Iba Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, has emphasized the need for the country to be restructured into different regional governments in order to address the country’s socio-economic and security challenges.
In light of this, he believes that there will be less agitation for secession from various ethnic groups in the country, as well as more favorable competition and true cohesion among regional areas.
He stated this in Lagos at a press conference as part of activities marking his 4th installation anniversary as the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, adding that the federal government and political players would choose either regionalism or secession based on their demands on regionalism.
In response to questions about security issues on which the government has been working hard to ensure stability, Adams stated that the issue can only be resolved through proper true federalism as stated in the 1960 Constitution.
“They have to pick one,” he says. If you do not want the country to split up, you must restructure it into different regions. “There is no way you can have effective security without restructuring. If the Nigerian police say they will recruit millions of policemen, we are simply deceiving ourselves.”
If you think about recruiting millions of army, airforce, navy, and SSS personnel, you’re deceiving yourself; the people in the area know their environment better than anyone else. “When you have a regional government, they will be a coordinating factor among all state governors.” We tried it before and it worked because there was healthy competition in terms of development across all sectors in the three regions, with the Midwest and Middle Belt coming later. What we are doing now cannot provide you with a healthy competition because we have approximately 200 million people representing over 300 ethnic nationalities. It’s not going to work.”
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On the 2023 general election, Adams hinted that he would not be ready until the current government resolves the issues on the ground by restructuring within the one year and four months remaining.
“Let us restructure this country into regions; by then, approximately 75% of our resources will be used to develop our own region; we can give 30 or 25% to the federal government at the center,” he said.
I’ve seen so many transitions and elections, and I’ve realized that Nigerian politicians are all the same, so I can’t be deceived any longer because I’ve seen Nigerian politics as a business enterprise. “In that regard, I don’t think we can have a great country called Nigeria if there is no dichotomy and if the system does not change,” Nigerian politicians will look for money to buy people to vote, and they will now make 100 percent of the money they invested in that election. We’re deluding ourselves.”
