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 60 th 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 between these people in such a manner that one cannot really go without the other . Maybe we might begin to tackle the problems. ”
Adeboye noted that the place of traditional rulers must be recognised and restored in governance .
He added , “ 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 great error particularly for a great country like Nigeria.
“ I find it very ridiculous that one will ask a traditional ruler to inform the chairman of his local government before he travels.
“ Go to any town in Nigeria , everybody in the town knows the paramount ruler in the town and they respect him ( but) many of them don’ t even know the name of the chairman of their local government .
“ The traditional rulers are the actual landlords , they control the respect of their people . Their people will listen to them much more , I am sorry to say , than they will listen to some politicians .”
“ 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.
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