Restructuring as the way out of the country’s present situation was the crux of political discussion when 2,019 candidates of various political parties in the South-West region contesting in the forthcoming elections, for seats at the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly, shelved their political differences and converged in Lagos at a town hall meeting organised by a group known as the Voice of Reason (VOR), an association of professionals and intellectuals of Yoruba origin dedicated to the prosperity of Yoruba land and its people through the enthronement of a restructured Nigeria.
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The meeting, which was well attended by many of the candidates and a cross section of Yoruba professionals, was chaired by Dr Christopher Kolade, Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and it emphasised the need to set up a committee to conduct the social and economic mapping of the South-West, with a view to rectifying the perceived imbalances.
Chairman of VOR, Dr Olufemi Adegoke, in his welcome address, said the essence of the meeting was an agenda aimed as a first step in forging a united voice and strategy for the urgent realisation of the long-held Yoruba aspiration to return Nigeria to a truly federal state, allowing the Yoruba race, and indeed every other nationality in the Nigerian Federation, to leverage on their natural resources, environmental endowments, their innate ability and ingenuity to accelerate the development and prosperity of its people in particular and Nigeria in general.
Adegoke assured that VOR would continue to dialogue closely with those elected as well as all those who are politically active to ensure restructuring and a return to the federal structure that the founding fathers of Nigeria agreed upon as the ground norm for the country at independence.
In his opening address, Dr Kolade, applauded VOR for the initiative and stressed the need to have restructuring in the context of national transformation needed for socioeconomic development of the country. He advised aspirants to be conscious of their role as representatives of the people.
The foremost boardroom expert urged Nigerians to concentrate on creating good structures, which he described as a good beginning in the quest for the restructuring of the country. He also maintained that such structures must have faithful people to operate them, or else, the whole struggle would become wasted.
Kolade, who quoted Section 23 of the Nigerian Constitution to buttress his position, said, “Nigeria needs a constitution that will enthrone characters embedded with discipline and integrity to drive the pact of social justice so that the nation can be self-reliance in all areas of development. I want to say that the federal character principles should be implemented in line with the constitution to promote and create equal opportunity for every regions of the country.”
Dr Akin Fapohunda of VOR, in his paper titled, ‘The Imperatives of Restructuring and the Need for a New Constitution for Nigeria’, commended the participants and introduced to them the VOR-sponsored draft Nigerian Constitution that embodies the aspirations of most advocates of restructuring. He outlined the basic features of the constitution and invited participants to take a critical look at the draft. He also offered suggestions towards arriving to a consensus in Yoruba land before engaging other zones.
He also disclosed that the group would also spearhead the effort to achieve intra-zonal accord on the proposed constitution for the region, pointing out that rationalisation and division of responsibilities between state and regional governments and discipline, rather than burden the system, would indeed provide for economies of scale across several government functions.
He averred further that only those with uncommon understanding are capable of seeing the dangers that have come upon the Yoruba in the context of a unitary government masquerading as a federal constitution in the country.
In the interactive section that followed, the candidates present all placed emphasis on the much-needed restructuring as a collective endeavour involving devolution of powers and addressing structural imbalances.
They pledged to faithfully represent the aspirations of Yoruba people and assiduously work for ensuring that restructuring becomes a reality in the next legislative cycle. It was resolved that the interaction among all elected officials on the strategy to achieve restructuring should continue and be earnestly pursued once the new legislative bodies are prorogued.
The town hall meeting was of the consensus that peace is not realistic in Nigeria without a new constitution that would be people-friendly as they unanimously agreed that current constitution promotes inequality; fuels poverty, insecurity, civil unrest. They therefore called for the strengthening of the principle of federal character to promote national unity.
Speaking on behalf of the candidates present at the event, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) House of Representatives candidate for Ijebu Central Federal Constituency of Ogun State, Kunle Osibogun, supported on the podium by the Alliance for Democracy (AD) Senatorial candidate for Lagos West, Sunkanmi Ajao, promised to push for a bill that would restructure the country, if elected. The duo added that it was time for the Yoruba to stand in unison, speak with one voice and fight for economic independence and resources control so that the youths of the zone can be purposefully engaged and the Yoruba region can be a place of pride.
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