A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said the country should embark on short-term restructuring before the general elections in 2023 to address some of the challenges facing the nation.
Jega, however, observed that the executive and legislative arms of the Federal Government were not considering making restructuring a reality.
Jega stated this at the lecture he delivered at the Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State on Tuesday. The lecture is titled, ‘ Towards stabilising the Nigeria federation.’
He said, “In the present circumstances, as necessary and desirable as restructuring is, a number of challenges would have to be overcome to successfully bring it about. First, passion has been allowed to circumscribe the discourses of restructuring, resulting in the emergence of hardened antagonistic positions, which if allowed to persist, will make reconciliation and consensus building very difficult, if not impossible.
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“Second, in the governance sphere, at both the federal executive and legislative levels, the political will and competence seem lacking for the pursuit of credible and popularly acceptable procedures and processes of bringing about appropriate and desirable restructuring. The executive seems to take a back seat in the belief that restructuring is purely a legislative matter, into which it should not dabble, thereby failing to provide the requisite, proactive leadership for driving the agenda and process of restructuring.
“On its part, the legislature seems to take an overly legalistic posture, impatient with, and indifferent to, calls for transparent, inclusive and people-oriented strategies for achieving popularly acceptable restructuring.”
However, the professor of political science, expressed optimism that restructuring could be achieved if the stakeholders could do the needful, advocating a short-term restructuring before the 2023 general election.
In spite of the challenges, the prospects of restructuring are not as hopeless as some would assume them to be.
“Nigeria needs stability and increased legitimacy for elected officials in governance; Nigeria needs good governance, better nurtured and deepened democratic development; and needs economic growth and socio-economic development.”
