The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said on Tuesday that Nigeria must embrace restructuring as the surest solutions to its current economic challenges.
He argued that to succeed, the country must abandon its “feeding bottle federalism “ for true fiscal federalism.
The deputy Senate President also disagreed with the views expressed in certain quarters that all the country needed was good governance and not restructuring.
He spoke at the Second Annual Conference of the Young Parliamentarians Forum, which took place at the National Assembly in Abuja.
The theme was “Political /Economic Inclusion and Participation of Young People in Nigeria.”
He noted that the age-long culture of federating states running to the centre to ask for money monthly while resources wasted in their backyards would at best give temporary succour, but that the problem would continue.
Ekweremadu added, “I disagree with those who say that Nigeria does not necessarily need restructuring, but good governance that will eliminate corruption.
“The truth is that it is difficult to tame corruption where the federating units virtually run on free federal allocations that some people see as national cake, not their own sweat.
“Conversely, the people will be more vigilant and ready to hold their leaders accountable when the federating units begin to live largely on internally generated revenues and their sweat.
“However, restructuring should be on incremental basis to ease the country into a more prosperous future.”
He urged the nation’s youths to take active part in the affairs of their political parties.
Ekweremadu added, “We need to reinvigorate the youth arm of our political parties as in the days of the First Republic and pre-independence era when vibrant youth movements and arms of the political parties thrived and served as platforms for political apprenticeship for aspiring political leaders.
“Unfortunately, there is little we can do about meaningful youth economic inclusion and employment until we restructure our behemoth federalism.
“I still hold the view that this feeding bottle federalism, this act of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which we have gradually enthroned as state policy since the fall of the First Republic, remains cause of our economic quandary.”
A member of the House of Representatives and National Chairman, Young Parliamentarians Forum of Nigeria, Mr. Nnanna Igbokwe, called for more economic empowerment for youths.
He stated that this should precede the clamour to reduce the eligibility age of young people to participate in politics. – Punch.
