The latest campaign song by most Presidential aspirants in the country, including Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, on RESTRUCTURING the country if elected President come 2019, can best be described as a “pack of lies” simply aimed to get support from top political stakeholders and Nigerians. But we all know this is a “promised lie” that will never be implemented. It is funny how every Presidential candidate are using this restructuring subject matter as a campaign tool, which they know very well in their hearts, that it will not be realized based on a lot of factors.

In the Nigerian kind of democracy and Presidential system of government practiced over the years, the President, as we all know it, does not have the exclusive power to restructure the country. It is the responsibility of the National Assembly to institute the law, with the support of the President and the State Assemblies, for such law on restructuring Nigeria to be passed, given assent and become a reality. The National Legislature are the ones to play the major role on restructuring Nigeria if they really were sincere about it in the first place. Atiku and all the Presidential hopefuls know deep down in their hearts that they are simply trying to deceive the Nigerian public with this latest campaign song on restructuring, because if any of them gets elected, the lawmakers will practically kill the idea, knowing that the President does not have that power to veto the move.

The President can only summon a National Conference and members drawn from every State of the Federation to debate on restructuring, which is also dependent on a referendum. But the outcome of which, we all know, will eventually end up amongst dusted files as usual, just like were done to past National Conference reports. And the excuse that will be given, after the elected President must have left office, will be that he had recommended a national conference on the subject of restructuring but it did not pull through.

We all know that the major reason why the much talked about restructuring of Nigeria will not work, is that the entire country still heavily depends on only crude oil and natural gas exports as major source of revenue earnings. I wholeheartedly support the idea of restructuring Nigeria for sustainable economic growth and holistic development. But let us be honest with ourselves, the restructuring exercise will be killed before its birth by Nigerian politicians from the North, South-West and may be South-East. A proper restructuring will be beneficial to the South-South States of Nigeria; hence they will support it very well. The South-South States have the natural Sea Ports, the crude oil and natural gas reserves, which have been feeding the entire country in the last five decades. Though, we also know that much of that wealth, will be stolen by few politicians in power in the South-South States. Lagos State might survive on its own for a while, but it will still decline because it still depends on the oil and gas companies that pay bulk of their staff Personal Income and oil Company Contractors Withholding taxes and other taxes to the Lagos State Government. In that circumstance, oil and gas companies will have to relocate their Head Offices to the Niger Delta States, because it is these taxes that are making Lagos State to be booming and be so independent without federal allocations.

Out of the 36 States plus Abuja, about 35 of them and the FCT depend on the monthly allocations from the federation accounts, which of course is earned from the export of crude oil and natural gas. The States across the country know very well that they won’t be able to pay workers’ salaries and embark on other projects without this ‘monthly salary called Federal allocations.’ So, if the said restructuring is done with an open heart, the States that heavily depend on the crude oil and natural gas wealth will crumble economically. All the Presidential hopefuls, including Atiku and other Politicians know this fact: that Nigeria is being run and survived by the Petroleum exports and nothing more.

The lawmakers elected into the National Assembly are aware of this fact, that they will not be able to carry themselves about in their “Agbadas” (Hausa/Fulani & Yoruba attires) speaking to impress their supporters, if the oil and gas wealth is cut off as a result of restructuring. All the wealth they claim to own are money stolen from the oil and gas revenue. That is the same money used in paying for all government activities, funding of their foreign trips, and what have you.

We would be absolutely correct to say that the sales of crude oil and natural gas exports are the major revenues the entire country depends on for survival. All the Federal Government Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), at all levels, Universities, State Government activities, National Assembly activities, the Judiciary, the Nigerian Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Airforce), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Department of State Security (DSS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), and what have you; are carried out and run with the money from sales of crude oil and natural gas exports. The Federal Government of Nigeria and all the States yearly Budgets are being funded by the crude oil and natural gas export sales from the Niger Delta States. So, I cannot understand the “pack of lies” of restructuring, when those, campaigning with the song on restructuring are only doing so with the aim of deception, and not that they really want to embark on it if elected.

Nigerian is not called a ‘mono-economy’ for nothing. It is because everything is funded and run by the crude oil and natural gas export sales, which the domestic refineries and domestic industries also depend on heavily, including some neighboring African countries, particularly through the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). So, if the entire country depends on the crude oil and natural gas sales from the South-South, and restructuring the country will definitely ‘destabilize/distort’ this existing statuesque to the disadvantage of other regions of the country, then where is the sincerity of the campaign song by Presidential hopefuls on restructuring? Again, I am in support of the restructuring agenda, but the hard truth is that non-Niger Delta States would find it very hard to survival economically in the face of a restructured Nigeria.

So, the Restructuring campaign song is nothing but deception. Those shouting restructuring are not being sincere with the issue.

Again, I will be very happy if the restructuring of Nigeria is done holistically with an open heart. But the truth is that the people from the North, South-West and South-East will oppose it from materialism in the first place because it will create severe economic hardship in their regions. This is a fact they all know, but are pretending about it as if they are supporting the restructuring agenda with the aim of deceiving the ignorant people from the South-South of Nigeria.

Zik Gbemre, JP.

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC