Nigeria and Concept of Restructuring

Restructuring has been an household word in Nigerian political lexicon in the recent time. Many government have come into power with the mantra of restructuring Nigeria. Many are of the opinion that this structural reform is over due. While some think it is necessary for further unity of Nigeria, others think it is a diversion from the real problem, corruption.

2014 Constitutional Conference

Those who believe restructuring is a diversion argued that Nigeria's problem is corruption not restructuring. They insist that if right people are in power, the cry for restructuring will cease as mis-governance will be a thing of the past.

On the other hand, another school of thought believes strongly that the only way to guarantee the future unity of Nigeria is to have a total restructuring. They argued that Nigeria is not a federal state as claimed, but a perversion with features of a Unitarianism.

Evidence of the Claim

• National revenue allocation formula which gives the federal government 52% and 48% for the 36 component units and 774 local government put together. This has left the component units at the mercy of the federal government due to financial inadequacy.

• Unviability of the component units resulting to over dependence on the federal government.

• Staggering insecurity in various regions which the central police is unable to contain.

• State-Local government joint account which has rendered local governments mere puppets and state government appendages.

• Over-bloated exclusive list

The above areas need urgent attention for better future of Nigeria.