Secession Threats: ‘National Assembly Must Pave Way For Needed Changes’ – Malumfashi
A lecturer with the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, Professor Mansur Usman Malumfashi, has called on the National Assembly to urgently provide the constitutional platform that will accommodate changes in Nigeria, even as he declared that the country’s foundation is shaky.
Malumfashi, who is with the Faculty of Education, stated this in an interview with journalists in Bauchi while reacting to secession threats in part of the country, submitted that the state of the nation was not only alarming but also unfortunate.
He said that as of today, every geopolitical zone in the country was experiencing one form of challenge or the other, adding members of the National Assembly were required to bring about the changes being demanded by the zones.
“To be very candid, the state of the nation is really alarming and unfortunate. A group in the South West is calling for Oduduwa Republic and others in the South East are also calling for their own Biafra.
“So you find out that almost every zone of the country is facing one challenge or another in the sense that almost every sector of our national life is faced by one challenge or another.
“All the zones in the country, look at them, North East, Boko Haram, North West is kidnapping and banditry, North central is farmers-herders’ crises, South South the militants and the vandalisation of pipelines and so on and so forth.
“You find the issue of insecurity, you find the issue of unemployment, you find the issue of inflation, you find the issue of social explosion. What I mean by social explosion is that you find youth restiveness, youth gangsterism and so on and so forth,” the don said.
He said the National Assembly had great roles to play in the current agitations for restructuring, declaring that the legislature were empowered to bring the change the people wanted.
“Constitutionally they are the people required to bring about the changes requested by sections of the country.
“You cannot just jump out and say you want a country or self determination or we want to restructure the country,” he said.
According to him, the current reality in Nigeria called for a sober reflection, submitting that there was the need to sit down and look at things as they were in the country objectively.
“Really, the situation calls for sober reflection of the very foundation of the state, I mean the Nigeria nation. We really need to sit down and look at things from an objective perspective because right now the foundation of the country is shaky and we are appealing to people in governance to look at the issue more seriously,” Malumfashi submitted.
Speaking on the relationship between the National Assembly and the executive, the professor noted that though there is currently a harmonious relationship between the two arms of government, such should, however, be for the benefit of Nigerians and not to short-changed them.
According to him, “the National Assembly or Parliament must work together for the general good of the country. We have had situations where members of the National Assembly would be involved in padding the budget for whatever reasons and at the end of the day whatever is padded is not meant for the people.
“So a good working relationship would be for the benefit of Nigerians and I think they are not doing badly but we really need to put them on their toes so that they will do more because the National Assembly can do better.”
