For former President Goodluck Jonathan, until issues that divide Nigerians are resolved, restricting would not work. The former President pointed out that divisive politics and mistrust are clogs in the wheel of progress of the country.
The ex-President pointed this out at the 18th Daily Trust Dialogue in Abuja recently.
He said the country’s leaders must be interested in unifying the country before issues of restructuring can be priortised.
He urged Nigerian leaders to encourage a “healthy conversation on restructuring and reforms that stir national pride and love and faith of our citizens in our beloved country.”
“We cannot restructure without solving issues that polarize us; nepotism, ethnic and religious differences and lack of patriotism,” Mr Jonathan said.
“It was a great decision to save the country from disintegration after coming out of the civil war.
“Like every other nation, Nigeria is a project in progress and should confidently discuss her experiences and fashion out solutions to improve on her performance and the well-being of all citizens. We should all do our little best in our little corners to overcome the challenges we face, and work hard to reposition our country for a greater and more prosperous tomorrow for our children.
“This cannot be achieved without deliberate effort to promote national unity and love of country by all our leaders and citizens. We owe ourselves and the coming generations a duty to reduce the bile and embrace one another so that restructuring for a better and greater Nigeria can be meaningful and guarantee the nation’s economic development and citizen’s welfare.”
Meanwhile the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, who also spoke at the event said that Nigeria stands to lose more if the existing 36 states structure are to be dismantled in acquiescence to the longstanding call for restructuring the country.
“In many fundamental respects, creation of states has gone a long way to mitigate real and perceived marginalization of minorities. Although given Nigeria’s complex diversity, the more states created, the more their economic viability is threatened; and the more new ‘majorities’ and ‘minorities’ emerged, with fresh demands by the ‘new minorities’ for their own states.
“The challenges and tensions that would unfold in any attempt to regroup states into regions or into mega 12 states, given that their people have tasted relative autonomy, could only best be imagined. Relative autonomy once gained, is difficult if not near impossible to voluntarily surrender.
“If the major argument against the current 36 state structure is that many seem economically unviable, there are other better ways to address that and make them more viable.
“Improved, (or good democratic) governance, with efficient allocation and utilization of resources, with curtailed corruption, and with greater effort at internal revenue generation, would make virtually all the seemingly unviable states, viable and sustainable.”
