We can achieve restructuring if we unite, says Saraki

The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki has said that Nigeria can only be restructured through unity.

Dr Saraki who made the remarks in Calabar while declaring open the southern Senators summit in Calabar with the theme: National Unity and Restructuring, said Nigeria has to be on the same page before we can successfully talk about restructuring.

He stressed that we have to see ourselves first and foremost as Nigerians before we can make restructuring possible.

According to him, the country’s unity has not been more challenging than in the present time and maintained that Nigeria is not alone in the present predicament of agitations.

“Nigeria is not alone and the problem of agitation is not unique to us. Unity must exist before we talk of reform and the members of the national assembly are well placed to steer this forward.

“In seeking to restructure, our nation must realize that the framers of our constitution has set out guidelines for us to follow in going about this. What stops us from striving for consensus is the fear of the unknown and we must work together in order to confront this fear,” he said

He also stated that the kind of democracy we practice is built around compromise and to achieve this, we must be on the same page.

Also speaking, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu stated that as a nation, we cannot move forward until we know when the rain started beating us. He said that the rain started beating us following the promulgation of a unitary constitution in 1966.

Restructuring, he said should be done in a way that brings all parts of the country together and as a country, we are better off together.

He maintained that a lot of people have confused restructuring with breaking up of the country stressing that this ought not to be so.

“Restructuring is not the same as break up of Nigeria. The federating units will have control of their resources and there will be equalization fund that will be used to develop other less developed regions like we have in Canada.

“Nigeria is the only country in the world that has a federal system of government and a unitary police. We stand a better chance of making the country better if each region maximally explores its inherent resources. We should not fear to restructure and we should not restructure in fear”, he advised.

Also speaking, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami in his presentation stated that the country’s constitution has enough safeguards to ensure that no state is marginalized. According to him, proportional representation in the Senate is meant to ensure that no part of the country is denied proper legislative functions in the highest legislative body of the country.

The Federal Executive Council, in addition, must have a representation from each state of the federation and this guarantees balancing in the country. He said that the choice of a political system that alienates any section is a trigger for instability. This he explained is why the constitution is federal in nature to guarantee inclusiveness in the governance of the country.

Advising against the unfettered call for restructuring, he said that Section 9 of the constitution makes a provision for the amendment of the constitution provided that such amendment does not lead to the dismemberment of the country.

Chairman of the South-South Governor’s Forum and Co-Chairman of the Southern Governor’s Forum, Seriake Dickson stated that restructuring means a call to constitutional reform and amendment to guarantee a more stable country which is in the thinking line of our founding fathers which is federalism.

The call for a restructured Nigeria he said is a call for a constitutional amendment and the more Nigerians express their opinions on the issue, the better.

Also speaking, the senator representing Cross River South, Senator Gershom Bassey stated that the issue of restructuring is not dead in the national assembly as the assembly will revisit it.

He stated that the National Assembly broke the various aspects of the constitutional amendment into bits sections to ensure that if one part of the amendment does not scale through, the whole amendment process does not suffer.

“The issue of devolution of powers is undergoing re-consideration and the other issues which had to do with more consultations with the people will be coming back as an amendment. There must be some level of devolution of powers in our country otherwise it will not work.

“Restructuring means creating efficiency in the system and if we do not create efficiency in the system we are just joking and one day the country will collapse,” he said.

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