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| Umeagbalasi |
By
Emeka Umeagbalasi
The centrality of the argument for or against Regionalism
in Nigeria lies in within the confines of National
Question. The question as whether the States will continue to be
retained or be replaced with Regionalism or change or retention of present
revenue formulae, alone, is incapable of arresting and addressing holistically
the age-long disunity and socio-economic backwardness of Nigeria. Therefore,
the arguments of the two schools are out-rightly dismissive and fire-brigade
approach because economic status, alone, being cited by the two schools as sole
reason necessitating clamour for return to Regionalism or otherwise;
is grossly an insignificant ground to alter the existence of “statism” in
Nigeria or creation of new regionalism in the country. That is to say
that clamours for abolition of States and creation of Regionalism for sole
purpose of addressing the economic melt-down of the States, are too parochial,
narrow-minded and lazily premised. If “economic buoyancy” is a fundamental
reason for the existence of sub-national entities or States, or even national
entities or countries; then poor countries like Benin Republic, Macedonia,
Albania, Comoros Island, Djibouti, Laos, Nepal, Haiti, Fiji Island, etc would
have fizzled out long ago and got permanently disbanded out of existence.
