- Abubakar Malami said Nigeria cannot be restructured at the moment
- The minister of finance said the call for restructuring should not be considered an agitation
- He said the constitution needed to be amended to meet this demand
Abubakar Malami who is the minister of justice and the attorney-general of the federation has said that Nigeria cannot be restructured at the moment as “it would require the amendment of the 1999 Constitution to accommodate a referendum.”
Premium Times reports that the minister made this assertion on Tuesday, May 31 at a conference with the theme, “Federalism and the Challenges of Dynamic Equilibrium in Nigeria: Towards a National Strategy,” which was organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.
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In a statement by his media aide, the minister noted that there has been a call for the restructuring of the country but pointed out that it wasn’t a matter of agitation.
He explained it was needed for the constitution to provide for such provision.
He said: “Federalism is imbedded in our constitution as contained in sections 2, 3 and 5. It is not out of place to state that as far as our constitutional democracy is concerned, the idea of restructuring is not a function of advocacy or agitation. It is about constitutional accommodation and or alternative constitutional amendment.
“As things stand, restructuring requires amending the constitution to accommodate referendum or, in the alternative, a constitutional amendment to the 1999 constitution, which in this case must be supported by majority of legislators in 24 states of the federation as enshrined in Section 9 of the constitution.
“Whether that process is going to be an easy sale is a conjecture that should be left for deliberation. But one thing that is certain is the inevitable implication that abolishing states through restructuring process will certainly translate to the eventual multiplier effect of abolishing the state house of assembly and perhaps downsizing the National Assembly and probably the civil service and other related federal institution.
“This indeed is a tall order that cannot be achieved through advocacy, emotional outburst or provocative rhetorics and demonstrations. The beauty of democracy is in the process and legislative process is in our case the only answer.”
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“Indeed, while federalism provides the institutional framework for managing diversity, democracy makes possible the negotiation of diverse identity claims by providing them with representation, voice and political mechanisms by which their competing claims are balanced and reconciled.”
“We cannot wish away the particular conditions and circumstances that had produced the challenges in our federal system. We must use democratic means to find solutions to these numerous challenges.”
