President Ahmed Bola Tinubu should adopt measures to divide Nigeria into six geo-political zones with elements of regional autonomy to ensure equity and true federalism.

A human rights lawyer and Chairman of the Labour Party in Enugu West Senatorial Zone of Enugu State, Barr Nnadume Offorkansi, stated this in an interview in Enugu on Friday. He said Nigerians expect President Tinubu to champion the restructuring of Nigeria, having been in its forefront during the military era under the auspices of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO.

Offorkansi however said there were some policies of the Tinubu administration already tilting towards restructuring Nigeria.

According to him, “The message in the old national anthem implies return to regionalism. There is a bill in the National Assembly for circling herders in their abodes. The current suit between the federal government and the states seeking the possibility of direct funding of local governments in Nigeria is another restructuring. The relocation of a key unit of the Central Bank of Nigeria from Abuja to Lagos is restructuring. We expect an end to states conducting elections into various LGAs when the LG autonomy is achieved.”

He advised Tinubu to create regions not based on the old ones because “there are already mistrusts in most of them”, adding that going back to regional structures would save Nigeria from its current conundrum.

Abuchi Anueyiagu, a public affairs analyst, also advised Tinubu to implement the report of the National Confab organized by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to him, the report, if implemented, would restructure Nigeria, and regretted that Jonathan’s re-election bid was behind his failure to implement it. He added that the confab report would have solved most of Nigeria’s political and economic problems.

Quoting him, “Restructuring will end various agitations for secession because it will grant the regions the autonomy to grow at their respective pace. Tinubu clamoured for it during the Jonathan administration.

“He is, therefore, expected to live by what he has been clamouring as an activist. He will endear himself to Nigerians, and he should avoid the mistake of waiting for his second tenure, which former President Jonathan made.”