Contrary to the general belief that the unity of Nigeria cannot be negotiated, the former Minister of Power and Steel, Dr Olu Agunloye, Niger Delta Activist, Miss Ankio Briggs and Dr Abdul Hussaini of the organised civil society group and a number of prominent Nigerians have added their voice to the ongoing calls for restructuring of the country, stating that the unity of the country is negotiable.
According to them, Nigeria stands to gain better understanding of its unity when certain fundamental issues affecting its unity are discussed.
They made the call during the ‘Feast of Barracuda’ organised by the National Association of Seadogs, Pyrates Confraternity in Abuja.
They opined that it was time the country be restructured, reshaped or forced to face the consequences of breaking into pieces.
“We should restructure the country; the centre of the talks should be around true federalism. The earlier we start to do it bit by bit, the better for us”, said Dr Agunloye.
According to Dr Hussaini, one of the discussants, “We have a flawed federal system but there is no best federal system in the world. To build a federal system, we must build model suitable for us. We need to have conversation/conferences for an ideal federalism. The centre is too large. There is no reason why each state or region should not have a constitution. There are many things the federal government is doing that are not necessary, for example, agriculture, roads construction, schools, etc.
In her own contribution, Niger Delta activist, Ann Kio Briggs, a panel discussant at the event, insisted on restructuring and practice of true federalism as panacea to the socio-politico crisis in the country.
“We must discuss Nigeria. There must be a time frame for the discussion. You cannot come to the Niger Delta, take oil and leave deadly diseases for the people in the region”
According to them, there is enough on the ground, including the reports of the 2014 National Conference from which a new Nigeria can be born.
The Feast of Barracuda is an annual conference of the National Association of Sea Dogs on their own contribution to nation building.
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