Undeniably, it was such an emotional moment for me as I sat at the mini pavilion in the Government House, Oke Igbein, Abeokuta, venue of the meeting of the seven governors of Nigeria’s South-West zone comprising Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Edo states on Thursday, February 2, 2012, to discuss who best to reclaim Nigeria’s federalism from progressive unitarianism. First was the significance of the meeting to the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, whose nostalgia for the old West is well-documented. Then, some sombre recollections on the fate of the South-West, and Nigeria in general? How did we get to this stage?
The distinguishing characteristic of a federation is the constitutional division of powers between the central government and the federating states.Whereas in a unitary system, all powers flow from the centre, in a federation, powers are dispersed between the centre and states. Federalism is a two-tier structure (federal and states) without one tier being subordinate to another but each deriving its powers and exercising them within the confines of a written constitution. Federalism is not just a fad in political theory. One thing leads to another. Certain factors conduce to a federation in a political organisation, as against a unitary system. A country with a vast land mass, large and heterogeneous population, bewildering cultural and language diversities (leading sometimes to mutual suspicion of domination) cannot, for all practical reasons,run a successful union under a unitary structure.
Our experiences as a country since 1966 when a unitary structure was foisted on our body-polity has shown that there can be no alternative to a full-scale federalism if we hope to form a strong and enduring union like that of the United States of America. The bane of Nigeria’s development has been the attempt by the Federal Government since 1966 to ensure the diverse elements in the country progress at the same speed towards a political unity, sacrificing their divergent ways of life in the process.This is against what the colonial administration under Governor Arthur Richards had seen as far back as 1945 when it sought, “To create a political system… within which the diverse elements may progress at varying speeds, amicably and smoothly, towards a more closely integrated economic, social and political unity, without sacrificing the principles and ideals in their divergent ways of life.”
It is not a moot question that it is the anomaly of welding the nationalities that make up Nigeria under a unitary structure since 1966 that has led to the disappearance of the groundnut pyramid in the North; cocoa in the West and palm produce in the East; the sorry state of affairs where every state goes to Abuja every month to collect allocation from the Federation Account rather than the states determining how much should go to the centre (crude oil is only a secondary factor). It is the same situation that has led to monumental socio-economic losses foisted on each geo-political zone, especially the South-West, which possesses the commercially strategic roads like the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Sagamu-Benin Road. It is this same aberration of forcing the diverse elements within Nigeria to progress at the same speed that has ensured that the states cannot, on their own, exploit the God-given mineral resources in their lands, even to the benefit of the whole nation, as the unitary constitution of a supposedly federal Nigeria strips them of the power to do so! It is the abnormality of unitarianism in a supposedly federal arrangement that sees a central government collect a disproportional 52 per cent revenue while the federating states go home with peanuts. Even on how to secure the local environment, every state still looks in the direction of Abuja, although the governor is proclaimed to be the Chief Security Officer of his state!
Yes, as I observed recently, you may have a President Goodluck Jonathan that is predisposed to federalism and would do everything possible to support a railway project from Lagos to Asaba, as the South-West governors have proposed to build, but what happens tomorrow when he is not there or when someone who is less disposed to such an ideal holds court in Aso Rock and reaches out to the our unitary constitution which puts railway on the Exclusive List? Therefore, it is important to enact a constitution that is truly federal and self-fulfilling, which does not have to depend on the goodwill of the man in Abuja. And that’s the kernel of the message of South-West governors. You don’t want to start a (railway) project that will give you nightmare — the fear of one federal lord developing a brainwave and telling you the constitution bars you from embarking on such a project!
This is why it is important for Jonathan to collaborate with the governors calling for full federalism to enact a constitution that truly makes Nigeria a Federal Republic. It’s not about politics of today but the future of our children and generations yet unborn. All the governors and the President must seize this moment to write their names in gold by returning Nigeria to the path of federalism through a federal constitution. In this regard, one must immediately commend Jonathan for the decision to review the concessioning of the commercially strategic Lagos/Ibadan Expressway and Benin-Ore Road. Clearly, the decision is in the interest of all Nigerians.
The Federal Government is carrying a load that is heavier than those of the 36 states. No, it should be the other way round. Is it proper for the Federal Government, in a federation, to travel thousands of miles from Abuja in order to sink a borehole in a village or renovate a health centre in a far-flung community when there is a state government that is in touch with such people on a daily basis, and will perform these responsibilities at a lower cost, since funds will move directly to where they are needed?
With 25 per cent revenue allocation to the centre, for instance, the burden on the Federal Government will now be light. It beats my imagination why people in the states should be blaming the President for lack of development in their areas. It is simply because the Federal Government looms large on the nation, bestrides the country like a colossus. This is what usually leads to cut-throat political contest at the centre. ‘Once you win the Presidency, you have the states in your pockets!’ It is a wholesale aberration.
What Nigeria needs most is for the Federal Government to now concentrate on core federal matters such as foreign affairs, currency, maritime shipping, defence and maintenance of minimum standards in other socio-economic matters through legislation while powers are devolved to the states on those matters.With more revenue to the federating states and a truly federal constitution, the states, forming themselves into regions or collaborating, just like the governors of the South-West, will be in a position to open up the bowels of their lands, revive agriculture, construct railway lines, generate and distribute electricity, provide security for their own people, indeed develop at their own pace – reenacting and promoting healthy rivalries of the glorious days of the 50s and 60s… and building a strong and enduring United States of Nigeria.
