FEATURED Restructuring will end Nigeria’s problems, Atiku insists

Former Vice - President , Atiku Abubakar , has
insisted that restructuring Nigeria is required
to enhance national integration and stability .

Atiku said this in a paper he presented at the
Late Gen . Usman Katsina Memorial
Conference , Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua Memorial
Hall , Murtala Square , Kaduna, on Saturday .
He spoke on the theme of the conference ,
“ The Challenges of National Integration and
Survival of Democracy in Nigeria . ”
The former vice - president explained that he
has been an advocate of restructuring for
over a decade because be truly believes it was
the key to solving some , if not most of the
nation ’ s problems .
He stressed that Nigeria had struggled to
build a nation where the component units
would feel a true sense of belonging .
Atiku said, “ As a country we have struggled
to live up to this ideal. We have obviously not
done enough to realise national integration ,
and the survival of our democracy is still a
work in progress .
“ The cost to us has been enormous . We even
fought a civil war to forcibly keep the
country together.
“ Since the various amalgamations that
created the entity that we now call Nigeria ,
different segments of Nigeria ’ s population
have , at different times and sometimes at the
same time , expressed feelings of
marginalisation , of being short - changed ,
dominated, oppressed , threatened , or even
targeted for elimination. ”
He explained that other pressure groups had
expressed similar frustrations arising from a
sense of exclusion and helplessness, believing
that their voices were not being heard or that
they were unable to hold those in power to
account .
According to him, previous initiatives aimed
at addressing these concerns have not yielded
the desired results as mutual suspicions still
exist adding that , “ If anything , our unity has
been fragile , our democracy unstable , and
our people more aggrieved by their state in
the federation . ”
He stressed that his belief in one strong and
united Nigeria has remained strong and that
we are stronger together .
Nigeria ’ s unity he said, is worth sacrificing
for and that the component units should look
at the bright side of restructuring because it
remains the only way to go .
He noted that it was not a secret that many
Nigerians from outside the North hold the
view that the main beneficiary of the status
quo has been the north , an undifferentiated
north .
Atiku said , “ The north and Nigeria have not
been served well by the status quo and there
is need for change .
“ Who among us who went to primary and
secondary school in the 1960 s had much to
do with the federal government ? Did the
northern regional government wait to collect
monthly revenue allocations from Lagos
before paying salaries to its civil servants and
teachers or fixing its bridges and roads ?”
He urged Nigerians irrespective of their
religious , political or ethnic persuasion to
support the restructuring of the nation.