Leaders of the Middle Belt and ethnic minorities in the North Central, have thrown their weight behind the calls for restructuring the nation.
In a meeting held yesterday in Abuja, under the aegis of the Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum, the leaders agreed that the current system in Nigeria is unbalanced and grossly inadequate to bring about the needed development to the country.
The meeting was attended by leaders from Adamawa, Taraba, Southern Kaduna and the six states in the North Central zone.
“However, we are resolutely of the view that the current federal structure is unbalanced, unfair, over-centralised and therefore unstable,” the leaders said.
“Accordingly, we firmly support the demand to re-structure the federation, together with appropriate devolution of powers to the federating units, and a commensurate revenue allocation formula.”
Furthermore, they advised the Federal Government to begin the full implementation of decisions taken at the 2014 National CONFAB.
According to them, “Since these fundamental matters were considered and resolved at the 2014 National Conference, we urge the Federal Government to take appropriate and urgent steps to ensure the full implementation of the resolutions and recommendations contained in the confab report.
“We believe that a faithful and effective implementation of those recommendations will promote peace, harmony and greater security, thereby giving Nigeria a new lease of life.”