The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said on Monday some individuals and groups are afraid that Nigeria’s restructuring would affect their political viability.
El-Rufai, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, called for a collective national endeavour to secure the necessary constitutional amendments that would pave way for Nigeria’s restructuring.
He said: “Nigeria’s restructuring is a pragmatic imperative for a more efficient governance structure in our country. It will enable a departure from excessive centralization and rebalance the federation and locate powers and responsibilities in the tier of government that is best able to effectively discharge them.”
According to El-Eufai, Nigeria’s restructuring would ensure that every part of the country has representation in the National Assembly.
“Pragmatism advises cooperation in attaining this collective endeavour. However, recent comments from some regional groupings make it difficult to escape the suspicion that certain persons regard the realisation of Nigeria’s restructuring as a moment of peril.
“There is a unique opportunity for all Nigerians who believe in the merits of restructuring to work together to realise it. As a fundamental redesign of the anchors of the Nigerian state, restructuring can be achieved only by constitutional means and processes. This means that the National Assembly is the primary platform for attaining it, followed by the necessary concurrence by two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly in the country, and presidential assent.
“States and interest groups that wish to advance restructuring can persuade any of their federal legislators to present the draft bills in the Report of the APC True Federalism Committee, for instance, or any other relevant draft legislation for consideration and passage by the federal legislature. This is the productive direction to consider, rather than revel in idle doubt and pessimism when the national interest is calling for active engagement,” El-Rufai added.
He stressed that there is no extra-constitutional route to resolving a constitutional matter in which there exists reasonable consensus and for which draft bills have been prepared.
“As a body of Nigerians elected from constituencies across the country, the National Assembly is the veritable constitutional conference. Therefore, it is not helpful to seek to traduce its legitimacy, especially by persons who do not have any electoral mandate,” El-Rufai concluded.
