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Nigeria: Phony Federalism Blues II By Benedict Okereke
The April, 2007 elections in Nigeria shall be a "do-or-die affair." Many have denounced this statement as ominous and un-Presidential. But, it is either that those that do not see the raison d'čtre for this outburst of the President have a disdain for the truth, or they are preoccupied with the moral question: must the truth be told even if it may go to jeopardize the electoral system? By the time we examine from the right perspective this "do-or-die" attitude of our politicians toward elections, culpabilty goes to the federal structure we operate through which whoever wins the Presidency literally controls the air we breathe.
Patriotic Nigerians have nearly shouted themselves hoarse for structural reforms. Unarguably, they reminisce about the giant development strides made after independence until 1967. The existing structure, they insist, is the bane of Nigeria. In place of a true federal structure, we have a semblance of unitary government in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious society. Writing earlier this week on the GAMJI.com on-line publishing out-fit, Abdulahi Musa from Kano in his article captioned: "Nigeria: the Need for Two Presidents" said: "a unified structure such as the one we operate (apparently refering to our near-unitary system of government) harms and retards all the component parts: all are retarded, none actualises its vision of existence" He ended his write-up with the words: "As things stand today, we have : ONE NATION, NO DESTINY."
At the expense of the majority of the population, many within the political class are jostling for unbridled political power at the over-bloated federal government and would not easily subscribe to structural reforms. From Calabar to Sokoto, from Maiduguri to Lagos, the impoverished masses are bearing the brunt of the structural defects. But across the nation, the political power gladiators would not let go. It appears they still refuse to admit the reality that the unworkable federal structure is fast showing signs of absolute system failure.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, long ago, was among the first group of Nigerians to highlight the unworkability of our present federal structure. The vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has indicated his intention to initiate the reform of the existing federal structure if voted into power. General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential flag bearer of the All Nigerian Peoples Party has indicated his intention to undertake some degree of reforms of the existing federal structure. Professor Pat Utomi, another leading presidential contender, is not unlikely to favour the jettisoning of this flawed federal structure. In the first installment of this article "NIGERIA: PHONEY FEDERALISM BLUES" nigeriaworld.com August 24, 2004, I emphasized the need for us to.. "draw up a popular constitution taking into consideration the cultural, religious, occupational and environmental factors prevailing in the diverse areas of the federating units"
One good note for now is that with the gradual democratization of our polity, much of the elite from the areas hitherto believed to be benefiting from the flawed system is begining to embrace the need for, and the inevitability of structural reforms. After all, who would want to retain a political structure that outrightly kills competition, entrepreneur and productivity? Given the level of poverty and despondency in Nigeria today, it should have dawned on us that oil wealth is not a one-way ticket to national prosperity. It would rather continue to create a super-class in the midst of mass poverty. They use the proceeds to perpetuate themselves in power in order to retain the non-rendering, or rather, retrograde federal structure. A vicious circle, sort of. Many a Nigerian would not believe the level we have gone deep down. Outside our borders, many regard Nigeria as a basket case, and above all, sub-Saharan Africa's greatest disappoinment. But some of our leaders still have the belief, often backed by actions, that we are the 'Big Brother' in the region. Indices of economic progress out of sync with the World Bank's are contrived to convince or confuse the uninitiated, while our country is known far and wide for having the majority of its population among the poorest in the world.
In the same article of August 24, 2004, "NIGERIA: PHONEY FEDERALISM BLUES," I wrote: .."that there is the belief that because President Obasanjo is seen by many today as the most trusted link between the north and south of Nigeria is the reason why well-meaning Nigerians are re-inforcing their calls....for a conference to restructure the existing flawed federal structure".
A semblance of Reforms Conference was later inaugurated by the President but the 'bad belle' of 'Third Term' made a mess of it ab initio.
When the National Assembly threw away the recommendations of the National Political Reforms Conference, many leading figures in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) promised to resurrect the issue of political reforms if the party is voted into power in 2007. From the fore-going, it is obvious that nearly all within the political class know that not even a saint may succede in governing Nigeria as presently constituted. It is clear that for many of them, the lure of the excessive powers at the almighty federal level of government seems to becloud the urgency for structural reforms. Perhaps, as was the case after the elections of 1999 and 2003, we are to wait until the 2007 elections are settled before the cacophony of voices for political restructuring rents the air once again.
People tend to blame the malaise of corruption for our inability to liberate Nigerians from the yoke of poverty. To some degree, this is not just the truth. The word corruption is not native to Nigeria. Corruption exists in the developed world, but there, their leaders put the interests of the led first before theirs. Here, given our flawed federal structure, there is the certainty that altruistics may never find their way to the corridors of political power. Before the existing federal structure was imposed on us, we did not have the bewildering level of corruption as obtains today. The cynicism over tomorrow's Nigeria makes many in positions of power to go grab the much they can from the nation's pool of wealth against the rainy day.
In every nation, the political class initiates development policies and the class of technocrats (the professional class, if you like) executes the policies for the benefit of the populace. The synergy arising from the in-puts of these two classes is imperative for national development. In Nigeria, the in-ordinate ambitions of those that imposed the extant political structure on the country, and of those that have continued to sustain it till today have inadvertently, or in some cases, brazenly, made many members of the class of technocrats write off their fatherland in anger and turn away from their obligations.
Take a few among the salient questions Nigerians now ask repeatedly, and often, rhetorically, and for which they are patiently waiting for answers from their political leaders.
After close to forty-seven years of independence and the huge amounts of money budgeted for the electric power sector, why can't Nigeria boast of an efficient power supply mechanism, apparently, the powerhouse of all agents of industrialization and wealth creation? This failure is not caused only by the corruption that is bred and nurtured by our exaggerated federal structure, most of the members of the alienated class of technocrats have simply refused to co-operate with the political class seen by the rest of society as oppressors.
