PANDEF: There’s over-concentration of power at the centre… Nigeria needs restructuring

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) says it is just a matter of time before the country restructures itself.

The forum said this in a statement issued on Sunday by Ken Robinson, spokesman to PANDEF.

There have been calls for the federal government to commence the process of restructuring by devolving more power to states and regions.

Reacting to a comment by Mohammed Shehu, executive secretary of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), PANDEF said “there is an over-concentration of power at the centre” and as such, Nigeria needs restructuring.

Shehu, who had represented President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday, at the launch of the Kudirat Abiola peace foundation in Kaduna, had said those calling for restructuring are ignorant.

“Those calling for whether separation or restructuring, some of them I will say, are very naive or even mischievously dangerous. Those agitating for restructuring are ignorant of war and its consequences because Nigeria is a dominant force in West Africa,” he had said.

However, PANDEF condemned Shehu’s comment, and wondered how the president could make such an “insensitive and callous” statement after constituting a committee on restructuring.

“The President’s statement indicts not only his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC but himself, as well. It speaks to the fact that they are either dishonest or incoherent and confused. How could a President whose party constituted a Committee on restructuring that was chaired by one of his governors, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, of Kaduna State, make such comments?” the statement reads.

“That the President could make such comments, though through a representative, at the launch of a Peace Foundation in Zaria, Kaduna State, reflects the core of the nation’s problems at this time.”

While noting that the northern part of Nigeria receives more revenue than the south, the forum accused the RMAFC of being against restructuring because they are “benefiting from the flawed military imposed 1999 Constitution”.

“Nigeria is in distress but the federal government has maintained the ostrich policy; refusing to accept the obvious, rather choosing to, un-presidentially, disparage patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians who proffer suggestions to resolve the challenges confronting the nation,” the forum said.

“Just like the ancient writers inferred, they have eyes but they don’t see, they have ears but they don’t hear. The stark reality is that if we do not restructure Nigeria, the country will restructure itself.”