By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
The Coalition of Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities (CIEN), has alleged that the “faulty socio-political and socio-economic structures are traceable to the 1999 Nigeria Constitution”.
The coalition also believes that Nigeria is grappled with poor leadership for most of its history and contributed immensely to the current state, saying that the restructuring of the Nigerian Federation is germane and an idea whose time has come.
In a statement issued on this year “Democracy Day” by Prof. Benjamin Okaba, Chairman, Mr. Timothy B. Gandu, Co-Chairman and Mr. Nubari Saatah, Secretary of CIEN, the coalition said that after due deliberations and consultation on the restructuring of the Nigerian Federation, it has forwarded a letter accompanying recommendations to President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the National Assembly.
It strongly believes that the recommendations and templates if implemented, would served to steer Nigeria away from a “more tumultuous immediate future”, and towards a “more prosperous future” where the hopes and aspirations of the indigenous ethnic nationalities will be actualized.
According to the coalition, “We would like to use this opportunity, to call on the political representatives of our people as comprised in the various State Houses of Assembly, the House of Representatives and the Nigerian Senate, to rise to the occasion at this pivotal point in our history and take the necessary actions that will give Nigeria’s over 450 ethnic nationalities a voice and a renewed hope in Nigeria’s future.”
CIEN said that it is committed to its engagement with the different nationalities, influencers, labour and trade unions, professional bodies, religious bodies, traditional rulers, political leaders, and all relevant stakeholders in their quest to arrive at the restructuring of the Nigerian Federation to the benefit of all so that Nigeria and all its indigenous ethnic nationalities, succeed.
The Coalition of Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities (CIEN), therefore, congratulated Nigerians and the Nigerian state on the auspicious day and commemorate the silver jubilee of unbroken democratic rule, stressing that this year’s Democracy Day, more than any other, calls for sober reflection and introspection by Nigerians, and most especially its political leadership.
It noted that twenty five (25) years after Nigeria’s political trajectory changed from the path of guns, khakis and jackboots in a military dictatorship, to political parties and a voting public in a civilian democracy, the hope that the change first rekindled and inspired in Nigerians on May 29th 1999, has slowly but steadily degenerated into palpable despair as a result of Nigeria’s visible socioeconomic and sociopolitical decay.
According to the statemen, “This slow degeneration of the Nigerian Federation is manifested in more ways than one, but encapsulated in the budding secessionist movements that have sprung up in different sections of the country over the years and now threaten its unity; the rise in religious and ethnic intolerance; insurgency and terrorism which have ravaged and continue to ravage different parts of the country; a gradual socioeconomic decline with a ripple effect of impoverishing a larger percentage of the Nigerian population, with a grossly skewed graph of the distribution of the common wealth; and last but not the least, a decline in Nigeria’s sociopolitical status within the comity of nations on the African continent and the wider international stage.”
