displaced political profiteers, those who seek
\npolitical relevance or who are worsened by their placement in the
\npresent political structure in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
For the avoidance of doubt, Nigeria has no structural problem. The
\nproblem lies on Nigerians deliberately sabotaging the system and using
\nthe outcome to cause further damage to our collective purposes and
\ninterests. Take the issue of local.government autonomy for instance, the
\nthird tier of government that should take governance closer to the
\npeople has been annexed and vassalled by states which end up
\nappropriating the humongous amounts that are allocated to this important
\ntier from the federation account each month and killing this tier. Under
\nthe watch of previous regimes including the one headed by Obasanjo who
\nhas become one of the queer apostles of deceptive restructuring, this
\norder worsened thus obliterating a vital third tier of government. But
\nthe Buhari regime against whom this present dubious clamour for
\nrestructuring targets, has boldly issued orders that will restore the
\nefficacy and financial autonomy of local governments and also the
\njudiciary and state assemblies. Curiously most of the advocates of the
\npresent restructuring lingo, supported and urged the governors to oppose
\nthis bold move that should take governance down the grassroots, just for
\ntheir dubious evergreen political interests. This should be a defining
\nmove to assert the existing structural tenets of the country. This
\nshould be a critical component of power devolution which has been one of
\nthe snippets advocates of restructuring have been mouthing.<\/p>\n
So silly is the demand that Buhari ‘should restructure Nigeria’. Sho? In
\na democracy with clear cut division of responsibilities? Should Buhari
\ntransmogrify into an absolute dictator to do this? This is what happens
\nwhen a people buy into what they hardly understand but which is marketed
\nby vile and sly\u00a0 politicians. I think the power to tinker with the
\nstructure of Nigeria in a democracy should lie with the legislature. Why
\ndemanding Buhari to give you restructuring when you have representatives
\nyou elected to the national and state legislatures? This reprehensible
\ndemand that Buhari should restructure Nigeria exposes the dubiousness
\nand ignorance of the noisy advocates of restructuring.<\/p>\n
However, I believe if restructuring is the desire of majority of
\nNigerians, it is realisable within the extent legal constitutional
\nframework of the country. What the agitators need to do is to develop a
\nbuyable idea of the term; what restructuring is all about, what the
\nvarious people will benefit, how it will strengthen the country. Having
\ndone this, they need to aggressively market it across the nooks and
\ncrannies of Nigeria. Then, they need to approach their representatives
\nin the legislature to enact bills to that effect and drive those bills
\nthrough laid down legislative procedures. Anything done besides this is
\nmere political gimmicks deployed to satiate ulterior and murky political
\ninterests and nothing more.<\/p>\n
To sum my viewpoint, there is nothing wrong with the structure and laws
\nof the country. What is wrong is the attitude of most Nigerians to
\nsabotage the system and stultify the merits we stand to gain as a
\nmulti-ethnic nation because of narrow, transient political interests.
\nWhat is wrong is the self-destructive penchant of Nigerians to sabotage
\nthemselves and the nation for their nebulous interests. Let Nigerians
\nwork to enforce and strengthen the structure and the laws beyond their
\ndeadly crave for selfish political interests and the country and all
\nNigerians will be the better for it.<\/p>\n
Peter Claver Oparah<\/p>\n