The Nigerian National Summit Group (NNSG) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to begin the restructuring of Nigeria now "in order put a halt to the current drift of Nigeria towards anarchy, economic distress and disunity".
NNSG in a statement issued yesterday and signed by its Executive Secretary, Tony Uranta advised Buhari to begin the restructuring of the country by immediately setting in motion, steps to implement fundamental resolutions of the 2014 National Conference that were adopted through consensus by all the delegates on their free volition.
“Nigeria could still suffer the 2015 bogey if we refuse to begin restructuring now”, NNSG said
It stated that all sections of the country are now yearning for true federalism saying even in recent times, very important voices from the north have come out loudly in support of restructuring.
The statement said: “In an article titled: ‘The State Of The Nigerian Nation’, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, like former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar at the recent Leadership Governor of the Year award ceremony, lent a ringing support to the drive towards true federalism.
“In his own remarks at the Awards on September 18, 2012, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, not only called for true federalism, but regretted not supporting former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme’s earlier call for the creation of six semi-autonomous regions affirming that Dr Ekwueme obviously saw what some of them did not at the time. There is, he said, too much concentration of power and resources at the centre which is stifling Nigeria’s march to greatness and threatening its unity because of the abuses, inefficiencies, corruption and reactive tensions over-centralisation generates.”
“As now obvious from the above, this is not a call by just a few “disgruntled” sections of Nigeria. The Southwest, North-Central (Middle-Belt!), South-East and South-South have been spearheading this campaign for true holistic change via restructuring for decades.
“Now that Arewa Chieftains like Joda and Atiku have admitted to the urgent need to embark on this pressing national exercise, President Muhammadu Buhari must recognise that the North-West and North- East strongly desire restructuring also, so Mr. President cannot but immediately step up to the plate and fulfil his Oath of Office to serve Nigerians by guaranteeing our welfare to the very best of his ability and opportunities.”
NNSG prayed that God will lead the president alright in the task of restructuring the country.