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APC panel to begin public hearing on restructuring

The All Progressive Congress (APC) panel is ready to start hearing on the need for restructuring in the country. The committee, which is headed by the Governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai, has said the process will commence September 18 in Benin and end on October 9 in Abuja.

Other members of the 10-man committee include the Governors of Osun State, Rauf Arebegsola;  Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), and Simon Lalong (Plateau). Also include is Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun; a former governor of Edo State, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor; the APC National Organising Secretary, Senator Osita Izunaso; the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi; and Hajia Fatima Bala.

The APC had, in its manifesto, promised to, among other things “Initiate action to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true federalism and the federal spirit;

Restructure government for a leaner, more efficient and adequately compensated public service; require full disclosure in all media outlets of all government contracts of over N100m prior to award and during implementation at regular intervals.

But the party National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, after a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC in Abuja said that the party never promised to restructure Nigeria’s federal structure.

“If you want to know where APC is, read through the manifesto and that is where APC stands. The APC did not say restructuring.” He said.

Secretary of the Committee, Senator Olabunmi Adetumbi, said the committee has set up a 12-point agenda to look into including

  • Creation/merger of States

  • Derivation principle

  • Devolution of powers

  • Federating units

  • Fiscal federalism and revenue allocation

  • Form of government

  • Independent candidacy

  • Land tenure system

  • Local Government autonomy,

  • Power sharing and rotation

  • Resource control

  • and type of legislature.

“We are expecting inputs from the public on whether or not should Nigeria create more states; should states be merged? If so, what should be the framework and guidelines?

“What percentage of federal collectable resources should be given back to their sources, e.g. crude oil, solid minerals, Value Added Tax (VAT).

We must recognise that the work of nation building is an ongoing process in which every stakeholder has a role to play, by making his own contribution. In this case, the APC as a National Political Party is an institution and a stakeholder that has a role to play in making its own contribution.

As a committee, we are not conversing for any opinion. As a committee, we are interested in harvesting opinions in order to inform the party on what the public is saying on these issues so that the party can work effectively in such a manner that it responds to public opinion.

The Secretary also revealed that four teams have been set up to conduct two public consultations across the zones.

Team one will be in charge of South-South and North-Central zone and team two has South-East and North-East as area of concentration.

Team three will supervise the South-West and North-West zones, while team four will be responsible for taking opinions views of citizens of the Federal Capital Territory, National Assembly members, youth civil society groups and professional bodies.

When asked whether the committee will consider the report of the 2014 National Conference organised by the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration which was “rejected” by the APC Adetumbi said

I don’t think there is anything called rejection of that conference (2014 national conference). The report of the conference is in the public domain and it is available as literature for the work we are doing. You also have the 2005 political reforms conference report. We are looking at all of these in order for the APC to understand what exactly its role should be in the way forward.

Citizens in all corners of Nigeria have been agitating for restructuring of the country which comprises of different ethnic groups forming a federating nation.

The Chief proposal is that each State should have the power to create and manage its own resources, contribute to the development of the country and manage its own security while the Central Government will only be concerned with its relationship between the States in the country, the diplomatic relations with other countries, the currency, defence and human rights.

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