The Presidency has said Nigeria at present does not need restructuring as being clamoured for across the country, adding that what is needed instead is economic development to provide food for the populace.
This was said by the Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Garba Shehu, while receiving some northern clerics who staged a rally to support the president and the Nigerian military on the fight against insurgency.
Garba Shehu said his office has been receiving, on a daily basis, communiqués and resolutions from groups, calling for restructuring of the country and constitution review, adding, however, that what Nigeria needed at the moment was peace for its citizens to go about their businesses.
The presidential aide also said the country was also in need of means to revamp the economy in order to be able to put food on the tables of the citizens and not restructuring or constitution review.
“Every day, we read one communique or resolution from one group or the other, asking government to review the constitution and restructure. First of all, we need peace in Nigeria. Without peace, there will not be development or progress. Ordinary Nigerians want peace so that they can go about their lawful activities.
“Ordinary Nigerians want food to eat. It is not constitutional review and restructuring that will put food on the table. It is a better economy and this is what the president is doing, trying to ensure that the resources in the country are very well managed.”
However, the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, said restructuring would put food on the table of several millions of Nigerians and declared that the presidency spoke out of ignorance and lacked an understanding of the issues at stake.
The spokesman of the group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, also said restructuring would not only ensure food security but also raised the economic base of the country from the N6 trillion per annum, currently generated from the oil and gas sector, to N50 trillion.
However, Odumakin differed with the presidential aide as he said the position of the presidency was a clear demonstration of what he described as “the palpable level of ignorance at the highest level of governance in the country.
“A situation where a few people in the past have been taking everything and pocketing our resources and sharing among themselves is over now. The president will make sure that whatever is available to the people of this country goes around the country and is evenly distributed,” he said.