“Let there be No Quarrel among Us” (Genesis 13:8-9): Using Abraham’s Model for Restructuring in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is blessed with so many natural resources which are the principal sources of income through which she is sustained. Disparity in the income so generated has been posing a serious challenge to almost every Nigerian administration on the ratio for its sharing, hence  becoming a major problem and challenge affecting federal practice in Nigeria. The problem of resource control and restructuring so noticed has been as a result of disagreement within the three tiers of government of which no one seems to accept to sacrifice some pleasures in order to ensure that peace is attained. It will be germane to posit that for there to be a restructuring in Nigeria that will be effectively sustained and generally satisfactory, the Abraham’s model must be adopted who gave Lot his nephew the opportunity to choose from the best part of the vast arable land so that there may be no quarrel among them. In this regard therefore, Abraham is seen as a leader who is endowed with virtues of love, peace, selflessness and sacrifice and must be emulated by Nigeria leaders if restructuring will be achieved. This work adopts a sociological method and will be theoretically framed with relative deprivation theory. The paper observes that there has been tussle within the tiers of government on the sharing formula which has not been generally accepted. Secondly, it discovers that there has been agitations by the host states on resource control and restructuring which is not workable for the federal government, it goes on to observe that Abraham’s model could help to solve the problem if the federal government assumes the role of Abraham by allowing producing states to determine the percentage of the allocation. It finally observes that there has been lack of a leader who has the vision and willingness to handle the problem once and for all which has made the problems to continue lingering. The paper therefore recommends that the tiers of government should be willing to make sacrifices in order to ensure a harmonious and peaceful co-existence. The work also recommends the need for visionary and selfless leaders who will sincerely tackle and implement true and acceptable federalism for the good of the common man.