Nigeria: A Governance Question or Structural Defect, Leaders Weigh In

Nigeria: A Governance Question or Structural Defect, Leaders Weigh In

The clamour for the restructuring of the country deepened yesterday when a panel of professionals and leaders of thought cutting across the Northern and Southern parts of the country participated in a lively debate organised by the THISDAY Newspaper Group on the restructuring question.
Appearing on the ARISE News Network, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers in Abuja, the panellists were evidently divided on whether Nigeria should be restructured or not and the various interpretations of what restructuring should entail, with some of them arguing that what the country needs is better governance and a departure from the leadership of the past, while others contended that there is a structural defect in the polity which if not fixed, could lead to Nigeria’s disintegration.
However, there was a consensus that the agitation for restructuring was a fall out of the absence of good governance, equity, justice and fairness in the country.
The panel comprised the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; constitutional lawyer and a member of the Northern think-tank group, Auwalu Yadudu; Afenifere chieftain, Chief Supo Shonibare; and President General, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo. 
Other included the Managing Director of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Eniola Bello; a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Chief Albert Horsfall; former Cross River State Attorney General, Mrs. Nella Andem Rabana (SAN); former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Bashir Yusuf; and Mr. Luqman Edu, representing the youths.
Kicking off the discussion, the Managing Director of THISDAY concurred that restructuring means different thing to different people.
According to him, some people view restructuring as the introduction of state police, devolution of powers, resource control and return to regionalism, but argued that some of the initial steps taken by President Muhammdu Buhari fuelled the current agitation in the country.
“President (Goodluck) Jonathan was voted out of power because the people wanted change. But the first step taken by Buhari on the issue of 97 per cent and five per cent project execution, made him to isolate two zones in the country. When the herdsmen attacked, nothing was done and the response by the government created the separatist agitations,” he explained.
In his contribution, Anyaoku whose contribution to the discussion was pre-recorded, as he could not join the debate live, said restructuring would ensure greater national cohesion, development and stability.
He was of the view that the concentration of powers at the centre had provoked a do-or-die agitation for the control of the centre, arguing further that the country needed to restructure the governance architecture.
He said: “Nigeria at the moment is far more divided than it has ever been.
“I remember that the golden age of Nigerian nationality and patriotism was the immediate years after independence in 1960, when we had a true federal system of government and our founding fathers – Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo – after many conferences, agreed that the best form of government to serve the multi-ethnic, multi-religious Nigeria was true federalism.
“And I believe that since we departed from that following the military intervention in governance, we have been moving backwards.”
According to him, the structure of governance was not what caused the civil war but the killing of southerners in Northern Nigeria.
Anyaoku insisted that since the military intervened in governance, the Constitution of Nigeria, which was truly federal, has continued to be eroded to reflect the military command structure in the army “with the result that we now have a very powerful centre”.
“A powerful centre provokes very-very do-or-die attitude, as they say, political competition for that centre and this sort of competition exacerbates the divisive tendencies in the country, whether religious or ethnic and so on.
“I believe that we must return to true federalism, which will enable each section of the country, each federating unit to develop at its own pace and look forward to dealing with the centre which would have far diminished responsibility than it currently has,” he explained.
In his opinion, restructuring would revive the national spirit that existed when the country was a true federation. 
“There are many strands (to restructuring) but on the economic side, I think that virtually everyone recognises that the 36 states structure is unsustainable. We have a situation where 27 of the 36 states are no longer able to pay the salaries of their civil servants.
“To start with, if you devolve, if you created far few federating units; in my view, six federating units you will have a basis that lends itself more readily to accountability,” he said.
When asked on the agitation by the Niger Delta region for the control of the oil resources in the region, Anyaoku said that could be addressed by retaining the existing states as development zones within the larger federating units.
“If within the larger federating unit, the existing states are to become development zones, they would continue to look after their development and after their various sectional aspirations, and if there is to be another pressure arising within the federating unit, the federating units should be free to create new development zones to cater for the aspirations for sectional ambitions within the federating units.
“The point is that the 36 states we have at the moment means 36 administrative structures, 36 state assemblies, civil services, judiciaries and the result of all that.
“If you take Nigeria as a whole, the country is spending about 80 per cent of its revenue on administration, leaving 20 per cent or less for capital development. And no country has developed with that degree of allocation of its revenue to governance.   
“The thing is that if you retain the structures that have enabled them to achieve their sectional agitations within the larger federating units, we will have a situation where the resources that will be available to the larger federating unit will be a more viable basis of planning development.
“You will have the opportunity to address the sectional feelings and sectional interests of these less viable units,” he said.
Anyaoku added that the most important thing was to agree on the structure of governance, “to agree that instead of the 36 largely unviable states you will have six federating units and thereafter whether it is a presidential system or parliamentary system of government”.
He added: “You could tailor a presidential system that would be less expensive than what we have today. What we have today is mimicking the United States, because the Nigerians parliamentarians are far-far more remunerated than the US congress men and women and you can have a presidential system with much more reduced cost of governance.”
On how to go about it, Anyaoku advocated for a combination of an idea to enable the executive prepare a bill which would go to the National Assembly since it is already dealing with constitutional review.
“Since the National Assembly is dealing with the constitutional review, it will take that into account and the new constitution that will emerge, will then be put to a national referendum so that for the first time, we will have a constitution that can truly be described as ‘we the people of Nigeria’ are responsible for the constitution,” he stated.
In his contribution, Nwodo said the 1999 Constitution, as crafted, was unacceptable. According to him, the constitution failed to reflect the wishes of Nigerians.
He argued that the effectiveness of any constitution is measured by its acceptance, adding that “Nigeria is the only country in the world answering a federation but without any characteristic of a federation”.
Nwodo argued that the concept of the 1999 Constitution was sharing the wealth and not production and wealth creation.
“When we had a regional structure, there was production and competition. The clamour for restructuring today is aimed at changing our constitution, because what we have does not promote competition and production,” he added.
Nwodo gave instances of progress made by nations which practice true federalism to buttress his point that Nigeria needed to imbibe true fiscal federalism as a way forward.
He also said that it was an irony that while some people recognised a constitution foisted on Nigerians by a group of military men, they rejected the decisions reached by prominent and well-meaning leaders at the 2014 National Conference. 
Concurring, Chief Horsefall stated that restructuring would ensure that “everybody goes back to work.”
He said: “Everybody stopped working when we discovered oil. There is no more groundnut, cocoa and palm oil because everybody has stopped work.
“We should run the country according to the independence constitution. What we are seeing today is the same expression of sectional interests. For us to achieve a Nigeria of our dreams, this expression of sectional interests has to disappear. We must find a way of accommodating one another.
“We should have a system that promotes justice and fairness for all. It does not matter who is in charge.”
He disagreed with what he said was the attempt by two of the panel members, Yadudu and Yusuf, to label those pushing for restructuring as opportunists and political office seekers.
According to him, notable personalities like the former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.) and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar could not be seen as merely being selfish in their expression of support for restructuring. 

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