Former President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, has renewed calls for the restructuring of Nigeria, warning that failure to do so before the 2027 general election could leave the country with no option but to break up.
Speaking in Abuja at the public presentation of two books authored by journalist Ike Abonye, Nwodo said Nigeria must return to true federalism if it is to survive.
“Nigeria must restructure and give its component units sovereignty over their natural resources, provided they pay royalties or taxes to the federal government for responsibilities like defence, foreign affairs, customs and immigration,” he said.
The former information minister, in a keynote address titled How Did We Get Here?, argued that development would be faster if the federating units were allowed to manage their resources and security.
He stated: “These irreducible minimum conditions are non-negotiable. If they do not happen, we will have no alternative but to go our separate ways.”
Nwodo said Nigeria must prioritise agriculture and education, with the latter focusing on digital literacy and innovation. He also called for state-controlled policing and respect for Nigeria’s secular identity.
Citing grim statistics, Nwodo noted that Nigeria has the world’s lowest life expectancy at 54.8 years, according to the UN World Population Prospects report.
He also pointed to collapsing infrastructure, referencing a BusinessDay report highlighting the poor state of roads and their economic toll.
“A World Bank report in 2022 estimated that Nigeria loses about $1 billion annually due to bad road infrastructure. How can a country battling rising inflation and a shrinking capital budget afford that?” he asked.
He said poor roads not only hurt commerce, which relies on roads for moving over 90% of goods and people, but also lead to high post-harvest losses in agriculture, with 40% of food never reaching consumers.
He added that Nigeria’s public debt had soared to $94 billion as of December 2024 and was likely to hit N183 trillion with fresh borrowings under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.