For some time now, opinion moulders from different sections of the country have been harping on the need to restructure the nation. People like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Dr Femi Okurounmu have been emphatic on the futility of the current unitary system.
During the First Republic, our pioneer leaders were able to record great achievements because the country operated the proper federal framework whereby the regions were not dependent on the centre for their survival.
Nowadays, however, Nigeria operates what the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has tagged feeding-bottle federalism. This, indeed, is unfortunate.
Currently, governors are not drivers of development in their various states; they merely go to Abuja to collect allocations at the end of every month. For how long can Nigeria continue to run such a warped system? Our states should become centres of verifiable development, not tokenism.
Sunday Adeniji
Lagos.