A forum of scholars under the aegis of International Association of Research Scholars and Administrators has called for a national Think Tank to raise the template for discussion on Nigeria’s restructuring.
The forum said the need for a Think Tank, devoid of ethnicity, religion, politics and corruption became necessary because the term “restructuring ‘is not clearly defined and therefore misunderstood.
The group’s submission was contained in a communique it issued at the end of a round table it organized in collaboration with the Akpan Hogan Ekpo Centre for Public Policy which held yesterday at the multipurpose hall of the University of Uyo.
The communique reads in part, “That there is need for restructuring, but it would appear that restructuring is not clearly defined and understood, therefore the need of a National Think Tank devoid of ethnicity, religion, politics and corruption, to raise a template for discussion of Nigeria’s restructuring.
The communiqué committee which has Professor Trenchard Ibia, as its chairman and Professor Christopher Ekong as its secretary, noted that current motivation for restructuring in Nigeria is based on mistrust and fear of domination.
Such fears according to the communique could be allayed if the envisaged restructuring should offer more access to the component units and strict devolution of power.
“The envisaged Federalism should be restructured to bring part-time legislature, independent judiciary, executive restructuring (moving some responsibilities from the center to the units), public service restructuring, evaluation mechanism to monitor functionality of the governance system, and the general restructuring of our religion.
“The use of political power and economic control to promote growth and development. There is need for attitudinal change of Nigerians to drive the restructuring process.Restructuring of the Constitution as the people’s constitution, especially to take care of core qualifications for aspiring political leadership in the country. There is dire need for a new Federation that unites the country.” The communique further stated
The Keynote paper presented by Prof. Musa Abutudu (former Executive Secretary – African Association of Political Scientists) in the Round Table Discussion had raised issues to the fact that the shape and function of Nigerian federal system has remained unsettled to the extent that agitation for restructuring the country is a perennial one.
The paper defined the structure of federalism to be encapsulated in the constitutional division of powers between two levels of government, the center and the component units.
As part of the Round Table meeting, a paper was presented by Professor Celestine A Ntuen, Vice Chancellor Ritman University with the theme: Public Policy for Science, Health, Engineering and mathematics: Alleviating Consumerism through Practical Innovation.
The paper surmised that Innovation remains a means of reducing consumer economy and increasing production of goods and services.
It also posited that for Nigeria to achieve and benefit from applied innovation, there is need to focus on Policies on commercialization and translational research, including the modalities and managing intellectual property, patents, and sale of patent rights to commercial ventures; Policies for inclusion of commercialization opportunities as requirement for research grant applications to government agencies; An national policy empowering states of the federation to build turnkey beta testing facilities for knowledge transfer and product commercialization testing.
