Restructuring should be party’s manifesto, not elites’ agenda – ex-ACF scribe

Former Secretary-General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Anthony N.Z Sani, has stated that restructuring should be an agenda in a party’s manifesto and not an elite agenda to be undemocratically forced on Nigeria.
On restructuring of Nigeria, Sani said those calling for restructuring should include such in their party’s manifesto and use it to canvas for electoral mandate, adding that unelected elites cannot undemocratically force their choice on the country. 


Speaking to selected media on Monday in Kaduna, the former ACF scribe also justified President Muhammadu Buhari’s comparison of Nigeria’s fuel price with Saudi Arabia, saying that removal of the fuel and electricity subsidies is in reaction to the nation’s economic reality.
According to him, “I do not see the wisdom of calls on Mr President to restructure the country, considering that those who wish the country restructured are at liberty to include the same in their party’s manifesto and use it to canvas for electoral mandates needed for execution. 


“More so, that the term restructuring means different things to different groups. That is how democracy works. It is not for some unelected elite who profess to be jaunty faces of democratic values to foist their preferences on the rest of the country undemocratically.


“I also find it difficult to understand why some Nigerians are peeved with President Buhari for comparing fuel prices with those charged by other oil producing countries. To them, there is no basis for such comparisons, considering the variegated socioeconomic status of the countries.
“To the best of my understanding of the president’s broadcast. He wants the nation to know that the collapse of the price of oil and the challenge posed by Coronavirus have combined to make it impossible for the regime to continue to subsidize the energy and power sectors and still address other concerns of insecurity, health, education, agriculture and other infrastructural deficit.
“Hence the painful decision to remove the fuel subsidy and allow the Discos to increase the electricity tariff. That is to say, there is paucity of funds, and there is a limit to borrowing for the purpose of sustaining the subsidies. The regime has therefore, come to terms with the reality, to wit, cultivate the habit of living within our means.


“The comparison of our pump price with that charged by Saudi Arabia with a much smaller population that produces ten times our quota is to drive home the reality of the extenuating circumstances Nigeria has found itself, and the only viable way for navigating the labyrinth is to try and live within our means. More so that the subsidies have benefited the well to do disproportionately.”

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