Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi, says the ruling All Progressives Congress is still interested in restructuring Nigeria.
Fayemi denied speculations that the APC has reneged on its promise to restructure the country.
He noted that the party set up the El-Rufai Committee to make recommendations to its leadership to demonstrate its commitment to the issue of restructuring.
Fayemi spoke in an interview with journalists in Lagos on Sunday as part of activities to herald the celebration of the second year of his second term in office.
He said the panel had since submitted its report, and “concrete steps had been made to make proposals to the National Assembly.”
The governor also said the Senator Ovie Omo-Agege -led Senate Committee on the Review of the Constitution would soon commence its activities and was sure to capture relevant recommendations for legislative action.
Fayemi said, “True federalism is the answer,” to most of the challenges Nigeria was grappling with at the moment.
He noted that the onus was on the National Assembly to look at the previous reports of National Conferences.
The governor said many recommendations along the line of restructuring, devolution, and true federalism were embedded in the reports of the Niki Tobi Panel, the 2004 Conference set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the 2014 conference established by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We must confront our reality as a federation. The current structure is supportive of unitarist model. The state structure, for now, is problematic. There is a need to move towards devolution, not only of functions but also resources,” he said.
Fayemi added that it was imperative for the nation to decentralise security, noting the actualisation of the Southwest outfit, Amotekun, and efforts by the Federal Government to kick off community policing were working in this direction.
The NGF chairman also observed that despite several agitations by various groups, “Nobody wants Nigeria to break up. They only want Nigeria to work for all of us.”
The governor also scored his administration high, saying it had delivered on legacy projects, attracted investment and funding from many organisations, restored the core values, and intensified efforts on the proposed cargo airport.
