One of our indigenous African folktales informs us why we have one mouth and two ears, certainly to listen much more than we talk. And, listening is not enough until we use what we hear to better our sense of judgment. This is why when rabbit was asked why he always keeps his ears erect, he replied that he does so to listen very well so as to take good advantage of every situation because all plans, good or bad, are first made in words before they are carried out in action. Given the heightened clamouring for restructuring Nigeria by all parts and peoples therein, it is expected of President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate that his ears are not there only for decoration. If his government is truly for the people, then he should give the people what they have for long been asking for. His seeming indifference has occasioned resorting to open threats of secession by some parts of the country; and the old claws that strangled Nigeria, which we buried in the past, are now resurfacing to seize her once again by the neck.
The persistent intransigence of Buhari administration to agree with the proponents of restructuring, only because of the perceived vested interests that motivated some individuals and groups to aggressively advocate for it, simply means that Mr. President does not understand the salient nature of Nigerian politics viz-a-vis the characterizing factors at play since our pre-independence days. It also means that Mr. President does not very well measure the weight attached to the coveted office the vied for and got. I believe that some good people and groups are agitating for restructuring out of genuine desire for a better Nigeria, while some are doing it for the wrong reason. However, the good consequences of having it far outweigh the foreseen bad consequences of not having it. This is not a new situation in Nigeria. I can remember that in recent years Obasanjo administration had the National Political Reforms Conference. Also in 2014 Jonathan administration convened the National Conference, the outcome of which is yet to be implemented by the present administration.
These two administrations did what the people wanted, despite the apparent sentiments that informed some people’s stance. How they handled the rage, the blackmail and the threat was wholly reason for preservation of the country until Buhari came to take charge. But if he is trying to pose himself as a President cut out to be different from any of his predecessors, in this regard, his administration is likely to contend with wild reaction of Nigerians as none of his predecessors had. Last week the presidency, through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, stated that they were content with the National Assembly to do the job, which of course is one of its constitutional duties. But what the presidency failed to understand is that the people desire a genuine restructuring, not a crooked or kangaroo one. The National Assembly members, having benefited from the present political malaise, will surely manipulate the process in order to maintain the status quo. Therefore, Nigerians have no confidence in them.
The people need a new political order and a working administrative set-up in the country. We call ourselves the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but what obtains in practice is a unitary system of government. Mr. President knows this better! Last year when the spate of senseless killings hit Benue State, he ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to move to the troubled state until normalcy was restored. He (the President) later found that the IGP did not act on the order as quickly as the frightening situation required. This should have convinced the President that the centralised police force we have cannot provide effective policing in the country. If Benue State had their own police force, the police chief would have been there, and Mr. President would need not to bother himself to issue that order. Perhaps even Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara States would not have been so pitiably ravaged by marauding bandits that even the President’s home state of Katsina recently had to resort to reconciliation and peace parley with the bandits. Equally disheartening is widespread of kidnapping across the country. The word kidnapping has now come to stay on the lips of all and sundry due to the rate at which the crime it connotes is carried out even in the glaring daylight.
Nigerians call out the Federal Government for all this ongoing rot in the security sector. Would the security situation be so dangerously deteriorating if the police force had not been centralised? The South-West governors have taken a timely step to avert escalation of the plague of banditry and kidnapping that is devastating the North, by forming the Amotekun regional defence force. This shows that they have no confidence in the Federal Government-controlled police. In the area of resource control, the Federal Government’s over concentration on oil has caused neglect of other resources. No state in Nigeria that does not have mineral and natural resources to sustain that state if they are judiciously exploited. Placing the mining sector on the concurrent legislative list will foster economic growth, and tackle unemployment as our states will maximize the advantage of the resources they have. This was how the defunct confederating regions of the North, the East, the West, and the Mid-West discovered what they had and managed same to favourably compete among themselves in terms of development.
Having restructuring this time is the beginning of wisdom to nip some of our problems in the bud; and that will boost our hope to have the ideal country we desire. But dismissing people’s demands with a wave of hand will certainly prolong the people’s despair and gloom, the cost of which no one will wish to bear. That the presidency adjudged the advocacy for restructuring “unpatriotic” and “unwarranted”, do people appear patriotic only when they remain reticent even in the face of the current wave of insecurity in their own country? Does the presidency expect the people to tell the future generation that they chose to keep their tongues in the cheek while their own country was collapsing, just in the name of patriotism? Is that to say even when their own country is christened the world headquarters of poverty still advocacy for doing the right thing to reverse the ugly development is unwarranted?
Mr. President must be receptive to both consenting and dissenting voices. Those who oppose his vision, he should evaluate their views critically. If merit is found in them, he should do the right thing. Remove respect for people’s legitimate demands from concerns of any government of any form or system, what remains of it is dictatorship. Does Buhari want to keep Nigeria in one piece and pass her to his successor come 2023, or he wants to hasten her disintegration? Whatever good things Mr. President thinks he is doing will in the end go to nothing if Nigeria breaks up under his watch. He happens to be one of those who fought the civil war to keep the country one, and he does not need someone to counsel him on the need to continue keeping the country one. A stitch in time saves nine. God bless Nigeria.
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