Afenifere insists that restructuring must take place ahead of Nigeria's 2023 elections

PAN-Yoruba socio-cultural group Afenifere has insisted that Nigeria must be restructured before the next general elections gold in 2023 if the federal government is serious about addressing the plethora of socio-economic woes afflicting the nation.

Since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, calls for the restructuring of the country have grown very loud with the government under pressure to adopt the 2014 National Confab report. It recommended a return to the 1958 fiscal federation arrangement under which the federating units controlled all resources within their domain but sent 50% of the taxes generated to the centre.

At independence, this arrangement was adopted but was jettisoned following the promulgation of Decree 34 in March 1966 and ever since then, the country has retained a unitary structure. President Buhari has stubbornly ignored these deafening calls for a return to the pre-1966 arrangement so far but the pressure keeps mounting on a daily basis.

At the end of its recent meeting held at the house of its acting leader Chief Ayo Adebanjo, in Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State, Afenifere issued a communique published by its national publicity secretary Jare Ajayi. It said restructuring was the solution to the many problems confronting the country, adding that this must be done to tackle the problem of insecurity and many others.

Mr Ajayi said: “The meeting took notice of President Muhammadu Buhari’s address at the United Nations, especially where he called for the reform of the world body and his recommendation of dialogue to resolve Palestinian/Israeli issues. Afenifere enjoins the president to key into restructuring that it has been advocating, as restructuring is similar to the reform that the president wants to see at the UN.

“Afenifere again reiterated its position that restructuring remains the panacea to solve the multi various problems bedevilling the country now. We insist that this restructuring should be done before the next elections in the country.”

In addition, Afenifere added that every community must be alert and realise that they must defend themselves from bandits who seem to have declared war on the entire Nigeria. It called on the federal government and security agencies to be more decisive in the way they tackle security issues that had made living in Nigeria painful.

 “It is a known fact that Afenifere strongly stands by the southern governors in their resolution on anti-grazing laws, on Value Added Tax and on a person of southern extraction becoming the president of Nigeria in 2023. We note with delight, the court judgment that empowers the states to collect VAT.

"We also urge state governments to further explore more areas to deepen democracy and enhance the frontier of true federalism in Nigeria,” Mr Ajayi added.