Former INEC boss Maurice Iwu calls for Nigeria’s restructuring

A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Maurice Iwu, on Tuesday said restructuring is the solution to the problems facing Nigeria.

Speaking at an event organised in Lagos by Nzuko Umunna, a pan-Igbo group, Mr Iwu said there had been several “funny ideas” about what restructuring is all about.
“For us, the whole idea of restructuring means what you are doing for so many years and is not yielding proper result, is it not better to look at the whole thing differently?” Mr Iwu, a professor, said.

“Nigeria has all it takes to be a great nation, blessed with natural and human resources with multi-ethnic and cultural diversities. Unity, trust, fairness are indubitably the necessary catalysts we need as a people to actualise our potential as a nation.”

The group said there is an urgent need to shift the nation’s attention away from oil.

Yinka Odumakin, the administrator of the Core Federalists, said the groups are set to hold the maiden edition of ‘Handshake across Nigeria and Restructuring Summit’ as part of a worldwide consultation process on the peace and development of Nigeria.

The event tagged ‘Nigeria Beyond Oil’ aimed to bring together various thought leaders of the component regions of Nigeria to articulate progressive ideas that could foster national integration and development ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Mr Odumakin said Nigeria must begin to make preparations for life after oil.

“Nigeria had a life before oil, the oil is going and Nigeria must prepare for a life after oil.

“It is how we as Nigerians will collectively position ourselves in view of 2019. We need someone who will make this country a salad bowl country.

“When you take a bowl of salad, you can see clearly all the ingredients but the combination ingredients sum up to what we call salad. We need someone that will kick-start a paradigm shift in Nigeria and to make us Nigeria again where there was unity in diversity.”

Expected at the ‘Handshake across Nigeria and Restructuring Summit’ in November include Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, the keynote speaker at the summit; Ike Nwachukwu; Ibrahim Gambari; President Muhamadu Buhari; and Atiku Abubakar among others.