Federal Government too powerful –Atiku (No such complain as VP)

Posted by admin General Politics, Latest Politics Tuesday, April 1st, 2014

A former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said the restructuring of the current federal arrangement in the country should be a major focus of delegates at the on-going national conference.

Atiku said the Federal Government in the current arrangement was too powerful.

In a speech delivered at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, on Tuesday, the former Vice President said the current federal structure arrogateed too much functions and resources to the government at the centre, thus killing the spirit of innovation and enterprise among the component parts.

While acknowledging his initial opposition to the constitution of the National Conference, Atiku said that delegates at the conference should make the best of the opportunity the conference provided.

He said too much power was being concentrated at the centre and called the delegates to the national conference to intervene by cutting some of them.

He said, “I want to assume that a new and improved Nigeria is the goal, and I believe that any opportunity for people to talk is better than to fight.

“National Conference should focus on designing a political and governmental system that empowers local authorities and gives them greater autonomy to address peculiar local issues, and enhances accountability while contributing to the general good of the country.”

He said the envisaged robust federal system would reduce the tensions that were built into the nation’s current over-centralised system.

He noted that the current federal structure in Nigeria, which he termed unitary federalism, was a creation of the military governments of the past.

The former Vice President said, “As more power was concentrated in the centre, the federal government appropriated more resources and expanded its responsibilities.

“All of these were done in the name of promoting national unity. And the process was relatively easy as the unified command structure of the military ensured little opposition.

“Therefore, fixing Nigeria, to me, will require reversing decades of over-centralisation of power and over-concentration of resources at the centre.”

The former Vice President also advocated the renegotiation of our union in order to make it stronger by granting “greater autonomy, power and resources for states and local authorities” which will ultimately “unleash our people’s creative energies and spur more development.”

He debunked insinuations that the top-heavy federal arrangement had been favourable to a section of the country.
-Punchwp_posts