Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, says the 36 governors in
Nigeria are too timid to demand state autonomy and push for the country’s
restructuring.
He stated this on Saturday at the virtual 2021 Obafemi
Awolowo Lecture with the theme, ‘Whither Nigeria?’
Soyinka said, “There is a consensus that this country
whether in terms of governance, economic relations, security, educational
policy, cultural policy, etc, that the country requires restructuring. Even the
word restructuring has been restructured in many directions, in cogent
expression which will mean the same thing for everybody.
“For me, for instance, I emphasised decentralisation,
reconfiguration…We all know what we have now is not working, it’s obvious and
we can’t continue along the same line and say that it will work, it is sign of
madness.
“I want to make a plea to all governors, stop being so
timid. Push this federal envelope as far as it can go, even while we undertake
the technical aspect of restructuring whether in terms of dialogue, evolving
the constitution or whatever, something has to go on, after all, we’ve had so
many of these confabs.
“My plea is to governors to start with: You are charged with
the immediate responsibility of the welfare of your own people in whatever term
and if you study the constitution carefully, I have done this with lawyers, and
it seems that a lot can be done at this moment.
“You need a season of greater autonomy for your own states
and that is what I mean by pushing the federal envelope as far as it can go
even with this impossible document that we have to cease what power, what
authority you can derive from the constitution.
“Consult with your lawyers, I have consulted with mine and
they also expressed the view that the governors are too timid, there is too
much centralised mentality embedded in their minds and they are afraid to come
out of their cocoons.
“Please remember that your primary responsibility is not the
centre but the people, the state. So, take in your hands any form of authority
that you can even from this constitution as it stands while we are working on a
more honest, a more people-oriented constitution.”
Other speakers at the event include former Secretary-General
of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku; Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar; former
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and ex-Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi; former Deputy CBN Governor, Obadiah Mailafia, amongst others.
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