President Tinubu Urged to Fulfil Restructuring Promise as Calls for Regionalisation Resurface
Former presidential candidate of the Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA), Professor Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies, has renewed calls for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to implement long-standing proposals on restructuring and regionalisation, describing it as a timely reminder of commitments he previously championed.
Adesanya-Davies recalled President Tinubu’s repeated advocacy for restructuring before assuming office, noting that the current administration has a historic opportunity to translate those positions into concrete action.
She cited Tinubu’s remarks at the 2017 Founders’ Day Dinner of the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA), where he argued that Nigeria could not achieve meaningful development under what he described as an over-centralised quasi-federal system.
According to Tinubu, many powers concentrated at the federal level should be devolved to the states in line with the principles of the 1963 Constitution, which provided for fiscal federalism, regional autonomy and healthy competition among the federating units.
He had maintained that Nigeria’s current structure fuels intense competition for federal power and weakens governance, stressing that the country needed to “attain the correct balance between our collective purpose and our separate grassroots realities.”
Tinubu also advocated the transfer of several items from the Exclusive Legislative List to the states, including policing, prisons, stamp duties, business registration, trade and commerce, among others.
Adesanya-Davies further referenced the President’s remarks at the 2023 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, where he insisted that Nigeria could not attain greatness without undertaking difficult but necessary reforms.
“We cannot have the country we desire without the reforms we have initiated,” Tinubu had said, while defending economic reforms introduced by his administration and urging Nigerians to embrace short-term sacrifices for long-term prosperity.
The former MAJA presidential candidate argued that political restructuring should complement ongoing economic reforms, adding that decentralisation and regional autonomy remain critical to national development and stability.
She noted that growing support for constitutional reforms, including recent endorsements of a parliamentary system and political restructuring by groups such as Afenifere, reflects increasing public interest in revisiting Nigeria’s governance framework ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Adesanya-Davies urged President Tinubu to seize the moment by initiating bold constitutional reforms that would strengthen federalism, deepen democracy and address longstanding concerns over the distribution of powers within the federation.
She described the appeal as a “soft reminder” to the President to fulfil the restructuring ideals he had consistently promoted over the years, insisting that the time had come for action rather than rhetoric.
