The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has faulted the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, for his recent criticism of the calls for the restructuring of Nigeria, stressing that the Vice-President “may have been under pressure” to support “upholders of the status quo.”
Osinbajo had at the weekend stated that the various calls for the restructuring of the country will not make any difference, asserting that Nigeria needs diversification of the economy and not restructuring because the Federal Government controls the bulk of the resources.
But Afenifere, in a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, regretted that the latest comment against restructuring came from Osinbajo, who is from the South-West, which had always made a strong point for the restructuring of Nigeria.
The statement reads, “Yes, there is a minority that is insisting that we must continue the way we are just like the minders of some empires that have disappeared from the world map did.
“The Vice-President is free to cast his lot with this group even when silence could have been golden but he should at least try to acquaint himself with the issues so people are not wondering ‘what are we talking and what is he saying.”
Afenifere, therefore, advised people, who seek high offices, to ensure that they were not far from issues that shaped their political environment and pay due attention to civic education.
It said, “The Vice-President in the faux pas also argued that if states were given half of the resources of the Federal Government, it would not make any difference and that all we need is to diversify into agriculture.
“While we understand that the learned professor, who is from the zone that has been loudest in this call, may have come under pressure to lend his voice to the upholders of the status quo that has brought Nigeria to this sorry pass, we would like to respectfully admonish him to be sure-footed on the subject before he speaks next time.
“He misses the entire debate by engaging in the reductionist argument, narrowing the whole issue to taking more money from the Federal Government to the states. Yes, fiscal federalism is part of the argument but the issue goes beyond the monthly Federal Allocation Committee.”
Odumakin argued that the central plank of restructuring was for Nigeria to go back to true practice of federalism wherein, mineral resources that abound in all states would be freed from the exclusive list so that states would move into prosperity.
He said this would free the states from “reporting at Osinbajo’s office for bailout from a centre that only corners what belongs to the states.”
Afenifere stated that beyond resources, the country had been reeling under crimes while the single police system currently in place had proved incapable of dealing with the situation.
It continued, “When you listen to commissioners of police lamenting at the scenes of crime these days, you will think they are part of passersby terrified by the horrors of crime. It is clear we need multi-level policing to combat crime and have effective policing.
“From the federal, down to states and local governments, we are bogged down with bloated bureaucracies that consume as much as 90 per cent of available resources and with little or nothing left for development. We must address how long we want to travel with this culture of waste and to see if we can deliver better governance with a manageable architecture.
“The question of diversification is a point that advocates of restructuring have canvassed as it makes no sense for a country as vast in resources like Nigeria to depend on a mono-product economy. It is part of restructuring we are talking about and not an alternative to it.”
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