The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God , Pastor Enoch Adeboye , has advised the Federal Government to give Nigeria a lasting solution to secession agitations and its economic challenges by restructuring the country.
According to Adeboye , the restructuring of the country must be done “ as soon as possible ” to forestall a breakup of the various social – ethnic components that make up Nigeria .
The 78- year -old cleric stated this on Saturday at a 60th Independence Day Celebration Symposium co -organised by the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Nehemiah Leadership Institute .
At the symposium with the theme, ‘ Where will Nigeria be in 2060?’ monitored by The PUNCH , Adeboye proposed the adoption of a merger of the British style of government and the American system of government to pave the way for Nigeria ’ s future .
The former lecturer at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Lagos said , “
Why can’ t we have a system of government that is 100 per cent Nigerian , unique to us ? For example , we started on with the British system of government , somewhere along the line, we moved over to the American system of government .
“ Can’ t we have a combination of both and see whether it could help us solve our problems because in Mathematics if you want to solve a problem, you try what we call Real Analysis , then if it doesn ’ t work , then you move on to Complex Analysis and see whether that will help you . If that fails , you move on to Vector Analysis and so on .
“ I believe that we might want to look at the problems of Nigeria in a slightly different manner . Some people feel that all our problems will be over if Nigeria should break up. I think that is trying to solve the problems of Nigeria as if it is a Simple Equation . The problems of Nigeria will require quite a bit of Simultaneous Equation and some of them are not going to be Linear either – forgive me I am talking as a Mathematician.
“ Why can’ t we have a system of government that will create what I will call the United States of Nigeria ? Let me explain. We all know that we must restructure. It is either we restructure or we break , you don’ t have to be a prophet to know that one . That is certain – restructure or we break up .
“ Now , we don ’ t want to break up, God forbid . In restructuring, why don’ t we have a Nigerian kind of democracy? At the federal level, why don’ t we have a President and a Prime Minister?
“ If we have a President and a Prime Minister and we share responsibilities between these two so that one is not an appendage to the other. For examples , if the President controls the Army and the Prime Minister controls the Police. If the President controls resources likes oil and mining and the Prime Minister controls finance and inland revenue , taxes, customs etc . You just divide responsibilities between the two .
“ At the state level, you have the governor and the premier , and the same way, you distribute responsibilities these people in such a manner that one cannot really go without the other. Maybe we might begin to tackle the problems .
“ If we are going to adopt the model, then we need to urgently restore the House of Chiefs . I have a feeling that one of our major problems is that we have pushed the traditional rulers to the background and I believe that is a grave error. ”
“ Without any doubt, we must restructure and do it as soon as possible . A United States of Nigeria is likely to survive than our present structure , ” he concluded .
