Bad governance to blame for restructuring agitations, Ex-INEC boss Jega says

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By Aiyeku Timothy 

A former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has stated the agitation for the restructuring of Nigeria is caused by bad governance.

Jega said this on Thursday at the 18th Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme: ‘Restructuring in Nigeria: Why? How? When?’

He said, “After a critical evaluation of the benefits versus the costs of each of these notions of restructuring, I believe that the starting point of desirable and serious, even realistic, restructuring is equitable redistribution of power and resources from the Federal Government to the sub-national governments.”

Although, he noted that dismantling the current structure and going back to the pre-1966 regional structure, the 12 states of 1976/77 or making use of six geo-political regions are unrealistic.

He stated, “The social and political costs of such an undertaking would by far outweigh the benefits. In many fundamental respects, creation of states has gone a long way to mitigate real and imagined/perceived marginalisation of minorities.”

Meanwhile, there have been calls from several quarters, including individuals and groups for the restructuring of the country. The presidency urged them to approach the National Assembly, instead of the calls to President Muhammadu Buhari.

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