Northern minority ethnic nationalities under the auspices of Coalition of Indigenous Middle Belt Organizations (CIMBO), have called for restructuring of the country into three regions, namely, South, Middle-Belt and North.
The ethnic nationalities also demanded that the current 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should be rewritten, saying that restructuring and enactment of a new people’s constitution is the panacea for peace and development of the country.
The demand was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the group’s two-day maiden conference in Kaduna.
The conference suggested that the 2014 National Conference Report should be the basis for the restructuring of the country.
Speaking at the conference, Professor Ejeikwu Emmanuel Oloja, in a paper titled: “The position of the Middle Belt on Restructuring, Boundary Adjustments and Constitutional Review, called for restructuring of Nigeria into South, Middle-Belt and Northern regions.
According to him, “restructured Nigeria, with a number of units, will lead to true federalism, reduced corruption and over-reliance on statutory allocation from the center and this will intensify struggle for resource control.
“So, in consideration of the foregoing, CIMBO should recommend three (3) Regions for Nigeria. Northern Region (north west & north east), Middle Belt Region (Eastern Middle Belt Region and Western Middle Belt) and Southern Region (South South, South East & South West),” he said.
However, the conference communiqué jointly signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Timothy Barau Gandu and Prof. Emmanuel O Ejeikwu, argued that, the call for restructuring of Nigeria is more pressing now than ever, primarily due to the significant growth and diversity of the ethnic composition of the Middle Belt, whose population is estimated at 44 million as at June 2024.
According to the communiqué, “the Middlebelt has since independence been seen and called part of Northern Nigeria with the split of many ethnic nationalities into states as minorities. This has weakened the ability of such ethnic nationalities in achieving political representation and economic empowerment and development.
“Consequently, this has created an inferiority complex, a feeling of second-class status and peasantisation of the people as a result of laws and statutes that tend to limit and imprison the capacity of citizens of such ethnic nationalities from achieving set goals and aspirations.”
By AbdulGafar Alabelewe,