Former vice-chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria, and currently the convener, Northern Elders Forum, (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, has revealed that the Northern region is ready for restructuring.
Prof. Abdullahi, who has been very vociferous in his calls for a change of tactics in respect of administering the country, in a recent interview he granted, disclosed the position of northern elders on the future of Nigeria, said that the North is ready for the restructuring of the federation.
He said, “What will happen now, unfortunately for us, for those who are running the government, they are running a presidential system and they seem to be enjoying it, even if that enjoyment is to the detriment of the Nigerian people.
“This is why it is difficult for us to achieve this change back to parliamentary using the present leadership both in the Executive and the Legislature, because changing from where we are is for them to admit that they have failed the country or they have not been able to manage the country well; this means admitting failure and it is difficult for a human being to admit failure.
According to him, “What I think we should do is that those of us who are really serious about changing this system to what is likely to be durable and lasting for Nigeria is to persuade our constituents who are representing us, the representatives who are in the various legislatures starting from the states to debate this.
“We have unfortunately moved from a federal system of government made up of what the British perceived, working together with our elders, to leave us, independent Nigeria with four regions that were reasonably working with a lot of independence; they had their Police. Each region had its own Constitution and so on, and then they converged at the federal level where certain responsibilities were kept or reserved for the entire country because the regions cannot operate foreign policies, monetary policies and a few others”.
“These were some of the things that were reserved for the federal government at that time but the remaining job of developing the country in terms of the nitty-gritty of work that has to be done to develop the country was left to the regions and the resources were generated within the regions and there was agreement on what to share at the federal level”, he stated.
