Constitutional amendments will not solve Nigeria’s problems – Prof. Mato

Prof Kabiru Mato, Kaduna State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, said in Kaduna on Monday that only genuine change of attitude to one another would solve Nigeria’s problems not any form of constitutional amendments.
Mato made the assertion in a lead paper he presented at a conference with the theme, “Restructuring and Federalism in Nigeria”, organised by Department of History, Kaduna State University.
Mato, a Professor of Political Science, said that Nigerians must change their attitude to one another, to governance and in their relationships at all times for any positive impact to be made in transforming the country.
He said: “Nigerians must change their attitude towards one another for the good of the nation. No amount of constitutional change would guarantee the needed peace in the country except Nigerians embrace peace and accept one another as equal member of the union.”
According to him, good attitude towards one another is the foundation for the needed nationalism in the journey towards building a strong united nation.
He said: “But due to bad attitude, the country is bedevilled by corruption, religious and ethnic sentiment, and all forms of social ills which open the roof for numerous challenges.”
Mato, however, supported the devolution of power to federating units, stressing that states and local governments deserve to get “more funds, more responsibilities and more power because they are closer to the people”.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai, represented by his Deputy, Barnabas Bala-Bantex, said that Nigeria would thrive as a federation only when more powers are given to states.
El-Rufai argued that the current pressure for reform was because what Nigerians anticipated from the federal structure was unattainable.
He called for the adjustment of the revenue sharing formula to allocate more funds to states and local governments, to fast tract development at grassroots.
Earlier, Head of the History Department of the university, Dr Terhemba Wuam, pointed out that since 1960, various attempts at restructuring the country have not been fully successful.
He recalled that the restructuring had cut across several areas including political, administration, fiscal, economic, education and socio-ethical, and security system of the country.
According to him, the restructuring was often made in response to the vociferous cries of marginalisation by various segment of the country.
Wuan said: “It however appears that these attempt have not succeeded in either resolving all the nation’s challenges or those of any ethic group hence the renewed call for restructuring.
“The conference is therefore, organised for participants to look at the issue and guide Nigerians and those in authority on the best way forward.”
The Vice Chancellor of KASU, Prof. Muhammad Tanko, commended the department for organising the conference “to interrogate the issues that pollute the political landscape”.
Tanko, who was represented by Prof Abdullahi Ashafa, Vice Chancellor Academic, pointed out that partisan and interest groups are using the issues of restructuring and true federalism to create unnecessary tension as 2019 general election approaches.
He said that the coming together of academicians as patriotic segment of non-partisan experts to discuss the issues would provide a fruitful direction for the country.
According to him, restructuring and devolution of power “would certainly not provide all answers to our national development challenges”.
Tanko said: “What we need is to restructure our mindset to reflect being true Nigerians in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s call that change must begin with us.
“I am in support of the idea of restricting, but only if it would make the federating units self-sustaining to be able to develop critical infrastructure and amenities.
“If the federating units can undertake development projects with minimal or no interference from the federal government.”