BEVERLY HILLS, July 03, (THEWILL) – The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson has called on the Federal Government to set up an all-parties committee to formulate the template to streamline issues and views around Restructuring of the Country.
This was as the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has stated that a restructuring of Nigeria which would give rise to fiscal federalism is the antidote to the plethora of issues troubling the nation.
Against the backdrop of reports that leaders of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, resolved to set up an internal committee of the party to work out modalities for restructuring, Dickson stated that “resource control” should be taken into consideration.
He also enjoined the ruling party to carry other parties along in the process, in addition to allowing civil
society organisations and the academia partake in dealing decisively with the matter.
The governor asserted that only an expanded committee would give a
sense of belonging to everybody.
Meanwhile, the MOSOP President, Legborsi Pyagbara, who spoke in Port Harcourt on Monday, warned that the failure to address the lingering agitations across the country could come with unavoidable consequences to Nigeria.
He said though MOSOP had condemned the quit notice issued by Arewa youths to Igbos living in the North and the calls for the actualisation of Biafra, there was need to restructure the country as well as address the issue of resource ownership.
Pyagbara said, “Several issues are currently buffeting the Nigeria-nation state and require immediate response for Nigeria to avert descent into anarchy and disintegration.
“MOSOP has been concerned about recent events in the country which have the ominous potential of triggering national disintegration if not speedily addressed. First, is the issue of resurgent Biafra separatism and second, a counter Arewa intolerance expressed in the ultimatum to all Igbo to leave the North.
“MOSOP categorically and irrevocably rejects the two extremes, none of which will improve the miserable condition of the people who the antagonists are claiming to represent.
“Most countries of the world finding themselves in similar situations like us have had to look inwards and search for solutions that are adaptable to their environments and meet the needs of the various centrifugal forces that make up the country.
“For the Nigerian state to survive, it must be seen to demonstrate equity, justice and fairness by creating political space for the sub-national entities to develop at their own space, while ensuring protection for national minorities and indigenous communities.
“The Ogoni Bill of Rights, which is the basis of the Ogoni struggle, emphasises local autonomy for the Ogoni people and other Nigerian communities that are threatened by internal colonialism,” Pyagbara stated.
Speaking on the East-West road, the group declared: “MOSOP totally condemns the neglect of East-West road, especially Akpajo Eleme axis, which, of course, is now impassable. This is condemnable and unacceptable”.
