FORMER Governor of Anambra State Peter Obi has said that restructuring would boost the Nigerian economy and put an end to insecurity in the country.
Obi said this on Tuesday at the fourth Adada Public Lecture organised by the Association of Nsukka Professors (ANP) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
He stated that restructuring of Nigeria would encourage governors to increase the productivity of the states and ensure maximum security as local and community police would be set up to tackle criminality within their areas.
Obi encouraged governors to seek alternative means of generating revenue, rather than the continuous dependence on federal allocation from the proceeds of oil.
“No developed country in the world depends on crude oil but they invest in their children, agriculture and encourage small and medium enterprises by giving out soft loans and other incentives. There is urgent need to restructure the country for the economy to grow to desired level,” he said.
The ex-governor stressed that restructuring should not be seen as an attempt at dividing the country, but as a move to build the ailing economy and restore security in the country.
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He further stated that restructuring would help to ensure adequate funding of the educational sector, and would bring out the comparative advantage of every state as natural resources lying waste would be harnessed to boost the state economy.
Obi added that restructuring would enable states to make adequate investment in agriculture, while creating more employment opportunities.
“In the 1960s and 1970s, agriculture was the major foreign exchange earner for the country. In the North, we had groundnut pyramid, in the West we had cocoa and the East had palm oil and Nigeria was among the best economies in the world,” he said.
He, therefore, urged professors and lecturers in the country to use their wealth of knowledge to convince Nigerians of the urgent need for restructuring in the country.
The call for restructuring has remained a recurring topic for discussions within the Nigerian government.
About two weeks ago, governors from the southern region of Nigeria resolved at a meeting held in Asaba, Delta State, that there was a need for the nation to be restructured, to reflect true federalism and create a change in the revenue allocation formula in the nation.
At a summit organised by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) in April, the Arewa elders supported the calls for restructuring, stating that it was the only avenue through which Nigeria could realise its potential for economic and political development.
The Presidency, however, has maintained that restructuring is not a priority and has described the calls for restructuring as unpatriotic outbursts that are both unhelpful and unwarranted.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.