APC knows nothing about my concept of restructuring – Atiku Abubakar

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said the All Progressives Congress, APC was ignorant about his proposed plan to restructure Nigeria.

Abubakar, a Presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said this while addressing journalists in Kano, yesterday.

The Waziri of Adamawa noted that his idea of restructuring was reducing the powers of the Federal Government while the bulk of responsibilities are shouldered by the geopolitical zones or the state governments that are closer to the people.

He said, “I think the APC must be very ignorant because my position on the issue of restructuring dates back to the reports of constitutional restructuring of 1994.

“If you check the report, you will find my contributions as far as restructuring is concerned.

“By restructuring, I mean devolving powers to the states or geopolitical zones as the case may be so that they can assume greater responsibilities of their respective states or zones. At the moment, the Federal Government has too much on its plate and it is not able to pay attention to all parts of the country.

“My belief is that by devolving more powers to those states or regions, they are closer to the people, particularly in areas like education, health, infrastructure and so on. I want to see a lean Federal Government, a small Federal Government.”

“A small Federal Government which will deal essentially with matters like defense, foreign affairs, currency, Central Bank and immigration. Very few areas for the Federal Government.”