Nigerian-born academic, historian and writer, Professor Banji Akintoye, has raised concerns that Nigeria may break up soon.
Akintoye who is an associate of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, speaking in an interview with The Punch said he is very unhappy concerning Nigeria, because he can’t believe Nigeria can be like this.
The elder statesman said for Nigeria to succeed and prosper, we should restructure. He said: “The only way to keep the dream going is to restructure now and restructure in a hurry.”
We need to do it so that we can return to what we did before that was successful which is to make the Federal Government a lot smaller than it is now.”
Akintoye also said that the people who rule should let go of their own hidden agenda and let Nigeria be Nigeria.
He said: As long as they keep this petty born-to-rule idea and continue to distort and manipulate things in order to achieve that purpose, my fear is that it will not work. I hope that they will change. I hope that Nigeria will be revived. I hope that Nigeria will still fulfill its destiny in black Africa. I fear in fact that Nigeria will break up.”
Let us abolish the accumulation of power and resource control which the military did. Let us give each group of Nigerian the power, resources and ability to manage their own affairs so that we can again become a country given to productivity and prosperity and not a country indolently sharing money.”
Pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, warned President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the country as soon as possible to avoid a major disaster.
The group claimed that Nigeria is already at a dysfunctional stage sliding towards precipice and if care is not taken it might be too late to fix.
In a statement released after it’s monthly meeting in Akure, Ondo state, the group said it disagrees with President Buhari’s recent comment that the issue of restructuring should be left solely in the hands of National Assembly and the Council of State.