Nigeria must restructure its current federal system – Jega 

Prof Attahiru Jega, a former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and one-time Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, said for Nigeria must restructure its current federal system

Jega, stated this in a paper he delivered at the 4th public lecture at Nasarawa State University, Keffi.

He argued that “restructuring is highly inevitable and the time to start is now.”

In the paper titled, ‘Restructuring the Nigerian Federation: Challenges and Prospects,’ the don said, “As a way out of the logjam, the country must come to terms with the challenges and prospects of restructuring. We need to come to terms with the fact that restructuring is necessary.”

While advocating restructuring, Jega warned that the approach and mechanism deployed in pursuing the agenda were very vital in achieving the desired goal.

“The fundamental question yearning for an answer is: how can the Nigerian federation be restructured to make it efficient and effective in satisfying the needs and aspirations of its citizens, to substantively manage diversity, to forge unity and sense of belonging for and by all, and to bring about democratic and socioeconomic development beneficial to all citizens?” he asked.

As a panacea, Jega advocated a three-phase restructuring agenda in accordance with what he termed as the “principle of incremental positive changes.”

He proposed that restructuring could be done in the short term, 2021-2023; medium term, 2023-2027; and long term, beyond 2027.

In the short term, he proposed that the Federal Government should set up a compact but broadly representative committee to review all the previous reports of the political reform conference (2006) and national conference (2014) to synthesise and prioritise their recommendations for implementation.

In the medium term, Jega proposed that the government should implement the prioritised recommendations of the technical committee and hand over more responsibilities and resources to states.

In the long term plan, he suggested that the nation should consolidate the gains, accelerate the governance process to satisfy the basic needs and aspirations of the citizens, as well as intensify sustainable socioeconomic development through good democratic governance.