Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday stated that restructuring Nigeria to bring it back to the original dream of the founding fathers, to ensure equity, fairness and rapid economic development was a choice the country must make urgently.
Atiku said with the political will, it will not take more than six months to restructure Nigeria starting with the transfer of all the items in the concurrent list to the states, a decision he said will not require constitutional amendment.
The former Vice President spoke at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, (UNN), in a lecture series of the University’s Senior Staff Club on “Restructuring”, an event chaired by President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo; and attended by former governor of Aka Ibom State, Victor Atta; former governor of old Enugu State, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo; and spokesperson of Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin among others.
He insisted that Nigeria is drunk with easy money from oil but needs to change that mindset from being a sharing nation to productive nation.
Atiku said he has been a proponent of restructuring right from when he was a member of late former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha’s constitutional conference of 1994/1995, but regretted that the 1999 Constitution signed into law by former military ruler, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, which was supposed to be the outcome of that exercise, was entirely different from what they agreed upon.
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