Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday gave more insight into his opposition to the calls for the nation’s restructuring, saying he opposed a regional arrangement for the country.
He however said he was in total support of the call for state police.
Osinbajo’s position was contained in a transcript made available to journalists by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande.
Akande said the Vice-President spoke during a live television programme.
Osinbajo said he had always been an advocate of fiscal federalism which would lead to states having more resources.
He recalled that he approached the Supreme Court about 10 times as the Attorney General of Lagos State on the issue.
He also said his position on the Value Added Tax was that the issue must be a state matter.
Although he supported the creation of state police, Osinbajo opposed the idea of restructuring the country along ethnic lines or returning to regional stricture.
He said, “I strongly believe that we must have state police. Dividing Nigeria, going back to regions and all of those kinds of things, I do not believe that at all. I don’t think that we need to go back to regions.
“So, if there are people who believe that we must structure ourselves again along ethnic lines, I don’t accept that that is the right way to go.
“So, when you say restructuring, I am sure that for many of us, there are certain aspects of this restructuring that you may agree with or that you may not agree with.
“But as a general position, Nigeria always needs to be re-engineered, we have to keep restructuring, re-engineering.
“For example look at (some of the current) questions today, around whether or not a state should have rule over its resources. That is a major point.
“Of course, states ought to have a good measure of control over their resources but we must have to agree how do you then ensure that the Federal Government itself functions. Do you need a Federal Government or do you not need a Federal Government?”
On power sharing and rotation Presidency, Osinbajo said the choice of where the Presidency should go should be left entirely with the political parties.
“I like to see a Nigeria where we are all able to work together, where we are able to de-emphasise ethnicity, de-emphasise geopolitical zone. That is the kind of Nigeria that I’ll like to see,” he said.
