Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said there is need for continued renegotiation of the nation’s unity and for the leadership to grant a listening ear to the complaints of all ethnic groups in the country.
According to him, this would give a sense of belonging to all ethnic groups and encourage them to effectively participate in socio-economic discussions and national development.
Obasanjo, who made this known yesterday in Abuja, at the 7th convocation lecture of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), said he believed that such periodic discussions would provide opportunity for all stakeholders to air their views, grievances and possibly provide superior arguments, solutions or ideas that could positively challenge the existing practices.
“The guest lecturer has done justice to the paper he just delivered. Nigeria must continue to renegotiate its unity and give listening ear to the complaints of all ethnic groups in this country,”he said. Speaking on the topic, ‘Restructuring and True Federalism: Nigeria in Perspective’, the guest lecturer, Prof. Eghosa Osaghe said that federal system of government practised in Nigeria entails more deliberate arrangements that require intricate deals, tradeoffs and reciprocities to build and sustain.
Osaghe who is also the Vice Chancellor, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, insisted that the federal instrumentalities of governance were expected to respond to changing dynamics, demands and stimuli, which change in consonance with changing imperatives. He said: “The federal systems are delicate and difficult to manage.
This was because their success cannot be guaranteed or taken for granted. Research confirmed that the number of failed federal systems outnumbered the successful ones.”
“Restructuring represents a continuous correction, adjustment, and reconfiguration process by which federal system works and reworks its instrumentalities; to guarantee success and efficiencies of federalism.”
The Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Prof. Abdalla Adamu, while congratulating Obasanjo and other graduands for the successful completion of their academic programmes, urged them to serve as good ambassadors of the school.
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