The General Overseer, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has said the way forward to overcoming the myriad of socio-economic crises Nigeria is grappling with is restructuring.
Speaking at the 60th Independence Day Celebration Symposium organised by RCCG and the Nehemiah Leadership Institute, yesterday, Adeboye said: “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 up, you don’t have to be a prophet to know that. 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 shared responsibilities between these two, so that one is not an appendage to the other. For example, if the President controls the Army, the Prime Minister controls the Police. If the President controls resources likes oil and mining, 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 these people in such a manner that one cannot really go without the other. Maybe we might begin to tackle the problems. If we are going to adopt the model, then we need to urgently restore the House of Chiefs.”
He also stated that pushing the traditional rulers to the background has hampered the country’s progress. “And I believe that is a grave error. 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,” Adeboye said.