Those who are opposed to the call for restructuring the country are feeding fat on the decadent structure.
Even though the Nigerian Senate on July 26 shot down the Bill seeking the devolution of powers that would have moved some items from the Exclusive List in the 1999 Constitution to the Concurrent List, which would have given more powers to the states, the clamour for restructuring is yet to abate.
The Devolution of Powers Bill, which sought to alter the Second Schedule, Part I & II of the Constitution, was defeated with 48 no votes against 46 yes votes and one abstention. But proponents of restructuring believe it is an idea whose time has come and not even the Senate rejection can stand stop it.
A needful venture
There is a consensus of opinion among keen observers of development in Nigeria that the country as presently constituted is a giant with feet of clay. They are in agreement that the country cannot make any progress in its present structure. This is what has fuelled the persistent calls, over the years, for the restructuring of Nigeria and enthronement of true federalism in the interest of peace and progress.
One person who is thoroughly disappointed with the Senate rejection of restructuring is former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Abubakar, a strong supporter of restructuring, avers that “devolving resources and responsibilities from an overbearing, unresponsive, and ineffective federal government to the states is the first step we must take if we are serious about putting our nation back on track, and our people back to work”.
He decries the reluctance of the lawmakers to remove “the insidious structural impediments to development, which decades of military rule had hoisted upon our nation”, saying, “Instead of building the foundations for a true federation, a small group of so-called progressive senators decided to stick with the new party line, pretending they did not know what restructuring was all about, and that even if they knew, it couldn’t be done. I think this is disingenuous.”
Only last June, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State re-echoed the state’s demand for fiscal federalism, saying it would strengthen the economy of the country as all sections would develop based on their comparative advantages.
“We are clamouring for true federalism. When you talk of true federalism, they think you don’t want to be part of the country. We talk about true federalism as practised in America. We demand a true presidential system where all the federating units will be allowed to enjoy their resources and contribute to the centre,” Wike said at a state banquet in Government House, Port Harcourt, in honour of William Symington, United States Ambassador to Nigeria.
“That means we believe that there must be a country called Nigeria. All of us will work together for the unity of the country,” he said.
An analyst, Sunny Agwu, in reaction to an editorial by a national daily last year, pointed out that the current corrupt system has remained unproductive since 1966 and only restructuring would return the country to the path of prosperity.
“What has this corrupt system produced since 1966? Why can’t we make the states more viable instead of forcing them to run to Abuja to beg for handouts from Mr President who has all the powers? Why can’t we allow the states or regions to prioritize and develop their economy and their people without being held back by stupid policies from Abuja?” Agwu asked.
“Why can’t the states who want to focus on teaching their children Maths and Science be allowed to focus their resource to developing their young ones? Why will they be held back by people who focus their resources to teach their children only Quran? Why will the children of states that pour more resources to teach their children Maths and Science suffer the same fate as states that pour their resources to teach their children only Quran? Why should they be denied entry into university because of stupid quota system?”
Historians and development economists agree that Nigeria recorded its highest growth in the pre-1966 era when regionalism held sway and regions developed at their own pace. But the enactment of Unification Decree No.34 of 1966 by the military killed this competitive spirit and put paid to the rapid growth it brought about. The continued creation of states by successive military regimes worsened matters as many of those states have remained economically unviable, going to Abuja monthly to beg for crumbs.
Beneficiaries of a failed structure
But those who feed fat from the current failed system do not see any good in restructuring, which they perceive as a secret weapon by a section of Nigeria to break up the country so that others would not have access to the oil and gas resources in one part of the country. Oil has been the mainstay of the economy for many decades since the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in the Niger Delta.
Oil and its “easy money” have over the decades bred laziness among Nigerians, particularly the political elite who have easy access to the oil wealth. That is why those who hold power at the centre never support restructuring.
During his eight years as governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, never stopped calling for true fiscal federalism, just as many prominent politicians in the South-West of the country. But now that the APC, a party many of them subscribe to, the calls are no longer as loud.
Feeding-bottle governors
Even before the Senate voted against devolution of powers, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State had stated categorically that he was in support neither restructuring nor Biafran secession because his state was not yet ripe for such.
“When the issue of Biafra or restructuring is discussed, my heart jumps because Ebonyi State is not ripe for any. Ask yourself, what is it that we are producing? We totally depend on the federal government for allocation. Investors are not coming into the state and our IGR is nothing to write home about, because the idea of an investor is, supposing the allocation that comes from the centre stops, how do I get back my money?” Umahi said during the state executive council meeting at the Government House, Abakaliki, in June.
This perhaps captures the fear of many of the state governors as well who have remained tacitly against restructuring.
State governors and the Land Use Act
Apart from going to Abuja every month to share money from the Federation Account in what some analysts have tagged feeding-bottle federalism, the Land Use Act vests the governors with enormous powers.
The Act vested all land in each state (except land vested in the federal government or its agencies) solely in the governor of the state, who would hold such land in trust for the people and be responsible for allocation of land in all urban areas to individuals resident in the state and to organisations for residential, agriculture, commercial and other purposes, while similar powers with respect to non urban areas are conferred on local governments.
Before the Act, control over land was vested in families, clans, villages and communities in Southern Nigeria. Under the traditional or customary agrarian land tenure system, individuals did not have complete control over the land and the sale of land was hardly possible. Individual occupants of land were identified by the right they hold rather than by actual possession of land.
In the recent constitution amendment effort by the National Assembly, therefore, pundits believe the federal lawmakers may have succumbed to pressure from state governors who do not want their powers over land to be whittled down.
The Act is seen as one of the biggest impediments to converting land resources into individual wealth in the country as it hinders transferability of ownership rights in landed property without government interference.
Many are of the view that making the Act easy for amendments will lead to alteration that will eventually revolutionise accessibility to one of the world’s valued resources. The hope is that the legislature would change the way land is administered and owned across the country with analysts saying it will boost the development of the mortgage industry and commercial agriculture.
The Land Use Act was promulgated as Land Use Decree in 1978 by the then military government under General Olusegun Obasanjo. In a bid to retain the law in the statute books even after he had left office, the Obasanjo-led Supreme Military Council (SMC) made the Land Use Decree an integral part of the Constitution which he handed over to the Shehu Shagari-led federal government. At that time, some land owners were holding the government to ransom by refusing to give up thier land for development. In making the law, government replaced one tyrant with another. Since then, subsequent constitutions particularly the 1989 and the current 1999 Constitutions have the law duly recognised.
The North and fear of losing oil money
Many in Northern Nigeria do not support the call for restructuring because they believe it would hand them the short end of the stick, according to pundits. This is because of their belief that their states may not survive if they were denied the monthly allocation from the Federation Account that flows mainly from oil money. This is also why there is currently intense efforts to find oil in the North East.
But analysts argue that the North can survive without oil if only its leaders would eschew laziness. They argue that Northern Nigeria used to be home to most of the best textile companies in the country and even West Africa, the famous groundnut pyramids in Kano, cotton, millet, among others. Even today, the North still has abundance of cattle, grains, gum Arabic, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, and many more.
CHUKS OLUIGBO
(With contribution from IDRIS MOMOH, Benin)
