Restructuring, regional government, self – government or revolution! Which way out?

By Ayo Elijah

As events have been unfolding in the past decade in Nigeria, as elites we would start asking ourselves the above questions and what could be the solution to the whole drama we have been faced with.

To start with, different people are of different opinions, some would believe that RESTRUCTURING Could bring peace and economic stability that we have been longing for.

But we would recall that before the end of the PDP Jonathan led government there was a National Confab and when the APC led government came into power in 2015 the word restructuring was one of their mantra and why some people did vote for them but since then till now the APC government has been unable to implement or institute any form of restructuring, So why have the APC government failed to institute restructuring despite their promise? And one vital question the leftist would like to ask is that, If we have restructuring today and more power to the states, will it not be the same corrupt capitalist elite still controlling the political and economic sphere? Have the states been transparent enough on the security vote they receive monthly and annually? Can the politicians who are servants of the people receive the same minimum wage, unlike other Nigerians?

While other sects of people (majorly Senior Citizens) are of the opinion that we need to go back to the REGIONAL GOVERNMENT as we have it in the 60s, where we have The Western Region, Eastern Region, and the Northern Region.
During this period of early days of independence which have nationalists as leaders, there were still major problems like the Federal Election Crisis, Census Crisis, Western Nigeria Election Crisis (operation wet e), Corruption in Federal ministries which are reasons that were stated by the military on why they struck in Jan 1966.

Many others who are vast majority buy the idea of SELF GOVERNMENT. Most especially in the South, the quest for self-government is in high demand, as many of the Yoruba Nation and Biafra Nation agitators will give almost very reasonable reasons why self-government can be the best solution.

As many of the agitators will say the resources in the Southern region is used to develop the Northern Region that is why the Northerners do not want the entity to break but they fail to recognize that the ruling capitalist elites have people drawn from different geo-political zones of the country.

Today the quest for self-determination can be welcomed by any ordinary citizen looking for a way out of economic hardship.

But any right-thinking individual will understand that if the country works well for all, irrespective of their ethnicity, tribe, and language nobody will be calling for self-government.

Another sect of people are those who believe that only REVOLUTION can be the solution, to guarantee economic stability, a better life for all as well as a true working nation. This sect of people are sometimes tag agents of destabilisation by state authorities but they seem to say the truth most times. The recent End SARS protest by the youth was seen as a step towards revolution but the government still does not understand yet that revolution is a process.

The government is trying as much as possible to repress and discredit any move that stands for liberation of the people but this can only last for a short period of time. In this period of economic hardship where prices of commodities have tripled, government has also increased virtually everything ordinary citizens pay for (electricity, fuel, VAT, etc ) cost of living has become so high that hunger has been killing many and people have resulted into taking laws into their hands as the government could no longer guarantee the security of lives and properties (Even the minister of defence has told people to defend themselves ).

Number of people killed every day are on the high, insecurity and corruption is still the order of the day (Thanks to Revolutionary Medias), Election promises have not been delivered and things are becoming worse and worse to the common man.

The government still has time to make amendments and ensure that life is more bearable for a common man instead of leaving the people with no other option than to revolt again.

Comrade Ayo (Amuludun)
Ifo, Ogun State
08064876421
ayoelijahmail@gmail.com