The Ajia Balogun of Ibadanland, Oloye Adegboyega Taofeek Adegoke has declared that Nigeria urgently needs national dialogue to address agitations by groups and individuals calling for secession and restructuring of the country.
Oloye Adegoke who said this on Thursday while speaking with journalists said “restructuring of the country is not the first thing to do but to first come to round-table in order to address various agitations, is a national dialogue where each of the groups will say its mind.
According to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain, the outcome of the national dialogue will determine the next line of action for the country to move forward, adding that those agitating for secession should have a rethink because there are more benefits if Nigeria remains as one.
“There is need for national dialogue where everybody will come together and say his or her mind. So, if we have the national dialogue, we can look at it wether our staying together is to our own benefits or not. To me, you don’t just say restructuring, we need to have a national dialogue first”, he said.
Oloye Adegoke added, ” I know that we have one during the time of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, but, where is the report, the book is gathering dust. To me, I will tell you that there are a lot of benefits if we are together.”
The Ajia Balogun of Ibadanland pointed out that Nigeria ” is currently experiencing many problems because we are not operating true federal system of government the way it supposed to be”.
“The problem in Nigeria is that we are not actually implementing the federal system of government very well. We are not following it. It is unitary system that we are operating. You say that we are running a federal system of government but, states are not in control of resources in thier states”.
Oloye Adegoke emphasized that ” states will be going to Abuja every month to collect allocation. That is the problem, because states will become lazy because they know that they will collect money in Abuja at the end of the month.
