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Recession has exposed weaknesses of central government, says Atiku

By Eniola Daniel
23 December 2016   |   4:16 am
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has reiterated the need for Nigeria to be restructured, saying the economic recession has exposed the flaw of an all-too-powerful central government.
Atiku Abubakar

Atiku Abubakar

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has reiterated the need for Nigeria to be restructured, saying the economic recession has exposed the flaw of an all-too-powerful central government.

The ex-vice president on his Twitter account @atiku expressed his displeasure over the state of the economy, maintaining that this has exposed the weaknesses of the central government.

According to Atiku, who served under the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007, the responsibilities of the Federal Government needs to be reduced to avoid it collapsing “under the weight of too many responsibilities.”

He said: “I fully agree with liberalisation or privatisation and reducing the size of the state but decentralisation implies reducing Federal Government duties.

“A large house is always harder to clean. Now if you build smaller home units and rent to families, overall they would be better kept. If they do the same thing – reduce FG control on the economy; thereby making it more efficient, I don’t see a problem,” he said.

When the former number two citizen was questioned by a twitter user, Tunji Andrew why he was always busy asking questions instead of proffering solutions: “As someone looking to lead Nigeria, I’d have thought you’d be telling us how to fix it, not asking us, Atiku replied “ I learned more under the U.S. system, where teachers engaged and asked questions. This is why I also ask questions.

The American Peace Corps teachers engaged with us students, asked questions and encouraged thinking. That’s what I loved. When we didn’t understand the lessons, the teachers beat it into us. I didn’t like school then, till I met American teachers.”

“I started in the standard school, where teachers told us what to do. It didn’t work. Restructuring it is: let’s take the case of states receiving 13 percent derivation from oil revenue, this has not had any visible effect on the masses. So, not only is ‘our Federal Government’ too large, the economic downturn has exposed fundamental weaknesses.

Yes, the Federal Government duties need to be reduced or devolved. The government can no longer afford to meet many obligations.”

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2 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    Sound reasoning. Alh Atiku is definitely making the right sounds.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Restructuring is the way forward for Nigeria and I am sure Atiku who has re-echoed that call is fully aware of what is to be done and the way to go about them.
    All he needs now is the support of everyone for the 1999 constitution to be amended since it has held the country hostage long enough.
    We’re with the former vice president and we know his intentions are of good.