A retired Colonel, Gabriel Ajayi has flayed those calling for the restructuring of the nation, saying, Nigerian should rather devolve less power to the central government, as the nation had restructured times without number.
Col. Ajayi stated this during an interview programme on the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) on Wednesday. According to him, while the rest of the world presently engage in developmental agenda, Nigeria is engrossed in religious polarisation, ethnic division, tribal sentiments and such others.
He added that after the independence, the country had metamorphosed into regions, then to states and creation of more states, saying restructuring in the real sense of it requires fundamental change in the economy of the country, so that the unity could be realised.
“The restructuring that Nigerians are asking for, is not painful but the manner and the way we are asking for it is suspicious.
The retired Army officer added that clamour for seccession and restructuring should not have arisen, if the country is good, as no one would like to opt out, but our leaders pretend and act arrogantly as if nothing had happen wrong with the polity.
He spoke further that rather than agitating for restructuring, the amount of money and resources that is concentrated in central should be less and the nation should fixed some of its deteriorated infrastructure and give everybody sense of belonging in the nation.
Speaking on the era of military rule and the democratically era in the nation, Col. Ajayi refused to admit that the long rule of the military rule was responsible for the comatose situation of the nation’s economy.
Tracing how the nation fare from independence till date, he condemned “the lackadaisical attitude of political class that took the mantle of leadership from the colonial master”, saying they did not see themselves equal with the generality of the people through their various policies and programme.
He added that the elected politicians in the state and national assemblies contributed in no small measure to the destruction of the nation.
He also stated that the collapse of the Nigeria currency and non productivity nature of the nation also added to the nation’s myriad of problem. Col. Ajayi said, “no amount of cohesion can put us together, except we deliberately reason together, get our house together with the perception that God has plan for the black race through Nigeria, the largest and populous black country in the world and that there is hope for our future”
