By Mike Adeyemi
A gubernatorial aspirant in the forthcoming general elections in Kwara State, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi has described the proposed restructuring of the country as language that only exists in the dictionary.
Abdullahi, who was the immediate past spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stated this while delivering lecture on the topic titled; ‘Restructuring, Concept and Implication for the Nigerian Nation,’ on Tuesday at Bovina Hotel hall in Ilorin, the state capital.
He said, “If you follow the altercation going on between the current Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, you will understand that the word restructuring has become such a politically charged word that has created so much energy and so much smoke with very little light.’
“The word restructuring itself has diverse meaning to different Nigerians. To our compatriot in the South-West, it means regionalisation. They saw a dream of going back to the time of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the Premier of western region and belief that Nigeria cannot work without retracing to the system.
“To our brothers from the South-East, the rhetoric of restructuring at times sounds to them a complete different country from Nigeria owing to the issue of civil war.
“So when you say restructuring sometimes, it means to them a dis-numbering of Nigeria so that everybody will go his own way.
“And for those of us who are politicians, it sounds politically incorrect, almost dangerous. When you hail restructuring to us in the north, it is like you are aiding and abating the rebels in the South-South.
“To our brothers from the South, restructuring simply means leave us alone with our oil, it belongs to us, let enjoy it alone-they call it resource control”.
The guber aspirant said whatever definition is given to restructuring within the nation’s geopolitical context it is not likely to be agreeable to all.
“The problem here is that none of us chose to be Nigerian, but having found ourselves in the geopolitical space called Nigeria, how do we make Nigeria work for us in relative to others?
“Japan is an organic society, not a colonial creation. Ditto China. Nigeria is an inorganic structure, designed to favour colonial enterprise.”
He added that whether the nation will decimate the numbers of current states, or go back to six geopolitical structure, it is imperative we have a structure that will work for Nigeria and one that will improve economic development of the country.
“All available human indices of human development recently show Nigeria as a country with poor people in the world. We don’t need any other evidence to tell us that this current structure is not working. How do we construct a Nigeria that will work for Nigerians,” he asked.
Speaking on the nation’s economy, Abdullahi said, “The system we are practising is fuelling corruption. As we approach 2019 election with opportunity for recruitment of new leaders, this must be the big issues and agenda before politicians.
“Fighting corruption without fixing reform, putting needed mechanism in place is like trying to arrest smoke without quenching the fire. There is nothing president Buhari can do to stop corruption, because Nigeria is designed to support corruption.”
He lamented that for the last 50 years, Nigeria as a country made about $600 billion from oil with no equivalent effect on growth and development.
“I pray that the oil in Nigeria dry as soon as possible so that we can come to our senses and begin to build a real future for our children.
“The simple philosophy of development is to put resources where you best expect result,” Abdullahi stated.
