Tinubu says Nigeria can’t progress under current political system

National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu has opined that Nigeria cannot make progress the current political system which operate like a military unitary system.

Speaking through Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, at an event in Abuja, Tinubu said Nigeria was only a federation in name but was a unitary state in practice.

Tinubu noted that the Nigeria’s unitary political system only offered a deceptive and fake economic prosperity which was exposed when the oil price slumped.

The APC Chieftain maintained that should the current recession end, the prosperity that would follow would be short-lived except structural changes were made.

He said, “Let us streamline governance; federalism in word and deed. Our constitution declares Nigeria a federation of 36 states however we still grapple with the vestiges of our past under the military rule. In any case, we still function like a unitary state despite the constitution. More power and resources need to devolve to the states.

“The Federal Government is taking on too much. We cannot flourish with over-concentration of powers at the centre. Some of the 68 items on the exclusive federal list should be transferred to the residual list as it was in most federal constitutions.

“In the 1963 Constitution, there were extensive powers granted to regions which allowed them to carry out their immense responsibility as they then saw fit.

“The fall in oil prices exposed this economic model for the life that it was. Now, we must fashion a new political economy. In due course, the current recession will end. This should come as a relief. In itself however, it is not a cause for celebration, far from it. The end of recession does not mean the beginning of prosperity.”