*Says, ‘They’re insincere’
From: FRED ITUA, Abuja
A former Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Chief Nduese Essien, has come out hard against South-west leaders accusing them of insincerity in the nation’s quest for restructuring.
Speaking with Daily Sun, Chief Essien, said leaders of the region only support restructuring when it favours them, but kicks against it when it does not.
He made a particular reference to last week’s opposition by the House of Representatives Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, to a motion, which urged companies operating in oil producing areas to relocate.
Chief Essien noted: “I was surprised to hear the House of Representatives last week reject a motion, which had asked oil companies to relocate to their areas of operation. The argument by the House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, was that, the oil producing areas are unsafe for the oil companies to relocate to.
“He said that probably because he is from Lagos State and that Lagos State is safe. But there is no part of this country that can be classified as safe. That an area is not safe is at a result of the intransigents of the companies over to the years.
“Let me take the case of Akwa Ibom State as an example. Since 1989, there has been an agitation that the major companies operating there should relocate. Each time, they told us there were no good roads and infrastructure.
“But as of today, those identified obstacles have been removed. There is no basis for the companies not to relocate to the oil producing states.”
Speaking on what he described as the insincerity of South-west leaders on the issue of restructuring, Essien, who was a member of the 2014 National Conference, said: “I begin to wonder whether the South-west is sincere about its agitation for restructuring. The South-west leaders, at every forum, over the years, propagated the restructuring of the Nigerian federation.
“But each time an opportunity comes, they renege on restructuring. When their son, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, was the President of the country for eight years, the clamour for restructuring went dead. That is because they were in control of the unstructured federation with its attendant benefits to them.
“As soon as they lost control of the Federal Government, the restructuring jingles came alive throughout the period of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. The jingle sounded so loud that a national conference was convened in 2014.
“A good number of delegates supported restructuring. We ended up recommending that the country should be restructured. Luckily for us, after the conference, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, revived the call.
“Last week, South-west leaders all spoke in favour of restructuring. But when the opportunity came on the floor of the House of Representatives to commence the process of restructuring, another leader from the area, Gbajabiamila, kicked against it,” Essien said.