“…Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government… Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes… But when a long train of abuses and usurpations… evinces a design to reduce the people under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government…” – U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776).
Presently, the prevailing political sing-song is ‘restructuring.’ A few years ago it was Sovereign national conference. But after Jonathan’s ill-fated Confab, the talking point gradually shifted to ‘restructuring’ as the cure-all panacea to Nigeria’s multitudinous problems.
But there is no agreement as to what this restructuring should entail. In fact there are almost as many restructuring ideas as the loudmouthed proponents. So far the restructuring proposals include the following:
– Return to First republic 4 regions
– 6 geopolitical zones become federating units
– 19 more states as per 2014 Confab report
– Fiscal federalism
– 50% derivation/resource control
– Devolution of power to states/LGAs
– Destructuring i.e. dismemberment of Nigeria.
All the above restructuring/destructuring ideas emanate from the South, which seem to think they own Nigeria and should have their way, regardless of what the Northern majority thinks.
Much of the agitation is driven by greed, selfishness and shortsighted ethno-regional bigotry inimical to long-term nation building.
We need to stop chasing shadows and face the real problem – poor leadership. Clearly this sham of a democracy we’ve been operating for the last two decades cannot deliver the leadership required for national transformation. We have to end it now and start all over
Those of us in the North who object to aspects of this narrow minded crass ethno-regional jingoism masquerading as nationalism are disparaged as enemies of progress. “Progress” of course being defined by southern agitators.
Several of the restructuring proposals are half-baked harebrained schemes that fall apart on close scrutiny. The same people clamouring for implementation of 2014 Confab report which would create 19 more states, are the same people making noise about fiscal federalism.
Presently most states can’t pay salaries regularly, yet the Confab proponents are demanding creation of even more unviable states that will inevitably result in more dependence on handouts from the center.
The internal generated revenue of most southern states is nothing to write home about, yet their jingoists make loud noises about fiscal federalism.
Nothing in our present political structure stops any state from investing in infrastructure and productive sectors to boost revenue. So the sonorous demands to rewrite our constitution to allow for fiscal federalism are totally uncalled for.
“Fiscal federalism” for these bigoted Southern jingoists has nothing to do with harnessing the productivity of their people for job creating prosperity and revenue generation. It simply begins and ends with awoof oil money, which mostly (80%) now comes from our Atlantic offshore oil fields, that is federal territory… as it is in other federations around the world.
Yet the greedy southern agitators have the gall to deride we Northerners as lazy parasites, because apparently the presence of crude oil and natural gas in our Atlantic shores is by dint of their hard work.
Then there is the hype about devolution of power to states, which in itself is not a bad idea. But given the Nigerian situation is bound to worsen our already bad situation, as there is less accountability at the state and LGA levels.
Unlike at the federal level where the National Assembly provides some semblance of checks & balances to the presidency, most state Houses of Assembly are rubber stamp parliaments. Consequently governors do pretty much as they please.
They expend state resources with little oversight from the pocketed state legislatures. LGA funds are raided and confiscated with impunity… in a way and manner federal government would never do to states.
Several governors collected federal bailouts and Paris club refund amounting to hundreds of billions of Naira, yet refuse to pay workers’ salary. Some are owing up to year’s salary, not to mention pensions.
For these truant governors, it is far more important to build a war chest for 2019 elections. I fail to see how devolving more power and resources to such irresponsible governors would make our troubled federation better.
When INEC conducts elections at the national level, different parties win (APC, PDP, APGA, Labour etc). When state electoral commissions conduct LGA elections, only the governor’s ruling party wins.
Yet we are supposed to trust these tin-pot tyrants with state police, which will no doubt be abused to intimidate political opponents. Some governors already deploy political thugs during elections, so it’s not a far stretch that state police will become the governors’ official political thugs, in the same manner Native police were misused against political opponents in the First republic.
Devolution would also entail transfer of Federal universities to states, which will reduce them to less diverse discriminatory institutions, where admissions and employment will be tribalized, thereby compromising academic standards and undermining national unity. Indigene/non-indigene dichotomy is already at play in most federal institutions (universities, COEs, teaching hospitals, FMCs etc), and will only get worse with devolution.
With these misgivings in mind, devolution by itself is unlikely to lead Nigeria to El Dorado, but will simply lead to devolution and worsening of corruption. Governors have not responsibly exercised the limited powers they have, to justify devolving more responsibilities and resources to them.
Thus none of the restructuring proposals will by themselves rescue Nigeria from our present morass, because they do not address our foremost problem – corrupt inept leadership. As long as the same crooks are running the show, it won’t matter what political system we operate.
We’ve already tried them all – Parliamentary democracy, presidential system, First republic regional federalism, unitary military rule and our current half-way house. Yet our failing nation continues its descent into the abyss.
Which is why some Nigerians in parts of the country have given up on Nigeria, and are now agitating for secession. They are convinced Nigeria cannot work, and think their ethno-regional enclaves will do better on their own.
But the problems that bedevil Nigeria will also bedevil these new balkanized nations, because basically the same misruling elites who have failed to deliver in Nigeria will still be in charge. The visionless South east governors who have presided over what is arguably the worst governed part of the country, are not suddenly going to provide upright visionary leadership in an independent Biafra.
Presently the IGR of the entire south east zone is not up to Ogun state, but the Biafra agitators want us to believe the misruling South east elites who are responsible for this poor state of affairs, will suddenly become Lee Kuan Yews.
Read the full text online at www.thepointng.com
This article was first published in the Nigeria Village Square on October 30, 2017
