“Scrapping of local government councils is not the issue, Nigeria should go back to the regional system of government where six regions should be the federating units.” Alhaji Balarabe Musa.
In a nation-wide
broadcast on 24 May, 1966, Gen. J. T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, Chairman, Supreme
Military Council, announced the abolishment of the then existing three Regional
Governments of Southern Region, Eastern Region and Northern Region through the
promulgation of Military Decree No. 5. By the same Decree, the prefix ‘Federal’
in the name of our country was dispensed of. Our country’s name became simply
the “Republic of Nigeria”. In the words of the General, the old Provinces become
the administrative units for governance. He concluded his speech by saying, “The
provisions of the Decree are intended to remove the last vestiges of the
intense regionalism of the recent past, and to produce the cohesion in the
governmental structure which is so necessary in achieving and maintaining the
paramount objective of the National Military Government, and indeed, every true
Nigerian, namely, national unity.”
Gowon ended the reign
of the Provinces when he created 12 States in May 1967. The country has since gone
through several Military Decrees and Acts of different Parliaments which have given
us our present structure of 36 State Governments, the Federal Capital Territory
FCT and 774 Local Governments.
I was born a few years
before our Independence and have grown knowing nothing else but intense rivalry
between all Nigerians on three fronts, namely, ethnicity, regionalism and
religion. My observation tells me that that rivalry continues to intensify by the
day.
In the 1980s we did not
object to our States of NYSC posting. We simply went there and made the best of
the one year national service. Today, requests for redeployment are the order
of the day for reasons of religious or ethnic or geographical dislike. Today, my
children cannot pick up jobs in the companies I worked in the 80s for reasons
of religious, ethnic and geographical incompatibility. Neighborhoods in which
I had bosom friends and could enter and have a good meal are today ‘no-go’
areas for me because I am no more welcome there and because I am concerned for
my personal security. Friends I could trust with my family before, I can no longer
trust even to deliver a common letter to them. I, therefore, cannot find the
justification in Gen. Ironsi’s optimism in “cohesion in governmental structure”
or “national unity” and therefore I have remained an unrepentant regionalist.
Today, Christians are migrating
out of the north-eastern parts of the country due to direct and open physical
attacks on them. Fulani herdsmen are having too many clashes with their host
communities all over Nigeria. The settler/indigene syndrome has resulted in
deadly clashes in many parts of Nigeria. The National Assembly is currently
considering the removal of all references to ethnicity in our Constitution. One
of the contentious political issues in the ruling Party, the Peoples’
Democratic Party, is the rotation of the presidency between the regions of the
country.
For any Government in
Nigeria, whether Federal, State or Local, to pass a law that installs any
religion as the official religion is a constitutional violation. Yet twelve
State Governments in Nigeria have done just that in blatant violation of our
Constitution with no one challenging them in Court. Government sponsorship of
religious pilgrimages is as unconstitutional as the enthronement of State
religion, yet all Nigerian States are engaged in this act. Part II, Section 10
of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states
categorically and without equivocation that, “The Government of the Federation
or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State religion.” States that have
passed Shariah Laws have violated this section and also Section 38 - Right to freedom
of thought, conscience and religion, Sub-sections (1), (2), (3) & (4), and
Section 42 - Right to freedom from discrimination, Sub-sections (1), (a) &
(b).
My readers should not
get me wrong. I am not about to advocate for the balkanisation of Nigeria into
several sovereign States. To the contrary, I want us to avoid that by all
means. Unfortunately, many of our actions and utterances suggest that we prefer
disintegration while preaching unity with our lips. Breaking up into several
countries like Yugoslavia did is not desirable. Nigeria should remain one
country but with an internal governmental arrangement that recognizes our
natural cleavages and capitalizes on them for foster peace and rapid
development. Refusing to give these natural phenomena recognition and our pretense that we shall somehow surmount them someday baffles me.
A true federal
structure for us is one with a few, say 6 or 8, fairly autonomous regional
governments. Greater regional resource control, pursuit of developmental
objectives as dictated by natural regional needs and the creation of
opportunities for the exploitation of naturally endowed capacities should go along
with this suggested structure. This is the panacea for optimum and sustainable economic
growth as opposed to the current monthly sharing of revenue from one wasting
asset - petroleum. This suggestion will guarantee self-determination, which is
an instinctive desire of all human beings. Demands for the convocation of a
‘Sovereign National Conference’ by Prof. Wole Soyinka and many others, the demand
for true federalism and the devolution of powers by Prof. Ben Magbueze, Chief
Emeka Anyoku and many others give credence to my suggestions.
Recent write ups by many eloquent Nigerians
have helped to re-enforce my belief in the concept of regionalism as the best
governmental structure for Nigeria. I will make reference to some of them.
