Indigenous nationalities coalition to engage stakeholders on restructuring 

Against the backdrop of what it described as Nigeria’s present socio-economic and political realities, the Coalition of Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities (CIEN) Monday said it is committed to engaging with all relevant stakeholders in its quest to arrive at the restructuring of the Nigerian federation for the benefit of all.

In a press statement signed by the chairman and secretary of the coalition, Professor Benjamin Okaba and Mr Nubari Saatah respectively, the group said the gradual degeneration of the Nigerian federation is manifested in several ways to include the budding secessionist movements that have sprung up in different sections of the country over the years thereby threatening its unity.

Other disturbing trends, according to the coalition, are insurgency and terrorism that have continued to ravage different parts of the country, socio-economic decline with ripple effects of impoverishing the Nigerian population and the decline in Nigeria’s socio-political status within the comity of nations.

While it believes that Nigeria has grappled with poor leadership for most of its history which has contributed to its current state, the coalition said the faulty socioeconomic structures are traceable to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.

It maintains that the call for restructuring of the Nigerian federation is germane and an idea whose time has come.

The group said after due deliberations and consultations on the restructuring of the Nigerian federation, it has put together recommendations and templates which it believes when implemented would steer Nigeria towards a brighter future.

It said it has forwarded the same to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as part of the move towards deepening the conversation on the restructuring of the Nigerian federation, even as it plans to also forward the same to the Senate and House of Representatives.