A group of researchers from the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), in collaboration with critical stakeholders and scholars, among who are Director-General (DG), Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Eghosa Osagie; DG, Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), Seye Oyeleye; Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof. Tunji Olaopa and Professor Emeritus, John A Ayode, yesterday, said that national restructuring is critical to achieving stability and development in Nigeria.

The scholars, who also include DG, NISER, Prof. Taiye Simbine, further submitted that the current governing system needed to be retooled for Nigeria to attain sustainable growth and development.

Simbine, in her submission during NISER’s monthly policy dialogue for the month of December held in Ibadan, said since the onset of the Fourth Republic in 1999, the challenge of increasing waves of separatist agitations had plagued the country, with agitators articulating reasons why the government should allow them to go their separate ways.

She said such agitations had compromised national development.

The director-general, therefore, commended the Federal Government in looking for workable solutions to the lingering challenge of national restructuring in Nigeria through evidence-informed research.

Meanwhile, NISER presented five reports from its comprehensive research carried on the issue of restructuring, which addressed burning issues, such as the political economy of restructuring, economic implications of a restructured Nigeria, public perception of the national restructuring question, among others, which keep heightening agitations about how the federal system is being run in Nigeria.

One of the findings of the research was that there is still a lack of clarity on what constitutes a national restructuring question.

The researchers, who include Dr. Hakeem Tijani, Bartholomew Fesse and Soji Apampa, observed that there are many issues upon which opinions of Nigerians are divided on the national restructuring discourse.

The reports separately identified appropriate political structure, political/economic system and framework of governance as main issues that could facilitate sustainable national development.

In his remarks, Osaghae said the restructuring question discussion should be handled cautiously as agitations for one thing or the other would keep coming up as long as Nigeria exists. To this end, he submitted that we should place more emphasis on state reconstruction rather than restructuring.

Olaopa, on his own, posited that the two fundamental types of restructuring are economic and political restructuring and that no one goes without the other. He noted that state creation as a solution to Nigeria’s problems is no longer viable.

According to him, “regionalism seems to be the most viable option but how do we return to that I am still learning.”

The professor emeritus said every solution in itself had an embedded problem and such a problem could be great, noting that one of the challenges in Nigeria is lack of minimal basis consensus.

He said: “One part of the country still feels superior to the other. The union called Nigeria is not an association of equal and no country can thrive like that.

“When we obtained Independence in 1960, we pulled down the flag of Britain and hoist ours but we didn’t change the objectives upon which the colonial masters joined us together.”