An article was recently written by Okey
Ndibe and titled, “Lagos Deportations & the Crisis of Citizenship”. Okey
Nidibe is a professor, novelist, essayist and political columnist who works at
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. While commenting on the recent
deportations of some Igbo people by the Lagos State Government from Lagos to
their State of origin, he said the episode “has underlined the shakiness of the
idea of one Nigeria.” He added that “a policy that forcibly removes undesirable
citizens from their State of residency to their State of origin does grave
violence to the concept of national unity... More than fifty years into our
game of pretending we have a nation; ethnic identity pretty much trumps every
other consideration. For many Nigerians, ethnicity is not merely a virtue, it
is the sole virtue.” He captures exactly what I am saying – that we are, first
and foremost, ethnic bigots before being compulsory Nigerians.
Section 41(1) of our Constitution
provides that, “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout
Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof....” Therefore, regarding the recent
Lagos State deportations and all other earlier internal deportations, my
conviction is that they were unconstitutional and criminal acts against the
victims.
Another recent write up by Ayo Teriba was
titled, “Confronting Inter-regional Disparities in Nigeria”. Ayo Teriba is a
one-time Chief
Economist and member of the Editorial Board of Thisday who is now the Chief
Executive of Economic Associates. In his article, Teriba used statistical
data on the natural endowments of the six geo-political zones of the country,
their revenue generating capacity, their consumption patterns, their federally
allocated funds and their populations to prove the grave error in our
developmental plans. My reading of his writing is that he is saying Nigeria
would be better governed and developed along regional lines.
The third article I will refer to is written by a blogger,
Adeola Aderounmu. In 2011 he posted, “Nigeria right from the onset is a
political error and an occurrence facilitated by the selfish (and probably
stupid) thinking of the colonial masters. How can people and ethnic groups that
have nothing in common be formed into one country? Intelligence was deducted
when such economic and political decisions were formulated. The stupidity of
the creation of Nigeria would have been neutralized by a purposeful leadership.
But what Nigeria got since 1960 has been a series of governments dominated by
tribalism, nepotism and massive corruption... Nigeria remains one country just
to serve the corrupt cabal... We should support a return to regional
governments similar to what we had in those days.... It is time for each region
to determine how it wants to run itself using its own economic, human and
natural resources. It is time to take the power away from the centre. Let us
return it to the regions where it will be possible to manage and even uproot
corruption. It is absolutely useless to remain like this.” I couldn't have put
it more aptly.
My fourth and last reference will be to Dr. Yusufu Turaki,
Professor of Theology and Social Ethics, Jos ECWA Theological Seminary. In a
paper titled, “Historical Roots of Crises and Conflicts in Nigeria with
Reference to Northern Nigeria and Kaduna State”, he opines that ethnic
nationalities and militants are not driven by national, political and economic
principles, but by their own core values, which are usually at variance with
national values. He contends that we have relied too much on social scientists to
proffer solutions to political, economics, educational and religious problems to
no avail. The evidence is that Nigeria is getting worse and deeper into the
quagmire. He surmises that great nations of this world made it by making deliberate
effort to define and transform their ethnography, geography, religion and
culture to make it viable and conducive for development and transformation. Therefore,
for us to develop and be transformed, we must address and transform our primary
and primordial social factors, harness their potentials, tame their excesses
and develop harmony, balance and unity in and out of them.
The arguments for the restoration of regional
governments are strong, numerous and overwhelming. Regional governments are the
best platform for the avoidance of disintegration and the promotion of rapid
economic and social development. To go on the way we are now would be foolhardiness.
Certainly, the rapid development envisaged will not be equal in all the Regions.
But we shall share across regional boundaries as each Region specializes in
areas they have comparative advantage. Our legislators will oppose such an
arrangement not because they have better ideas but simply because they will be
its first major casualties.
Regionalism and a unicameral system didn't fail us.
We failed in its implementation. It is cost-effective and easy to operate,
making it most appropriate for our present state of development. The Presidential
system we adopted from the USA, with its huge Presidency and a bi-cameral
parliament is a very wasteful over-duplication of administrative structures.
Given our 36 States and 774 Local Governments, the canker-worms of ethnicity and
religious bigotry can only be ferociously fed into maturity and implosion.
Whenever I hear the cliché, ‘Unity in diversity’
being used, I wonder if the speaker has thought of the meaning of these words
and if he has seen any evidence of this in Nigeria. Let us stop saying things
just to be politically right. Brazil, Malaysia Indonesia and others are
supposed to be our peers in terms of developmental and social achievements, but
we are lagging far behind them. Now is the time to act decisively.
James
Pam, 26 August, 2013
jamespam2004@yahoo.com
