Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo
State, his counterparts, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and Akinwunmi Ambode
(Lagos) and the Alaafin of Oyo Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III on Monday
insisted that the present composition of government must be restructured.
They spoke in Ibadan, the Oyo
state capital during the All Progressives Congress (APC) South West Zonal
public meeting on true federalism.
The meeting had in attendance
party members, traditional rulers and civil society groups from Lagos, Ogun and
Oyo states.
Ajimobi who spoke through his
Deputy, Chief Moses Alake said that the call for restructuring was an
indication that something urgently must be done to address the popular
agitation.
He said, “It should, however be
stated that the fact that the call for restructuring under whatever name
organize, be it true federalism, devolution of powers, regionalism, resource
control or whatever, has again resurfaced in nigeria, it is an indication that
something needs to be addressed on the current structure of arrangement”.
Ajimobi said he was oppose to the
issue of regionalism but believed that except there are legal caveats, regions
may be too powerful and that may further heighten the possibility of secession
by certain region that are tired of continuing with a united Nigeria.
Ajimobi noted that the local
government should be totally subjected to the state irrespective of the region.
“Under this arrangement, local
government will be operating completely under the states while revenue
allocation formula should be reviewed upward in favour of states to about 35
percent.”
Amosun said that the people of
his state have also lend their voices to the issue of restructuring.
Represented by his chief of
staff, Chief Tolu Odebiyi, Amosun noted that it was important that people
should decide how they want to be governed since government is all about the
people.
He said, “On this note, permit me
to say our state (Ogun) is very much with our other sister states in the
Southwestern Nigeria as per our aspiration and yearning.
“We (in Ogun state) strongly
believe in fiscal federalism, we believe that each state should have control of
its resources, we beleieve in state police, and basically all the issues we are
here to discuss.”
Representative of governor
Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye said the state was in
support of restructuring, adding that the position of the recent Yoruba summit
in Ibadan remains the position of Lagos state government.
In his own contributions, the
Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamide Adeyemi III said it is sacrosanct to restructure the
country as soon as possible to avoid what happened in Union of Soviet Socialist
Republic (USSR) and other countries such as Romania.
Alaafin said the present
structure where state with the highest population (Lagos) with over 20 million
people is having only 20 local government while Kano with 6 million population
is having 44 local government areas is unjust and unfair.
He noted that those in power
should heed the calls from various quarters to restructure the country, warning
that countries such as USSR and Romania were once in this kind of situation but
the leaders turned deaf ears to the call which led to forcefu break-up.
Oba Adeyemi said, “What I am
saying is that, if we did not restructure Nigeria what happened in USSR may
happen, USSR was break with force. Romania also was divided through force. That
is the way their leaders were doing.
“36 states workers are not being
paid, the governors cannot pay them. What cause these was the killing of
political leaders in the first republic which was sectional and unjust.
“Ironsi scrap the Federal
structure and replaced it with unitary, since then we have not come back to
true federalism. Until we go back to the glorious days of marketing board,
there is no need for Federal Ministry of Culture, Federal Government has no
culture.
“Lagos has 20 local government
areas with 20 million people, Kano has 44 local government with 6 million people,
where do they do that throughout the world. Just like Kano, Jigawa state has
more local government than Lagos state”.
Other groups that supported
restructuring at the event included; NURTW, TUC, NLC, Afenifere, Atayese,
Yoruba sumit group and others.
Present at the meeting were
Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State who is the Chairman for the Oyo,
Ogun and Lagos meeting, Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Chief Moses Alake
Adeyemo; Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Micheal Adeyemo and the
Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji.
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Great news. Good timing
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