Atiku reacts to views that ‘restructuring meant to punish North

Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, on Thursday spoke on opinions in some quarters that restructuring was a plot against the Northern part of Nigeria.

The Waziri of Adamawa addressed the issue yesterday at the public presentation of a book in Lagos.

In his speech titled: “Critical Ingredient but no Magic Wand: Restructuring for a more united, productive Nigeria”, Atiku said those who think restructuring was purely for political reasons missed the point.

He said: “Our current structure, which is based on oil rents, is vulnerable because oil has probably reached its peak as the chief energy source for the world economy.

“You probably know that the world’s major automobile manufacturers and oil consumers have announced dates between 2025 and 2040 to end the manufacture and sale of fossil fuel-only vehicles.

“And massive investments in renewable energy around the world have been pushing its cost down that it has become very competitive with oil and gas. The drive towards renewable energy and away from oil seems irreversible now.

“This is important for all of us and especially for those in the oil producing region, where some people sometimes talk about restructuring as though it is designed to punish the north.

“The good news for the north is that a restructured Nigeria is in the North’s long-term economic interest. We should not be fighting for a bigger share of what is a disappearing resource.

“It amounts to a fight for a bigger share of the past, and not the future. So both the oil bearing sections and non-oil bearing sections of this country need to pay more attention to agriculture, fisheries, renewable energy, biotechnology,information technology, Nano-technology, artificial intelligence and so on.

“The vilification of those who advocate for or oppose restructuring is not helpful. I want to believe that both sides are motivated by their love of our country. They just have different ideas of how best to achieve unity and development.

“We need civility in this dialogue. An issue that can only be resolved through negotiations would not be helped by demonizing those who hold contrary views. It will be more difficult to persuade people to your point of view or to negotiate with them when you call them names and imply that they like the country less than you.”

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