By Pastor Yemi Olayinka Ph.D

Dear Sir,

I hope this letter meets you well. In recent times, I have been bothered about the situation of our dear country. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that you mean well for Nigeria, and I have an assurance in my spirit that you will surely succeed. The current fury and body language from the North is scary, very worrisome. They can’t wait for your exit to serve the South breakfast.

In Nigeria, this is the very first time, a southerner would assumed power solely without being the preferred candidate of the Northern power structure. Your were independent in your quest to rule and determined not to be a puppet in the hands of the Northern power bloc.

The ongoing reforms in different sectors is a big problem for our Northern brothers to comprehend. For some of them, putting a round peg in a round hole is unimaginable. For the Northern power bloc, all that matters is “Get power and stay on to power”.

My dear President, you have the rare privilege to write your name in gold by giving us true federalism. Beyond the economic reforms, from subsidy removal, in which the administration ended the very costly fuel subsidy regime that gulped an average of about N2 trillion every month, to foreign exchange market unification in which naira was floated the helped in stabilising the currency on the long term, to the current infrastructure projects in all the geo-political zones, including the ongoing is the Lagos- Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Highway to boast the road connectivity to mention but a few.

Your government has also done well in the area of social welfare and capital development. The Nigerian education loan scheme that assists students in tertiary institutions with interest-frees loans that broadens access to education. So also was the new minimum wage of N70,000 per month was signed into law.

Mr. President, I believe true federalism is required now with which you can write your name in gold and also save the people of southern extraction from imminent torture after your tenor. Forget about the “Omo ologo” tune there is a big challenge ahead, and the fragility and the resultant effect is immeasurable.

True federalism is the principle of the Constitutional division of power between a national government and state government. Each federating unit has its own autonomy backed up by the constitution to balance national unity. There are clear divisions of responsibility which is distinct between the federal, state and local governments  We have not seen the effect of the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the issue of local government autonomy. Has it been swept under the carpet like every other…… ?

It is no longer a news that the structure of Nigeria at independence was lopsided. The Northern region was created deliberately to be bigger than the two other regions combined, the Northern region accounted for about 55percent of the country’s population. The resultant effect of this is that, the North would constantly dominate the central government because the voting pattern in Nigeria is usually towards toward the ethnic and religious divided. At the same time, the House of Representatives at inception was 312 members and 174 seats were allocated to the Northern region which clearly was above half of the available seats. The British deliberately favored the North in the political arrangement so as to continue with their divide and rule tendencies. Such configuration was against the principle of true federalism.

This lopsidedness in the structure were open and known to some of the leaders then. Before 1960, minority groups within the southern regions have agitated for the creation of more autonomous regions. The likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo made a case for the creation of new regions from the existing one since 1940s. Also people from the Mid-west, Calabar- Ogoja and the Tiv’s made strong presentation for a new region. The vigorous agitation by the minorities led to the formation of the minority commission headed by Sir Henry Willinck.

The 1957 Constitutional conference in London witness this agitation and the commission agreed that the agitations were genuine and that the best way to allay the fears of the minorities were to create more regions. If the colonial government had gone with the recommendation and created more independent, autonomous regions, the flaws in Nigeria structure would have been corrected. Their refusal based on a very flimsy excuse that it would affect the set date for independence led us to the current problem. Had the colonial masters made the corrections as recommended, these major flaws would have been corrected.

Since Nigeria’s Independence in 1960, the greatest challenge politically has been the lopsidedness of this structure. After 60 years of independence, one would have expected that our leaders would allow reason to prevail and do the needful, correct the abnormalities and move the country forward. The Bible says in Psalm 11:3, “ IF THE FOUNDATION ARE DESTROYED, WHAT CAN THE RIGHTEOUS DO “ Our foundation is faulty and requires an urgent attention.

Mr. President, there’s an urgent need for restructuring, the current structure does not consider our diverse status. We cannot continue in this self-denial. We need to redefine our dear country, and get things right. The current structure is no longer sustainable. I hereby admonish you to do whatever you can within your constitutional power to rescue Nigeria.

The time is not on your side sir.

The time is now.

You have confronted demons in times past and overcame.

Now give us a true FEDERAL STRUCTURE.

I know you are bold

I know you are courageous

I know you are sincere with Nigerian Project.

Posterity will not forget you

Thank you,

Pastor  Olayinka Ph.D writes from 13, Ereguru street, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State (08033001165)

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