Restructure Nigeria into Regions, reduce number of legislators – Prince Adetule

A United States of America-based Nigerian, Prince Richard Adetule, has added his voice to the clamor for the political restructuring of Nigeria into a maximum of six regions.

Prince Adetule, who resides in New Jersey, USA, also called for a drastic reduction in the number of legislators to be elected to make laws at the federal and regional levels, arguing that Nigeria has too many “jamboree legislators.”

He insisted that the country should be constitutionally structured along the lines of North West (Arewa), North East (Borno), North Central (Middle Belt), South West (Oduduwa) South East (Biafra) and Niger Delta (Niger Delta) regions, arguing further that these regions should elect four Senators  and twelve members of the House of Representatives each.

According to him, 24 Senators and 72 House of Representatives members was sufficient for the country, pointing out that a country like America with a population of over 300 million people has only 100 Senators and wondered why Nigeria with far less people should be over burdened with 109 Senators and 360 House of Representatives members.

Besides the four Senators and 12 House of Representatives members per Region, he contended that each of the Regions could have 12 legislators for their own law making, advocating that the current local governments should be disbanded and turned to Municipalities to be headed by Royal Fathers (Traditional Rulers).

There have been strident calls for the political restructuring of Nigeria, especially by those who insist that the current structure is inequitable and unwieldy, with many noting that several of the present states are not viable (struggling and barely able to survive ).

Many have also pointed out that the legislators, especially at the federal and state levels are too many and doing very little, and are thus major drain pipes of the resources of the country.

Some other commentators have equally criticized the present local government structure as a wasteful tier of government whose allocations from the federation account most state governors hijack at will.

Traditional Rulers have for a long time also been clamoring for constitutional roles, arguing that they are the centers of power closest to the grass roots.

Prince Adetule’s depositions are therefore his own answers to these long standing questions.

He concluded by highlighting the gains of restructuring to include drastic reduction of recurrent expenses with the gains channeled into capital projects; managerial efficiency through manageable federal and regional workforce; healthy competition among the Regions as witnessed in the first republic; optimal use of both human and natural resources for the overall benefit of the people; less attraction to Federal Government positions and more development at the grassroots that will be guaranteed since Traditional Rulers will now be in charge of administration of their Towns and cities.