Co-Chairman, African Newspapers, Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu (left); Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Adeyemi Aderibigbe and former Managing Director of Daily Times, Akogun Tola Adeniyi at a Yoruba town hall meeting on restructuring in Ibadan…yesterday PHOTO: NAJEEM RAHEEM
The Yoruba Youth Council (YYC) Worldwide has appealed to other ethnic groups in Nigeria to support restructuring.
The socio-cultural group in a meeting held at the House of Chiefs, Parliamentary Building, Agodi Secretariat, Ibadan, said the country could no longer pretend that all is well with its political economy, which predicts bleak future.
The Guest Speaker at the event, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, the last daughter of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, said restructuring was the only way out of many challenges facing the country.
She noted that the country recorded the greatest stride in development when each region had enough power to itself.
Awolowo-Dosunmu, who is the co-Chairman, African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc (ANN), however, noted that the clamour for restructuring was not a show of ignorance, tribalism or divisive tendencies as being claimed by the antagonists but that genuine devolution of powers to the regions through genuine restructuring would impact more on every region and the entire citizens as a whole.
She stated that people like her late father, Obafemi Awolowo, were able to achieve tremendous impact in the old Western Region because the constitution at the time empowered and enabled them to be able to do so.
According to her: “Restructuring is for the benefit of the whole nation and once that is done in a multi-ethnic country, then the tension goes down and we can deal with one another in a civil manner.
“The size of Nigeria will work for us because trading between ourselves and all the rest of the country will benefit every part of Nigeria. It’s been done before and that was when we recorded the greatest stride in development. You know sometimes we need to go back to the ancient landmarks to move forward.”
She apologised to the youths for the inability of the older generation to pass on the good virtues they enjoyed while growing up, charging them to pursue their dreams and vision for a better Nigeria with vigour.
She said: “On behalf of our generation, I am apologising to the young Nigerians for us not being able to bequeath to them part of what we benefitted while we were growing up. It is now up to them to change if they have to realise that. It is also up to them to change things. They need to have the vision and develop the courage to tell the world what their vision is for a better Nigeria.”
