Nigeria is the only Federal country in the world where the central government pays salary to state governments. The norm should be the other way round: a system whereby each state internally generate their own revenue and pay tax to the federal government.
Also, Nigeria is the only Federalism in the world, where the central government runs the security apparatus (police) of every state. In our case 36 of them all! The FBI in America is the security outfit of the central government, while the other 50 states have their own police. For example, LAPD is the Los Angeles Police Department, while NYPD is the New York Police Department.
The abnormality of our Federal system and the blatant corruption of our blood-sucking leaders, are the major reasons we are now in the mess we find ourselves. Every day, innocent lives and properties are being lost due to insecurity. Because those we've entrusted to steer the affairs of our nation to greater heights continue to pay lip service to the all important issue of ‘Restructuring’.
In addition, unemployment and poverty rate has continually been on the rise and inflation occurs almost every now and then. The naira as a currency is a disgrace to the word called ‘money’, and the pain and suffering of the masses is beyond what words can describe.
As a result of this our ’rob-Peter-to-pay- Paul system’, most state governments just sit on their ass and wait for federal allocation. I can confidently say that since the creation of some States in Nigeria, they've not contributed a single penny to the federal purse. Why bother to be creative when there is Niger Delta oil to take care of us, right?
Personally, I don't see any reason why the President of this country should not be interested in restructuring. After all, once every State is granted financial and political autonomy, citizens of those States can now hold their leaders accountable. Also, it would drastically reduce the workload of the President as he would only have to attend to some key national issues.
We are now at a crossroad as a people, and it is make or break at this junction. A senator from Kogi State last week broke down in tears while addressing the state of insecurity in the nation; something that has never happened before. The fact is, whether we're going to restructure or separate is no longer a matter of if but when. And if I were to be honest, I'd say the latter is looking more likely than the former.
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