Afenifere chieftain writes Tinubu on restructuring

A chieftain of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Akin Fapohunda, has called on President Bola Tinubu to put in place urgent measures to restructure the Nigerian state.

Fapohunda, a retired Director at the Space Science Unit of the Presidency, made the call in a letter addressed and submitted to the President a fortnight ago.

The letter, dated June 12, 2024, a copy which was obtained by The PUNCH, advanced reasons for the need to restructure the country politically and economically, to address the challenges of governance threatening the health of the nation.

Titled, “Proposal of ideas for the structural transformation of the Nigerian polity,” the letter read in part, “I am motivated to forward this communication as a mere gentle reminder of the need to act with urgency towards the transformation of the Nigerian polity. Change is so difficult to contemplate, yet the Nigerian system needs to be reworked fundamentally.

“It is a greater Herculean undertaking to initiate and execute ideas for comprehensive change, especially considering the possible self-confidence that seven more years are ahead for your government.

“My ideas for your consideration are contained in a write-up on why the quest for restructuring Nigeria into decentralised modules that would complement and compete with and among each other in executing development programmes, with direct benefits to citizens, has become imperative.

“There is a draft containing stipulations and content specifications, as inputs into an executive bill to be presented by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to the National Assembly.

“Also included is the proposal to set up a technical panel of about nine members to facilitate the process of governance reforms.”

Fapohunda also attacked more documents on how to manage the process of people-driven aggregation of the existing states into regional territories, with implicit viability and economic sustainability, devoid of being financial appendages of “Abuja” as well as suggestions of regions through a map by the Coalition of Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities.

The Afenifere chieftain, whose proposal for a return to regionalism a few weeks ago elicited diverse commentaries, called on the President to invoke a doctrine of necessity, by reviewing the current socio-political state of the country, without further delay.