Ango Abdullahi, southern stakeholders bicker over restructuring

EX - Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has kicked against the call for the restructuring of Nigeria by southern leaders, saying dialogue remains the way out.  
But stakeholders from the southern part of the country insisted that Nigeria should be restructured for them to have more control over their resources and for the North to also use its population and landmass to create wealth. 
Speaking at a National Discourse Forum to mark the 90th birthday anniversary of a former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, at the International Conference Centre, in Abuja, yesterday, Ango urged political stakeholders to remain the defendants of the good foundation laid by Nigeria’s past heroes. 
He criticised ‎the manner the 2014 National Conference was organised during the tenure of  former  President Goodluck Jonathan, saying he declined to be part of the confab because of its numerous flaws.  
He said that the clamour for power sharing by some politicians was to “share Nigeria’s money.”
“Friends agree but sometimes disagree. For me, I would like to change the issue of sustainable peace for development away from what you insist on calling resource control. I would rather use the word resource management. 
“Refer to our founding fathers- Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. During their time, they never had anywhere the kind of volume of resources that are available to Nigeria today. Quite a number of you born after independence, I can tell you that those forefathers managed the very scarce resources and achieved so much for this country. 
“To me, their concept of resource management is what promoted equity, fairness and justice in various parts of the country. The challenge now is for us to dialogue; discuss truly and honestly, particularly if we actually want to sustain the unity and peace in this nation,” he said. 
However, prominent people from the South pressed for restructuring.
They included a former Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun; a former Governor of ‎Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah; a former Nigerian Ambassador to Brazil, Patrick Dele Cole and President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, John Nwodo, among others.
Prof. Isoun specifically flayed Ango for saying that the issue should be about resource ‎management and not resource control.

POSTED BY:OPUOMONI PRIYE
DATE:05/26/2017