Soludo spoke in Lagos at the median lecture of Ndigbo Lagos Foundation, where he delivered a lecture entitled “The political economy of restructuring the Nigerian federation.”
Chukwudi Nweje
Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo reiterated that the way forward for Nigeria is restructuring and not diversification.
Soludo spoke in Lagos at the median lecture of Ndigbo Lagos Foundation, where he delivered a lecture entitled “The political economy of restructuring the Nigerian federation.” He noted that the country had explored diversification for more than three decades now without result, thus, the urgent need to restructure.
READ ALSO: Ndigbo’s political future not dependent on Buhari – MASSOB
He said though restructuring would have short-term winners and losers, the citizenry should focus on the long-term goal, which is security, prosperity and happiness of everybody. He, nevertheless, said for restructuring to achieve its desired goal, “the short-term fears of the opponents must be taken into account.”
He said: “Restructuring will have short-term winners and losers, but what we are looking at is the long-term. But, unless we understand the concerns of the short-term losers, our collective long-term aspirations may be delayed or even aborted. The long-term aim of restructuring is the security, prosperity and happiness of everybody.
READ ALSO: Buhari’s opposition to restructuring
“Restructuring is not just a political agitation, it is a foundational plan for Nigeria’s future prosperity with- out oil. The contradictions of the old oil-based economy, vis-a-vis the population and geopolitical pressures, are swirling and the challenge of a new institutional frame- work to lead the emergence of the new economy is ur- gent,” he said.
Soludo listed three broad categories restructuring could take, namely, soft restructuring, which he said would involve tinkering with the 1999 constitution; hybrid restructuring, where a new constitution with sufficient regional autonomy would be negotiated and hard restructuring, which would mean confederation or outright independence for any part of the country that desired it.
He said the current structure of Nigeria, where the federating units receive handouts from the federation account, is for “an era that we no longer live in.”
He said in order not to be left behind, Nigeria must, in the next four years, chart a new progressive constitution for the country’s posterity.
He reiterated the position of the South East Forum that the present 36 states structure should be consolidated into six geopolitical zones to enhance their economic viability and called for multiple vice presidents, where each of the geopolitical zones, except the one that produced the president, would produce one vice president.