Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
Following agitations for the breakup of Nigeria by some groups, Professor Mansur Usman Malumfashi, has challenged members of the National Assembly to provide a constitutional platform that will accommodate changes in the country.
Malumfashi gave the advice in an interview with journalists in Bauchi at the weekend.
The Professor in the Faculty of Education, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, expressed concern that almost every zone in the country is experiencing one form of challenge or the other.
‘‘To be very candid the state of the nation is really alarming and unfortunate,’ he lamented.
‘’A group in the South West is calling for Oduduwa republic and others in the Southeast are also calling for their own Biafra.
‘‘So you find out that almost every zone of the country is facing one challenge or another in the sense that almost every sector of our national life is faced by one challenge or another.
‘‘You find the issue of insecurity, you find the issue of unemployment, you find the issue of inflation, you find the issue of a social explosion.
‘‘What I mean by a social explosion is that you find youth restiveness, youth gangsterism and so on and so forth.
‘’So really the situation calls for sober reflection of the very foundation of the state, I mean the Nigeria nation.
‘‘We really need to sit down and look at things from an objective perspective because right now the foundation of the country is shaky and we are appealing to people in governance to look at the issue more seriously.
‘‘All the zones in the country lets look at them, North East, Boko Haram, North West is kidnapping and banditry, Northcentral is farmers-herders crises, south the militants and the vandalisation of pipelines and so on and so forth’’
He called on the National Assembly to have a harmonious relationship with the executive but for the benefit of Nigerians and not to connive and stay behind political power to shortchanged Nigerians.
‘‘The National Assembly or Parliament must work together for the general good of the country.
‘‘We have had situations where members of the National Assembly would be involved in padding the budget for whatever reasons and at the end of the day whatever is padded is not meant for the people.
So a good working relationship would be for the benefit of Nigerians and I think they are not doing badly but we really need to put them on their toes so that they will do more because the National Assembly can do better
‘‘Look at the agitations for restructuring the country, agitations for restructuring whatever that means, So the National Assembly has a great role to play
‘‘Constitutionally, they are the people required to bring about the changes requested by sections of the country. You cannot just jump out and say you want a country or self-determination or we want to restructure the country.”
