Jega warns against revolutionary approach to restructuring

• Wants FG to relinquish more power, resources to states

Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has attributed the rising tension in the country to the enormous power and resources concentrated at the centre (with the Federal Government).

Even he stressed the need to urgently address the imbalance, he warned against revolutionary and destructive approach, saying it could be counterproductive.

Jega, also a former President of Academic Staff Union of Universities and ex-Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, spoke on a live television programme, The Morning Show on Arise TV on Friday.

He said, “Anybody who compares the Nigeria’s federal legislative list with the federal legislature in any federal country of the world will clearly see the imbalance. We should address that and begin to deconcentrate the power assigned to the Federal Government and reallocate it to the state governments.”

Jega noted that the current clamour for resource control would subside once more power and resources were transferred from the federal to the state level.

“Doing so will also mean taking those resources associated with those responsibilities from the Federal Government to the state level. If we do that, you will see the main reason why there is a lot of clamour for who controls of the Federal Government. Those who control our federal resources vandalise and privatise them.”

He lamented that the imbalance had caused not only disharmony and division among ethnic groups but crippled the economy, adding, “It will require careful planning, systematic planning and a time frame within when to address this.”

He, however, warned, “A revolutionary, destructive approach, in the sense that we have to do everything at the same time, will be counterproductive and the little history we have trying to fix constitutional amendment showed that it can’t work .”

Jega, now a chieftain of the People Redemption Party, also noted that there were other crucial steps that could be taken to bring peace to the country before the 2023 general elections.

He disagreed with the presidency’s position that aggrieved individuals could approach the national assembly for restructuring, saying with strong political will, the Federal Government could initiate moves that would address a lot of imbalance in the system.

According to him, one of such initiatives is to revisit the report of the two most recent constitutional conferences.

He said, “It is possible to push for restructuring and focus on the low-hanging fruits between now and 2023 and consolidate with other reforms and we ensure that post 2023, we’ll have better elected leaders whether at the federal or state level, people who respect democracy and those who will be selfless in the way they serve the people, people that manage resources and satisfy the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

“We will be able to avoid all those crises and conflicts we had in the First Republic. The problem was not limited to authoritarian and selfish disposition of leaders to the people but also to the issue of lack of respect for different opinions.”