These days, manufacturing and servicing firms from the developed world are fast moving their outlets to areas of comparative advantage (off-shoring), why is Nigeria with its teeming population of job seekers, abundant raw materials and space not benefiting as much as it should from shoring on its soil? The answer is obvious. The prevailing harsh business climate emanating from political instability inherent in our flawed federal structure is it. The Michelins of this world may give us further clarifications.
The greatest foreign-exchange earner today for some peaceful nations is tourism. Not even industrial out-put, not even our curse - oil. Nigeria shares hundreds of kilometers of border with the Atlantic ocean and is blessed with land space for inland game reserves. But political instability and insecurity propelled by our flawed federal structure has continued to rob us of tourism revenues.
Provision of potable water is a must duty for any responsible government for the governed. Forty-six years after independence, huge sums of money have been budgeted for the various water supply schemes across the country. But in most cases, the taps dried up as soon as the commissioning officers left the scene. Why? The wanton corruption fueled by unpatriotism inherent in our political structure ensures that projects are programmed to fail right from the on-set.
The expansion of the railway in the Western world in the early 19th century contributed immensely to their industrial prowess. In Nigeria the use of this most efficient way of land transportation is yet to be ubiquitous. Why?
Why could not our national telecom company survive inspite of the huge sums of money deployed to it over the years? Under normal circumstances no one would opt for the cell phone when a standard fixed line is available. Even our goverenment departments are now constrained to place cell phone numbers for contact when trasacting both local and international businessis.
Our governments budget huge sums of money for road building, but on the first pour of rains, parts of the road are washed away; there is the belief by many that some among those in charge deliberately wait for the entire road structure to become useless to enable them award fresh construction contracts and the attendant kick-backs. Why?
Why must we continue to spend a huge measure of our country's revenues to recurrent expenditure at the expense of capital projects?
Our motorists waste valuable man-hours under the scorching sun queuing for petroleum products the crude of which is extracted right from under their feet. Why?
If the foregoing questions are critically appraised, one may answer that Nigeria's class of technocrats have simply done a volte-face given the insincerity of her political class. The latter class knows what ought to be done - restructure the inefficient and twisted federal structure imposed on Nigeria by undemocratic means - but is foot-dragging over it for personal gains.
And the mother of all questions: Why are some youth groups nursing the ambition of secession from Nigeria and others taking hostages, presumably, to frustrate the ruling class?
The Way Forward A Constitutional conference with the conferees elected by the people shall be set up as soon as the in-coming government is sworn in. Among others, they shall propose the following that are germane to Nigeria's stability and development:
(1) We shall have a federal government periodically elected, and whose executive arm shall only be limited to such duties as external and internal affairs, central banking, and a few other functions that require central co-ordination.
(2) We shall have the zones or regions. The zones or regions as they may be called shall have elected governments at their headquarters to formulate policies for their zonal/regional development. This system brings government very close to the people who can always easily head to the headquarters to ask questions. The leaders thus become accountable to the led, a far cry from what we have now. This way, the cancer of corruption is checked. In 'POST DIALOGUE NIGERIA AND OBASANJO' nigeriaworld.com (April 3, 2005), I wrote: At the regional or central levels of government, democracy must be a system of governance where the majority has the inalienable right to chose who governs them, and those led must have the right to suggest what needs to be done, ask questions regarding to what degree they have been or have not been done, and deserve answers from the leaders.
(3) The existing states shall only have administrators assisted by a limited number of secretarial staff. The administrators may have to be appointed by, and answerable to the zonal/regional governments. The state administrator helps in recommending and supervising development projects of the zonal/regional government in his/her state. The cost of administering the present thirty-six state structure is frightening. The money accruing therefrom has to be pumped into the economy to provide jobs for Nigerians. It thus becomes the duty of the zonal/regional governments to create more, or even annul some non-viable states within their localities.The demand for more states from the areas feeling short-changed by the existing structure is thereby put to rest.
(4) The local councils are to be headed by elected mayors or chairmen with elected councillors. The councils are supervised by the zonal/regional governments through the state administrators. The mayors or council cahairmen stipulate projects within their localities to the zonal/regional governments with the assistance of the state administrators. The council governments' sole source of funds shall be their internally generated revenues. The council government ensures the efficient running of his/her area's local infrastructure.
(5) On the vexed issues of derivation and revenue sharing, a compromise has to be arrived at between the mineral bearing areas and the rest of Nigeria. Given the obvious neglect suffered over the years by the oil-producing areas, let the mineral-bearing areas (where the minerals are undergoing exploitation) receive revenues based on a gradual but stipulated annual increment until we arrive at 50% within a stipulated time of 25 years; after which we return to the status quo; or we start outrightly with 50% with a stipulated annual decrease until we return to the status quo within a time limit of 25 years. The same percentage goes for sharing value-added tax. Whatever is remaining at any time is shared between the zones/regions and the federal government taking cognizance of the lean duties of the emergent federal government. The fear that this may lead to the emergence of super-zones in our country should be uncalled for by the time the question of Nigerian citizenship is settled; for in no country practicing true federalism are all the federating units equal. But we must not settle for a situation where development and qualitative life is impeded in the none mineral-bearing zones, else, people there get impoverished and constitute the next source of political instability.
(6) There shall be a federal police and regional/zonal police as well as a less-empowered community police at the city or community level. A man from Abakaliki cannot effectively discharge his duties of policing in Yola where he does not underastand the language and culture of the natives and vice-versa.
(7) The National Assembly has the duty of legalizing the constitution produced by the Constituent Assembly.
Benedict Okereke, a Pharmacologist writes from Padua, Italy
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