The Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has restated his firm belief in the restructuring of the country even as he submitted that he was misrepresented in a newspaper report published yesterday over the same subject.
In a statement yesterday, the governor who is a notable crusader of the restructuring of the country, said his comment on the statement of his Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal, was limited to fiscal federalism. According to the statement issued by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Hon. Kayode Akimade, in Akure yesterday, Mimiko restated his belief in the restructuring of the country, maintaining that his support for the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report is a genuine pathway to progress in the country.
He added that it was important to follow the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference, stressing that in the conference report under political restructuring and forms of government, the conference agreed that “Federalism denotes a political arrangement in which a country is made up of component parts otherwise called federating units,” and that “in a federation, political powers are constitutionally shared between the central government and the federating units.”
While explaining further his contribution to the Tambuwal position, Mimiko submitted that what the country needs at this time is beyond fiscal federalism, insisting that Nigerians should join the clamour for the enthronement of true federalism.
According to him, only true federalism can encourage devolution of powers from the federal government to states and local councils and also guarantee effective policing.
Mimiko explained that increasing state allocations alone without total restructuring would amount to begging the question and mere surface scratching adding that the country must be restructured in line with the recommendations of the 2014 national conference to make for a country where everyone would be happy to be a part and develop at their own pace maximising their potentials to the advantage of all in a united federation.
