Prof Akinyemi, a former minister of external affairs, has given his view on the current impasse in Nigeria and what it will take to get through the current challenges and restructure Nigeria.
In an interview with the Vanguard Newspaper, Akinyemi, who is an advocate for the restructuring of Nigeria, identified the fears of the North since 1966 as the single barrier to achieving true federalism in the country. He also points to President Buhari as the only person that can make this happen as he commands more respect in the north than other leaders like Atiku and Babaginda, who have added their voices to the calls for restructuring Nigeria.
“The north doesn’t say it is marginalised but the north has fears that it can be marginalised and that the only way to protect itself, because of the state of economic development, educational development and others, is to control the process and to control the system,”
He goes on to say
“And that is why you’ve had that overweighting of issues into the side of the exclusive list. Because if they control the federal government and they have a constitution that has transferred most of the powers to the federal government, then their fears are being addressed. They are protecting themselves. It’s a rational thing."
“The person, right now, who the north believes in, is Buhari. If Buhari were to tell them that, ‘for the stability of Nigeria, in order for things not to fall apart, in order for us to even protect our gains in the north, the north has to give up certain issues; we must devolve issues, certain subjects, from the exclusive list, concurrent list and, also now, at least reserve some issues for the local governments’
In an interview with the Vanguard Newspaper, Akinyemi, who is an advocate for the restructuring of Nigeria, identified the fears of the North since 1966 as the single barrier to achieving true federalism in the country. He also points to President Buhari as the only person that can make this happen as he commands more respect in the north than other leaders like Atiku and Babaginda, who have added their voices to the calls for restructuring Nigeria.
“The north doesn’t say it is marginalised but the north has fears that it can be marginalised and that the only way to protect itself, because of the state of economic development, educational development and others, is to control the process and to control the system,”
He goes on to say
“And that is why you’ve had that overweighting of issues into the side of the exclusive list. Because if they control the federal government and they have a constitution that has transferred most of the powers to the federal government, then their fears are being addressed. They are protecting themselves. It’s a rational thing."
“The person, right now, who the north believes in, is Buhari. If Buhari were to tell them that, ‘for the stability of Nigeria, in order for things not to fall apart, in order for us to even protect our gains in the north, the north has to give up certain issues; we must devolve issues, certain subjects, from the exclusive list, concurrent list and, also now, at least reserve some issues for the local governments’