Abubakar Atiku, former Vice-President of Nigeria, says those who are afraid of the restructuring the country are lazy people.

Speaking to a group of youth in Abuja on Monday, Atiku maintained that every region of the country has adequate natural and human resources to thrive without having to rely on monthly allocations from the Federal Government.

He recalled that his education from primary to university was bankrolled by the government at a time when oil had not been discovered.

“I would not have gone to school if I were born today. My parents were so poor they couldn’t afford to send me to school. I was born during the era education was free, food was free for me, I was sponsored from primary school to the university,” he said.

“There was even a job waiting for me before I graduated. Yet, there was no oil boom then. I am certainly not a product of oil boom Nigeria. So, I don’t know what those who are against restructuring are afraid of. Those afraid must be lazy.

“We fought the civil war with the Igbo. Today, the Igbo have been completely rebuilt, but we still find mud houses in the north. Is it the fault of the easterners that the north is like that?”

Atiku suggested that the Federal Government should only be in charge of sectors such as “defence, foreign affairs, immigration”, while states or regions should be left to manage their resources. He stressed that this would further boost transparency and accountability.

“It should not be complicated to start with all the recurrent items in the constitution,” he said.

“The President can dialogue with the governors or the National Assembly for states to take charge of the roads, hospitals, schools and such other items in the concurrent List while the federal government will continue with items on the exclusive list.

“I think that what is most important is the devolution of powers and resources with the various governments, whether states or regions. How do the people hold those in power accountable for the resources handed over to them?”