Restructuring: Devolve Power To States, Akeredolu Tells FG

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state has said the public outcry and clamour for the restructuring of Nigeria which has pervaded the entire country is about devolving power to the states to make them function effectively.

Akeredolu who frowned over the call for the nation’s disintegration called on Nigerians to shun those calling for the nation’s disintegration and work toward the promotion of its unity.

Akeredolu stated this in Akure, Ondo State capital, while playing host to officials of the National Senior Secondary Education Commission, (NSSEC) during a One-Day Advocacy and Sensitisation Workshop on the establishment of the commission with Education Stakeholders in the South-West states of Nigeria.

He noted that the fiscal policy and over-centralisation of power in the hands of the Federal Government has turned the country into a unitary nation.

He lamented that putting many items in the exclusive list has concentrated too many powers in the hands of the federal government, Arakunrin Akeredolu noted that the unity of the country is based on sustainable true federalism.

He identified the over-centralisation of structures of governance as a major reason for the unending agitations for restructuring.

Akeredolu however, called for devolution of powers to enable the states to function effectively as federating units within the federation.

He advised the NSSEC to limit its operations to curriculum formulation, monitoring and implementation rather than wholesale take-over of secondary schools administration in the country.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr Benjamin Abakpa, said the sensitisation to the geopolitical zone was to get policymakers acquainted of reasons why the commission was set up by the federal government.

He said regulation of Secondary School Education, intervention on areas of needs and setting minimum standards are critical objectives before the commission to actualise, in a bid to strengthen the post-primary level of education in the country.