Former Agriculture Minister and current President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has suggested that as part of restructuring the country, the “Federal Republic of Nigeria” be rechristened.
Adesina wants the new name of the world’s biggest Black nation to be changed to “The United States of Nigeria,” according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Industrialisation, Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, on Saturday.
Adesina sold the idea in Lagos recently while receiving the 2024 Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership, and delivering a lecture, titled, “Making a New Nigeria: Welfarist Policies and People-Centred Development.”
According to him, changing to the “United States of Nigeria” would devolve power to the states, while the Abuja Centre would stop lording it over them and instead support the component units.
Adesina said, “We must be audacious! Instead of the Federal Government of Nigeria, we could think of the United States of Nigeria. The old would give way to the new.
“We would change the relational mindset between the states and Abuja: the fulcrum would be the states, while the centre would support them, not lord over them.
“With good governance, better accountability systems, and zero tolerance for corruption, more economically stronger constituent states would emerge! We would unleash massive wealth across the states. A New Nigeria would arise! To do so, we will need all of us, not some of us.
“From our forgotten rural villages to our boisterous and dynamic urban areas. From the sparks of desire in the eyes of our children to the lingering hope in the hearts of our youths.
“From the yearnings of our women and mothers and our men and fathers for a better tomorrow, and the desires of the old that our end would be better than our past. From the hardworking street vendors and small businesses to the largest business conglomerates, we must create a movement of hope.
“The achievement of economically viable entities and the viability of the national entity requires constitutional changes to devolve more economic and fiscal powers to the states or regions. The stronger the states or regions, the stronger the federated units.”
The newly-defined relationship between the component states and the Centre would help the economy.
He said: “Economic and financial viability are the necessary and sufficient conditions for political viability.
“If there was one attribute that defined Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and there were many, it would be his visionary boldness. He went where others feared or failed to go. In the process, decades later, his footprints remain in the sands of time. Likewise, today, in Nigeria, we need men and women with vision, who are willing to take bold decisions.
“Truth be told, Nigerians pay one of the highest implicit tax rates in the world. Most of the citizens provide electricity for themselves via generators; they repair roads in their neighbourhoods if they can afford to. They provide boreholes for drinking water with their money.
“In the 21st century, this is incredulous as every household should have pipe-borne water! Sadly, the abnormal has been normalised.
“If people pay taxes, governments must deliver services to citizens and be held accountable for their ability to do so or not. Governments should not transfer their responsibility to citizens. When governments or institutions fail to provide basic services, the people bear the burden of a heavy implicit tax.”
