Afenifere Renewal Group insists in restructuring at its annual retreat in Ado-Ekiti

YORUBA socio-political body the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has maintained that it will continue to agitate for the restructuring of Nigeria’s governance architecture after holding its annual retreat at the Ekiti State capital Ado-Ekiti.

ARG has been one of the community groups demanding that Nigeria be restructured along the lines of the 1958 Lancaster House Agreement that devolved power to the federating units. Under this formula, the  federating units controlled all the resources within their domains, kept 50% of it, paid 20% into the federation account and another 30% into a joint pool which is now the Sovere4ign Wealth Fund.

This formula governed the way Nigeria was run until it was scrapped in 1966 with the infamous Decree 34 by the then military head of state Major general Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi. Since then, successive governments have maintained a unitary arrangement under which the federal government controls resources and pays states under the federal allocation formula.

Speaking after the retreat, ARG publicity secretary Kunle Famoriyo, expressed the group’s belief that all parts of the country stand to benefit from a properly restructured Nigeria in spite of whatever fears are harboured by the different ethnic groups. He also called on all governments across the southwest to initiate policies that would promote Yoruba identity, values, orientation and economic prosperity.

Mr Famoriyo said: “We demand that the acceptable Yoruba socio-political leadership is one that protects the social welfare interests and values of our people. We, therefore, look forward to appropriate reforms in the leadership structure.

"It is trite that when political leadership is wrong, beneficial socio-economic and infrastructural policies are always the casualty. ARG, while stating its readiness to provide a platform to encourage greater political participation, calls on all stakeholders to begin an early advocacy for the implementation of relevant electoral and legislative reforms before the next general elections."

According to Mr Famoriyo, ARG also advocates the full implementation of electronic voting and a clean-up of voters register. He added that this must be done before the next general elections.

“ARG recognises the importance of the Yoruba in diaspora in the transfer of progressive knowledge and processes in their countries of residence to Yoruba homelands. This critical demography can help us achieve a lot of progress if they get involved in the political processes right from their different bases, while also offering their technical expertise towards improving the socio-political and economic landscape of the Yoruba homelands,” Mr Famoriyo added.