Tinubu, Atiku, Obi Can’t Fix Nigeria Without Restructuring -Ex-Envoy Farounbi

A former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Dr. Yemi Farounbi, has said Nigeria needs to restructure urgently for anybody who wins the 2023 presidential election to make a meaningful impact on changing its unpleasant situation.

Farounbi said none of the presidential candidates, no matter their good intentions, could change the situation without first restructuring the country.

He said this in an interview with THE WHISTLER on Monday.

He said the lopsided structure where the central government dictates to the federating units must change, saying this was the foundational problem that must be corrected before a new leader could take over.

The ex-envoy, who is a former chairman of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State, admitted that a new constitution that would correct the imbalances was needed for the restructuring to happen.

He stressed that a new constitution could be written in three months, saying this would make the job of transforming Nigeria to be easy for whoever wins the 2023 election.

He said, ” Nigeria can get a new constitution within three months if we all desire it and work towards it.

“Nigeria is like a computer and it is garbage in and garbage out. If a car is faulty, you don’t need to look for a new driver first but to fix the fault. It is after that that you may get a new driver. If you don’t fix the problem and you get a new driver, you are going nowhere.

“There is nothing impossible when there is a will. When there is a determination and we realise that we change the circumstances in which we are, looking for a new operator won’t solve the problem.

“Nigeria is like a computer that has a virus, the computer is not good and you are looking for a good operator. That’s not the next thing. We first have to end the decadence, and insecurity in all areas which were caused by structural deficiency and systemic error. If you don’t deal with that and you are looking for a new driver, you are not getting it right.

“If we all agree, a new constitution is possible within three months. So long as the 53 per cent of the resources of this country go to the central government, so long as the centre is not a counter-balance with the federating units, so long as the centre is a dictator, the headmaster while the federation units which are supposed to be equal and coordinate are pupils, so long will there be problem.

“No matter who among the presidential candidate comes in 2023, if we do not change the system, we will remain in the same place.”