Northern minority ethnic nationalities under the auspices of Coalition of Indigenous Middle Belt Organisations (CIMBO) have called for restructuring of Nigeria into three regions, namely; South, Middle-Belt and North.
Rising from a conference in Kaduna, the ethnic nationalities also demanded that the current 1999 constitution should be rewritten, saying restructuring and enacting a new ‘people’s constitution’ is the panacea to peace and development of Nigeria.
A communique issued at the end of the two-day conference suggested that the 2014 national conference report should be the basis for restructuring of the country.
A paper presented at the conference by Professor Ejeikwu Emmanuel Oloja titled; “The position of the Middle Belt on Restructuring, Boundary Adjustments and Constitutional Review, called for restructuring of Nigeria int South, Middle-Belt and Northern regions.
According to him, a restructured Nigeria, with a number of units would lead to true federalism, reduced corruption and over-reliance on statutory allocations from the center and this would intensify struggle for resource control.
The conference communique jointly signed by the chairman and secretary, Timothy Barau Gandu and Prof. Emmanuel O Ejeikwu, argued that the call for restructuring of Nigeria was 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.