A former vice president and presidential hopeful under the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has described the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC as ignorant about his proposed plan to restructure Nigeria.
Mr Atiku who addressed newsmen in Kano explained that his idea about restructuring is that of slimming down the Federal Government while the bulk of responsibilities are shouldered by the geopolitical zones or the state governments that are closer to the people.
“I think the APC must be very ignorant because my position on the issue of restructuring dates back to the reports of the constitutional restructuring of 1994.
“If you check the report you will find my contributions as far as restructuring is concerned,” he stated.
“By restructuring, I mean devolving powers to the states or geopolitical zones as the case may be so that they can assume greater responsibilities of their respective states or zones.
“At the moment, the Federal Government has too much on its plate and it is not able to pay attention to all parts of the country.
“My belief is that by devolving more powers to those states or regions, they are closer to the people, particularly in areas like education, health, infrastructure and so on. I want to see a lean Federal Government, a small Federal Government,” he explained.
The PDP presidential hopeful explained that by restructuring the functions of the Federal Government would be limited to issues of defense, immigration, currency and the Central Bank.
“A small Federal Government which will deal essentially with matters like defense, foreign affairs, currency, Central Bank and immigration. Very few areas for the Federal Government” he stated.
On the reason why he wants restructuring, Atiku explained that it would deal with a lot of problems including insecurity and will solve the problems of economic development which he says every part of the country is complaining of.
“So if we give you more powers and resources to develop your respective states then you should hold your states responsible not the Federal Government that is what I mean by restructuring” Atiku declared.
On the issue of the PDP having 12 contestants going for primaries, Atiku explained that there is a process which will culminate in the emergence of one person.
“One thing we have all agreed and signed to is that whoever emerges and wins we will support and vote for that person. We did that in APC and it worked and we are called by the party to do exactly the same thing,” he declared.
Atiku was received by mammoth PDP supporters led by the embattled chairman of the party in the state Senator Jibrin Doguwa where he also met with the party leaders.
