*Osinbajo, Atiku at War!
“Restructuring in whatever shape or form will not mean much if our political leaders sees public resources as an extension of their bank accounts.” Osinbajo
“It is a surprise that the Vice President would take such a position and fail to appreciate the connection between Nigeria’s defective structure and its underperformance.” Atiku Abubakar
The incumbent Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and former vice President, Atiku Abubakar are engaged each in a war of words following different views on whether Nigeria should be restructured or not.
While Osinbajo believes that the problem with Nigeria is not a matter of restructuring, Atiku Abubakar insists that restructuring is a necessity and not an option.
“It is about managing resources properly and providing for the people properly, that is what it is all about,” the vice president Insists.
But Atiku Abubakar has countered him saying “It is a surprise that the Vice President would take such a position and, in particular, fail to appreciate the connection between Nigeria’s defective structure and its underperformance.”
He says the Vice President merely scrambled a response to him because many Nigerians condemned his recent stance on restructuring.
But in an open letter yesterday, Professor Osinbajo insisted that restructuring in “whatever shape or form, will not mean much if our political leaders see public resources as an extension of their bank accounts.”
It however took Atiku only a matter of hours to reply the vice president, in a statement titled; ‘restructuring is a necessity, not an option’, cautioning that the vice president should not attempt to revise history by saying that he spoke against “geographic restructuring”.
“I have been in the forefront of the discourse on restructuring since the 1995 Abacha Constitutional Conference and to the best of my knowledge; there has not been any term like ‘geographic restructuring’.
“It is a strange concept, not only because it is not what the restructuring debate is all about, but also because the words of the Vice President, which prompted my response were clear, unambiguous and unequivocal” Atiku Abubakar stated.
He insisted that Osinbajo said, “The problem with our country is not a matter of restructuring” explaining that he and many other Nigerians disagree with that and that if the Vice President has changed his stance, “I welcome it, but we should not use one finger to hide behind semantics.”
“For the Vice President to say Alhaji Atiku’s concept of restructuring is understandably vague because he seeks to cover every aspect of human existence in that definition is most unfortunate.
“I have been very clear, detailed, and unambiguous about my ideas for restructuring. At several occasions, including, but not limited to my speeches at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), and at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (made in April this year and July 2017, respectively), I gave a very clear and concise ideas about administrative, political and economic restructuring.
They are as follows: Devolution of powers and resources to the states; Matching grants from the federal government to the states to help them grow their internally generated revenue position; The privatisation of unviable federal Government-owned assets; A truly free market economy driven by the laws of demand and supply; Replacing state of origin with state of residence, and Passing the PIGD so that our oil and gas sector will run as a business with minimal governmental interference.
“My advice to the Vice President is that he should choose whether he is for restructuring or whether he is against it and stick to his choice. This continuous prevarication, this approbation and reprobation, helps no one, least of all true progressives who know that Nigeria needs to be restructured and restructured soon,” Atiku explained in his statement.
However, Osinbajo in his letter took time to explain that he had always argued that what Nigeria requires now is not geographical restructuring but good governance, honest management of public resources, deeper fiscal Federalism, and a clear vision for development.
He recalled that the 2014 National Conference actually recommended the creation of 18 more States and that he argued that, with several States struggling or unable to pay salaries, any further tinkering with the nation’s geographical structure would not be beneficial to anybody and wondered why Abubakar would say he is in support of geographical restructuring.
“I have been an advocate, both in court and outside, of fiscal Federalism and stronger State Governments. I have argued in favour of State Police, for the simple reason that policing is a local function. You simply cannot effectively police Nigeria from Abuja.
“Only recently, in my speech at the Anniversary of the Lagos State House of Assembly, I made the point that stronger, more autonomous States would more efficiently eradicate poverty. So I do not believe that geographical restructuring is an answer to Nigeria’s socio economic circumstances.
“That would only result in greater administrative costs. But there can be no doubt that we need deeper fiscal Federalism and good governance”, he added.
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