AS the agitation for the restructuring of Nigeria as a nation from the various quarters continues unabated, a cross section of the members of the House of Representatives have expressed divergent views on the agitation.
Speaking with Tribune Online at separate interviews some of the lawmakers, who cut across various political parties and zones, supported the agitation in the interest of all Nigerians while some cautioned against it.
According to some of the lawmakers who kicked against the exercise, “until we do away with suspicion and begin to address ourselves as brothers and sisters irrespective of religion, region, language, tribe and other nomenclature, the issue of agitation will continue to plague the nation.”
While speaking on the agitation, the Minority Leader of the House, Hon Leo Ogor declared hat restructuring would take the nation out of the woods.
Ogor argued that for the nation to move forward, economic restructuring needed to be done so that the states could have total control over their resources while at the same time would be making some contributions to the Federation purse for the security of the nation.
The lawmaker stated that as soon as economic restructuring was done, political restructuring could follow without any agitation.
According to him, “Restructuring will take the nation out of the wood. If we don’t restructure, the nation will restructure itself. The first thing we need to do if we have to move forward is economic restructuring.”
On his own, Hon Zakari Mohammed, who viewed restructuring from a different perspective, said that “restructuring is a wasteful venture.”
Zakari, a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, argued that until the nation does away with suspicions and the citizens learn to trust one another, the issue would continue to plague the nation.
According to him, “There is mutual suspicious among us. In other climes, there is nothing like where are you from or otherwise, but here, there is suspicious. Until we learn to trust ourselves, this issue will still be coming up. Restructuring or no restructuring, there are issues we should look at, like providing light, roads, water, food among others.”
Hon Tajudeen Ayo Yusuf, a member of the PDP, on the other hand added that until government deals with restructuring, the issue of agitation will always come up.
Explaining that the 1999 Constitution was a fraud, the lawmaker pointed out that what was being operate as a Constitution was doctored in line with the military mindset.
Hon Yusuf, who said that there was a deliberate effort to frustrate the amendment of the Constitution, added that, “if you don’t fix your situation, time will fix it for you. As long as we don’t deal with restructuring, the issue of agitation will always come up.
“In 1979 Constitution, we have a semblance of federal system of government. In Western nations where true federalism is being practiced, they pay some percentage to the centre. The 1999 Constitution was a fraud. What we have today was doctored in line with military mindset. We need restructuring, but I don’t think that what is on ground now is what we need. We need genuine leaders who have the interest of the people at heart. We have short sighted leaders, who do not see beyond their interest.”
In his own submission, Hon Johnson Agbonayiman lamented the decadence of the nation, adding that this was not the nation our heroes past fought for.
Even though he noted that the nation belongs to all of us, the lawmaker said that “looking back our past heroes probably will be crying and lamenting in their graves that this is not the Nigeria they fought for, the Nigeria of their dreams. Growing up, this is not the Nigeria I will be praying to see. If we do not know where we are coming from, we will never know where we are going.”
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