Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar believes that the restructuring of the country is inevitable, saying the north will be making a mistake to oppose it.
Atiku said the fragile unity of the country was being threatened with sentiments, and pointed out that as long as the federal government continues with the over-riding power, instability will continue to bedevil the country.
He was speaking in Kaduna state at a memorial conference in honour of Hassan Katsina, the late military governor of the northern region.
“I am not trying to be a messenger of doom but to alert us to the serious challenges ahead if we do not take immediate corrective actions both in our economic and our politics,” he said.
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“As our history has shown, a strong centre does not translate to a strong and better base. We should begin to think strategically about how to develop this region (north) as a collective and our states in each geopolitical zone should embark on how to work together to share responsibilities.”
He argued that national integration would become achievable when the north does “the little things that will help in that regard”.
Atiku identified some of these things as values, ideology and sense of investment that help to foster sense of national integration.
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“These are more effective than forcing or bribing people to stay together. I suggest we resolve today to support calls for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation in order to strengthen its unity and stabilize its democracy.
“I believe that restructuring will eventually happen whether we like or support it or not.
“The question is whether it will happen around a conference table, in a direction influenced by us (northerners) and whether we will be equal partners in the process. Or will it happen in a more unpredictable arena and in a manner over which we have little influence?”
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16 comments
Thr North is behaving like an ostrich on this one. Having failed to nurture younger leaders in entrepreneurship and public spiritedness it is wholly unprepared for restructuring. However any wise persin will heed this advise from Atiku
Nice One
Atiku is right,restricting Nigeria is the best way out of all this problem.because the people u call infindent, has already no the true about themself.south south and south east are infindent ,but their oil money and oil well are not infident in ur mouth. Is not by for to husband and wife.
One Nigeria is not working, it has not worked for the past 50 years of its experiment, and there is no sign that it is ever going to work, unless we have been misinterpreting ” One Oil Well” to mean ” One Nigeria”. There is more to the country and it’s over 170 million Citizens than just Oil. Entrust the constituting parts with their own destiny and that will create the commitment needed to tackle our problems which simply has been lacking, as well as convert our rivalries to healthy competition which once flourished.
I totally agree with Atiku’s submission on this subject. Nigeria will collapse one day whether we like it or not.
The signs are there . Restructuring this country along the geopolitical zones is the parnecia for socio-economic cum political development as it’s also a precondition to reducing corruption to minimal level.
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Weather Atiku is saying it cos he need to be noticed as some of us may think, the issue is that this is naked truth.
And must be listened to before it will be late.
There is need to sit down and do a proper reevaluation of this forced marriage between the North and South Nigeria. No need to pretend about it. It has never worked and will never work. The hatred between the groups is growing not withstanding the efforts of some of our past sensible leaders. It is better to agree on how to move on than to go the Yugoslavia way.
God bless you
We can live and have a better nation after the restructuring
Its was a Universal All-knowing God of knowledge that spoke through Atiku not Atiku himself of Northern blood.
It is either Biafra or dead, we are not ready for any roundtable that will keep Nigeria together, our spirit is no longer in Nigeria #Biafrexit
I agree with the former VP’s view on the need for restructuring the entity called Nigeria The presidential system of government we run today is to expensive and cannot not be supported by our revenue base noe that our main source is crude oil With 39 states and and there state assemblies NASS and Presidential network We cannot continue to run these offices and expect to have any money for development I beleave the crash of oil price is a blessing in disguise Most of the states are not viable and yet we still want more My suggestion is to restructure the country along the existing geographical zones We can thus have six states Each state to control its God giving resources Each region can develop according to their resources Ee can do with only the senate while the house of representatives should be scrapped Our present system is system of governance is unitary set up for the convenience of the military govt We should not borrow money to run our recurrent expenditure We have to exam critically if we do not want serious crisis in this country We can’t keep ourselves together by force of arms
But it will not a restructuring influenced by the North as Atiku wishes, that’s where they get it wrong it should be one influenced by mutual consent of all units with reasonable concessions from all units.
you are not getting his point…. he implied, now that the north is in power,,, its better they spare head it!! thats what he implied… at this point, they will be at an advantaged point to call for a referendum… not tomorrow when they are not certain of being in power…..
Atiku’s speech would have merited serious consideration until he dropped his guard and uttered the dreaded “we need to control the outcome” statement. Yes I am paraphrasing him. That attitude is a combination of a Greek tragedy written by Shakespeare with a liberal sprinkling of a machiavellian satire. It posits something reminiscent of the tactics used by the colonial Britain over and over in negotiations. They (the British) pretended to negotiate in good faith, while control the outcome. This is why the Palestinian, Indo-Pakistani issues are still with us, over half a century later. If the northern states go into such a conference, not with sincerity of purpose, but with the attitude of controlling the agenda, they need to stay home. That is a non-starter. Such matters of national importance and the survival of the country need good faith to be displayed by all sides. We need serious men and women to leave their their egos and tribalistic sentiments at door.
“The question is whether it will happen around a conference table, in a direction influenced by us (northerners) and whether we will be equal partners in the process.”
—Atiku Abubakar
One can only pray that those words were meant in the most basic form, devoid of malice with a religious and tribal dog whistle. When one makes an overture and then adds such a caveat it calls for a lot of head scratching and leads to all sorts of interpretations. Leaders must be careful with their words. Perception matters. Spoken words do convey inner thoughts. With such a condition interjected in his speech, the negotiation/conference Atiku is proposing is a non-starter. Dead on arrival. All well-meaning Nigerians of good faith are required at the table.
There is serious work to be done. We don’t need jokers or selfish people for the Herculean task ahead in order to forge a better nation and future for coming generations.
Atiku’s negotiating skills is reminiscent of colonial Britain. Set the outcome of the conference but pretend to negotiate in ernest and good faith. Over half a century later the Israeli-Palestinian and Indo-Pakistani crisis are still with us. Aaaahh! I almost forgot that little corner called Iraq. Thanks British diplomacy and expertise in conflict resolution! Atiku must have taken lessons from them. His proposal with that teeny weeny insert reminds me of a Greek tragedy written by Shakespeare with a liberal sprinkling of a Machiavellian satire. A perfect recipe for one spectacularly catastrophic disaster; if allowed to be authored by the likes of Atiku Abubakar.
RESTRUCTURING IS THE WAY TO GO NOW AND TIMELY TOO, It’s a welcome call by
the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar because the centre is too powerful and positive
change and development, there is need to delegate more powers to the States and
Local governments.
I believe the call for restructuring will bring to an end the agitation of marginalization by
various groups in the country.
We need to try something different since the current system has failed.