APC Govt Not Averse to Restructuring, Says Ngige

Charles Onyekamuo in Awka

Amid the clamour for political restructuring of the country to make for equity, stability and good governance, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration at the centre is not averse to restructuring the country.

The administration’s position, he said, was at variance with the misgivings being expressed by some Nigerians on the subject matter.

The call for political restructuring of the country had been very stringent by ethnic nationalities in the southern part of the country who feel short changed by the current structure of the country which apparently conferred political advantage to the northern part of the country.

But Ngige who spoke with THISDAY in Awka, the Anambra State capital, last night, said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had already begun the restructuring process with the nation’s economy which impact may not be immediately felt but will definitely in the long run take Nigeria to the desired Eldorado.

At least, Nigerians, he said, had positively changed their way of doing things and have become more prudent and judicious in their spending pattern.

He said restructuring for the Buhari administration had begun with the economy and after that will look into the political restructuring of the country, adding that it is one after the other.
“After economic restructuring to reposition the economy of this country, the Buhari administration will embark on the political restructuring and will set the modalities for the exercise,” he said.

But he didn’t say if the envisaged restructuring of the polity would be anchored on the famed 2014 constitutional conference report hailed by Nigerians as a watershed in the country’s quest for unity, development, political and economic stability of the country.

“When we get to that, we shall address the issues,” he said, and beckoned on separatists and agitators as well as militants blowing up oil installations to sheath their swords and embrace dialogue with the government and rally round the Buhari administration with a view to ensuring that it meets its set goals for the development and transformation of every section of the country.

“Militancy and agitation are not the answer to the resolution of myriads of problems which the present administration didn’t create in the first place.
“What is required is for all hands to be on deck and support this administration to meet its set goals for the development and transformation of all sections of the country,” he said.