Issues of restructuring as old as Nigeria’s Independence – Ntufam Ukweni

Mr. Ntufam Mba Ekpezu Ukweni, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has said that agitations for restructuring did not start today.
He said only restructuring will solve many problems the country was facing today.

“If government wants Nigeria to remain one, we must sit down and talk about restructuring,” he said.
Speaking to DAILY POST in Calabar, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said “The issue of restructuring of Nigeria is a recurrent issue.
The country right from the pre-colonial time has been under restructuring, even the amalgamation of 1914, was restructuring, creation of states was restructuring, the military leaving and handing over to civilian was a restructuring, creation of local government in order to bring power nearer to the people were all restructuring.”
He maintained that “there is no relationship that people stay in and do not, at a particular time sit back to look at themselves and say, if there are certain difficulties we should see how we can resolve it.”

He explained that even in marriage, “if there is a major problem between husband and wife, they sat down together and talked it out, if you refuse to seat down together to talk, it means you do not want the marriage to continue and that is when you go your different ways.”
According to Ukweni, “I am fully in support of Nigeria sitting down together and think of what is the next stage on how we should continue to exist.
“We should look at the problems, the agitations of various groups, how we must relate with ourselves.
“Even during the period of independence, there was agitations and all that and at a point, the North was not ready for Independence and because of understanding, the other part said, okay, if you are not ready, let us wait a little and let us have it at so so and so time, all those things are all part of restructuring, various understanding and how we should relate, exist and co-exist among ourselves, so anybody who is against restructuring means, he doesn’t want Nigeria to be one.”

He said change must always occur, adding, “so, if we don’t want to sit down on a round table and discuss how we are going to exist and co-exist among ourselves, relate, that change will certainly take place and it will be violent one.”
On what kind of change he wants for Nigeria, Ukweni said “our constitution says we are a federation, if we are operating a federal constitution and ours is modelled after the United States; in the United States, do they operate their federation as we operate our federation in Nigeria?
“It is not so, there should be a true federalism, the centre should not be everything and everything should not be at the centre, that every month, various states government would carry their bucket to go and see what they can get from the federal government.
“It makes people lazy and that is why the country is not developing because this common source of oil money, every month you go there and share it, people are no more enterprising.
“When Nigeria was clearly four regions, you saw the competition, the model of a federation, each of the region struggling to ensure that they survived and managed their economy properly, but we are now in a system where there is a common pool where every month people go there to cut their own share from the elephant. It makes people to become lazy.”
Consequently, he regretted “That is why we become as lazy as we are and that thing has gone to the villages, family units, there are people who don’t work but they just feel that they have a big Uncle, a Big Brother who will be given them food every month, they go there for their children school fees, go there for their feeding, go there for house rents.

“They will go to one elected person, the Governor, the House of Assembly member, the House of Reps member, the Senator, the Council Chairman is there, every morning to get money instead of people going to work at their farms or finding something to do, they carry their seats to the parlour of a senator, to the parlour of the House of Assembly member, to the parlour of the Governor to get money, so it has created laziness in Nigerians.‎”