Adeboye: Nigeria must restructure or risk breakup

By KAYODE OYERO

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has advised the Federal Government to give Nigeria a lasting solution to secession agitations and its economic challenges by restructuring the country.

According to Adeboye, the restructuring of the country must be done “as soon as possible” to forestall a breakup of the various socio-ethnic components that make up Nigeria.

The 78-year-old cleric stated this on Saturday at a 60th Independence Day Celebration Symposium co-organised by the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Nehemiah Leadership Institute.

At the symposium with the theme, ‘Where will Nigeria be in 2060?’ monitored by The PUNCH, Adeboye proposed the adoption of a merger of the British style of government and the American system of government to pave the way for Nigeria’s future.

The former lecturer at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Lagos said, “Why can’t we have a system of government that is 100 per cent Nigerian, unique to us? For example, we started on with the British system of government, somewhere along the line, we moved over to the American system of government.

“Can’t we have a combination of both and see whether it could help us solve our problems because in Mathematics if you want to solve a problem, you try what we call Real Analysis, then if it doesn’t work, then you move on to Complex Analysis and see whether that will help you. If that fails, you move on to Vector Analysis and so on.

“I believe that we might want to look at the problems of Nigeria in a slightly different manner. Some people feel that all our problems will be over if Nigeria should break up. I think that is trying to solve the problems of Nigeria as if it is a Simple Equation. The problems of Nigeria will require quite a bit of Simultaneous Equation and some of them are not going to be Linear either – forgive me I am talking as a Mathematician.

“Why can’t we have a system of government that will create what I will call the United States of Nigeria? Let me explain. We all know that we must restructure. It is either we restructure or we break, you don’t have to be a prophet to know that one. That is certain – restructure or we break up.

“Now, we don’t want to break up, God forbid. In restructuring, why don’t we have a Nigerian kind of democracy? At the federal level, why don’t we have a President and a Prime Minister?

“If we have a President and a Prime Minister and we share responsibilities between these two so that one is not an appendage to the other. For examples, if the President controls the Army and the Prime Minister controls the Police. If the President controls resources likes oil and mining and the Prime Minister controls finance and inland revenue, taxes, customs etc. You just divide responsibilities between the two.

“At the state level, you have the governor and the premier, and the same way, you distribute responsibilities between these people in such a manner that one cannot really go without the other. Maybe we might begin to tackle the problems.”

Adeboye noted that the place of traditional rulers must be recognised and restored in governance.

He added, “If we are going to adopt the model, then we need to urgently restore the House of Chiefs. I have a feeling that one of our major problems is that we have pushed the traditional rulers to the background and I believe that is a great error particularly for a great country like Nigeria.

“I find it very ridiculous that one will ask a traditional ruler to inform the chairman of his local government before he travels.

“Go to any town in Nigeria, everybody in the town knows the paramount ruler in the town and they respect him (but) many of them don’t even know the name of the chairman of their local government.

“The traditional rulers are the actual landlords, they control the respect of their people. Their people will listen to them much more, I am sorry to say, than they will listen to some politicians.”

“Without any doubt, we must restructure and do it as soon as possible. A United States of Nigeria is likely to survive than our present structure,” he concluded. (Text, excluding headline, courtesy Saturday PUNCH)