Adams Oshiomhole, former Governor of Edo State; Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar and other concerned Nigerians drawn from the academia and organised labour on Wednesday joined ongoing debate for devolution of power and review of revenue sharing fomular in favour of State government.
Oshiomhole and other renowned Nigerians who spoke at the Colloquium with the theme: ‘The Labour movement and the future of a united Nigeria: What role for restructuring?’ unanimously harped on the need for harmonious co-existence between all Nigerians irrespective of religion, ethnic, race and political affiliations in order to improve the living conditions of Nigerians across the country.
While condemning the roles played by the political elites in disintegration of the country, the dignataries also underscored the need to address various concerns raised by various groups by the political office holders at all levels including social justice and equity.
They also stressed the need for immediate review of the 68 items on the Exclusive Legislative List by putting them on Concurrent Legislative List to enable States to make legislation on those items.
In his presentation, Oshiomhole specifically stressed the need to tackle the stamp out corruption, ensure accountability of resources and quality leadership.
He noted that only 10 states out of the 36 states of the federation generate larger percentage of the revenue accrued to the Federation Account while others seem to be non-viable.
The former NLC President specifically blamed National Assembly for failing to activate various sections of the 1999 Constitution which provides for review of revenue sharing formular every five years and streamline the powers of the Federal Government, called for active followership that could you engage the political class.
Oshiomhole who blamed those who lost out of the 2015 general elections for fuelling the agitation for ‘restructuring’ argued that most of the wealth worked for by the working class have been annexed by the few political elites.
While calling for attitudinal change and values, Oshiomhole noted that the current federal system in terms of structure and revenue sharing formular cannot lead to even development.”
He maintained that states should have the constirutional backing to define their tax base strictly on the peculiarity of each state and remove bureaucracy in the power sector in the bid to make Nigeria more productive.
He specifically noted that the money accrued to each of the states within the South-South region over the past 10 years were more than what accrued to five states in other geopolitical regions of Nigeria, but argued that the political leaders who failed to properly utilize the resources for the well-being of the people only aggravate the wealth for personal purposes.
He also noted that there was no need for federal roads, construction of health centers through the zonal intervention/constituency projects being imolemented through the National Assembly, as such responsibility should be shared by the State and Local Governments.
Also speaking, Sultan of Sokoto who chaired the occasion, urged the organized Labour to be at the forefront of positive and constructive agitation but not only through strike action.
He also pledged support for “devolution of power and economy as against restructuring, being canvassed by some Nigerians.
On his part, Sam Egwu of University of Jos, who delivered the Paper noted that the “fight within the political class in the country is threatening once more, the corporate existence of the country.
“This battle has been unfortunately waged through the intensive mobilization of poor Nigerians including the working people of the country using identity sentiments.”
Egwu who acknowledged that “these are most trying times for Nigeria’s unity and an electoral democracy”, observed that there are genuine cumulative grievances from Nigeria’s colonial and post-colonial history of bad governance and manipulation of differences.
“They are therefore not mere problem of structural imbalance and inequities within the Nigerian federation, but the fall out of a non-inclusive process of economic growth in which class inequalities is overshadowed by elite politics of access to power and economic opportunities.
However, there is need to be weary of elite politics and how they frame national debates to suit their own narrow interests. For instance, despite making some useful recommendations because of its diluted composition, the political elites who dominated the 2014 National Conference came with heavily divisive agenda.”
“At the core of restructuring is the need to continuously align political structures and administrative units within the federal system with their expected functions in order to allow for maximum efficiency in the mobilization and control of resources as well as delivery of services in the overall interests of the citizenry and the constituent elements.
“In a federal system therefore, issues of division of political and economic power are central to concerns about restructuring. Restructuring has remained a recurrent decimal because our federal arrangement has not ensured a stable political accommodation and has not ensured equitable power and resource sharing,” Egwu stressed.
In his view, Toye Olorode, an academia, who expressed concern over the ongoing agitation fuelled by the Mafians who are custodians of the wealth of Nigeria, however noted that the “Nigerian ruling class will not break up this country, they don’t want to leave the wealth they have acquired but they can create terror and unhappiness for our people but when the chips are down they will negotiate.”
He also tasked the organized Labour and its affiliates at the state level to conduct political debate with the view to engage political elites and hold them accountable at all times.
