Restructuring: Our coming together not by mistake – Sultan
Unicpress
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, has called for a think-tank to look into the National Conference report with a view to coming up with recommendations that would be in the best of Nigeria.
He stated this in Abuja on Wednesday at a colloquium organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, with the theme: “The labour movement and the future of united Nigeria: What role for restructuring?’’
According to Abubakar, “It is good to seat down and dialogue but there must be respect. I must respect you and you must respect me. And the greatest thing we can do for this country is always reflect on our history.
“Because we didn’t fall from the sky, we came from somewhere. We became Nigeria in 1914 through amalgamation. People are shouting that our coming together as a country in 1914 was mistake, but God doesn’t make mistakes. If God doesn’t want such a thing as Nigeria to happen, nobody could ever have made it happen.”
“If restructuring will make life better and convenient, then the think-tank, after their work, would call for stakeholders dialogue for the way forward,” he added.
Stressing that the organised labour had the capacity and power to assist the government in bringing about peace, unity and development to Nigeria, he called on the labour to be at the forefront the issues affecting the country, leveraging on its numerical strength.
The Sultan, who tasked NLC members to unite and leave personal interest out of their activities, said: “We must all be patriotic; believe in each other, no matter the group, tribe or religion, because we all have a history of where we came from.
“It is also important to use this forum to bring out those issues that are germane for the uplift of this country.”
Earlier in an address, President of the NLC Ayuba Wabba explained that colloquium was in response to recent developments in the polity, and the stringent and vocal calls for the restructuring of the country.
He said the large part of Nigeria’s problem has been caused by the poor leadership, adding that the inability to administer the nation’s rich resources in a way that will benefit the vast majority of Nigerians has been at the centre of our crisis.
The NLC President however said that the root cause of all the agitations is non-practice of true federalism which the NLC stands for.
His words, “The discourse among political elite in our country, in the last few months, has been so heated that, suddenly, many involved in this debate have thrown caution, decency and decorum to the winds.
“Also, the threats and counter threats have grave consequences for our cooperate existence as a nation. We have also heard stringent calls for Nigeria to return to regions of the first republic, others called for remodeling our federation along the Abacha era.”