Nigeria ruling class averse to restructuring – Gani Adams

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has said the agitation for restructuring has metamorphosed into self-determination.

He said this was due to the fact that the ruling class is not disposed to restructuring.

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The Yoruba war general stated this in Lagos during the public presentation of the book, “Roundtable Discussion on Economy and Restructuring in Nigeria,” published by the Ilorin-based National Pilot Newspaper.

He said, “We have graduated from restructuring to self-determination and one of the reasons for this is that the main political bloc in Nigeria is not ready for restructuring.

“We have different types of restructuring, and if Nigeria is to be restructured, we have to go back to the 1960 to 1963 constitutions and learn from how we started as a country.

“We need to embrace regionalism that gives each region the chance to develop at their own pace.”

According to Adams, the consensus of opinions among the Yoruba people both at home and in the Diaspora was for the region to go for self-determination, adding that self-determination did not imply going to war.

“If we go for regionalism on the basis of confederacy, it is okay. If we have a situation where the regions are allowed 70 to 80 percent autonomy to do certain things, that is okay. For the Yoruba nation, the minimum demand is regionalism with autonomy,” he said.

Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, Chief Olabode George who was represented by a former Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos State, Dr. Charles Akitoye, said there was no way restructuring could be separated from the economy.

“The situation we are in now is unacceptable. We must reconstruct the country if we want to grow into a nation. We are merely a country now and the process may need some partitioning. It is long overdue,” he said

The book reviewer, Prof. Alloysius Okolie, said it was unfortunate that many people misunderstand restructuring “to mean dismembering the country or dividing it into pieces,” adding, “The refusal to do the needful is the major problem of Nigeria and not banditry or insurgency.”

The Editor-in-Chief of National Pilot Newspaper, Billy Adedamola, said the medium was concerned about nation building.

He explained that the book is the outcome of efforts of experts who sat down and assessed the situation in the country.

He said, “People may ask why this effort by us? I believe as journalists, our responsibility should not be limited to reporting and working on stories alone. We have roles to play in nation building. Of late, our dear country has been going through crises never witnessed before.

“The economy is one of the reasons for the crises in the country and it has been the bane of our national life. No government has been able to find a solution to it. While we are grappling with economic matters, the agitation for restructuring came in. There is uncertainty about the continuity of our country as one.”