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AMIDST gloomy economic conditions, increasing Boko Haram terrorism and rising militancy in the Niger Delta, many Nigerians are once again clamouring for the restructuring of the polity by implementing the 2014 national conference consensus document to solve the multifarious problems facing the country

|  By Maureen Chigbo  |  Jun 20, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT  |

THE growing agitation for the restructuring of Nigeria is resonating again amongst Nigerians. Apparently buoyed by the country’s gloomy economic outlook, increasing insecurity worsened by the Boko Haram terrorism in the North Eastern Nigeria; rampant kidnappings in the South East and South West and the rising militancy in the Niger Delta, not forgetting the draconic hold of corruption on the country, the call for restructuring Nigeria is fast becoming an urgent matter to save the country from cracking up irretrievably.

The agitation for restructuring Nigeria is an age old mantra. It, however, gained momentum on Tuesday, May 31, when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar joined the campaign by drumming home the urgency of matter. Abubakar, at the launch of a book entitled: “We Are All Biafrans” written by Chido Onumah, in Abuja, said what Nigeria requires most at present is the kick-starting of the process of restructuring of the federation.  “As some of you may know, I have for a long time advocated the need to restructure our federation. Our current structure and the practices it has encouraged have been a major impediment to the economic and political development of our country. When I was invited to chair this occasion, I immediately understood that the title of the book is a metaphor for the legitimate feelings of marginalisation by diverse segments of Nigerians that cut across the country.  Agitations by many right-thinking Nigerians call for a restructuring and renewal of our federation to make it less centralised, less suffocating and less dictatorial in the affairs of our country’s constituent units and localities.

“In short, it has not served Nigeria well, and at the risk of reproach, it has not served my part of the country, the North, well. The call for restructuring is even more relevant today in the light of the governance and economic challenges facing us and the rising tide of agitations, some militant and violent, require a reset in our relationships as a united nation,” he said.

He added that the desire for one united Nigeria should not be taken for granted that every Nigerian is contented with the current structure of the federation or that they do not clamour for something different.

Shortly after Abubakar’s pronouncement, two groups that have been championing the call for restructuring backed his call. Both Afenifere, the Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group and the Ohaneze Ndigbo, apex Igbo socio-cultural group, called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to adopt true federalism to provide solutions to the country’s problems.

Sehinde Arogbofa, secretary general of Afenifere, who spoke for the group, said there was the need for the president to implement the report of the 2014 national conference which, according to him, contains the solutions to the challenges facing the nation. “The late Papa Obafemi Awolowo said that we have to restructure the country but as we are now, we don’t have a true federalism to favour any geographical region.

“In a true federal structure, every component that makes up the federation would be allowed to exist at its own pace, which is not what is happening now. We have always preached what would make every component to be free, proud, develop and be ready to innovate.”

He expressed regret that in spite of all the clamouring, Buhari had not shown any signal that he would implement the conference report, adding, “We have been calling on the present government to pick up the report of the 2014 confab, but it does not have the courage to pick it up. I don’t know why the President is not acting on the report and government is supposed to be a continuum. If he continues to do certain things that are good, why doesn’t he do this? We are not saying he should implement everything but, at least, he would see some solutions in the confab report such that he would not need to set up committees for everything.”

Similarly, Ayo Adebanjo, a chieftain of Afenifere, described consistent Atiku’s call for the restructuring of the federation as a welcome development.

Agreeing, Enwo Igariwey, president-General. Ohanaeze Ndigbo, noted that the Ohanaeze and other delegates from the South-East had canvassed the restructuring of the country during the last national constitutional conference organised by former President Goodluck Jonathan. Igariwey told Punch “We have been calling for restructuring, we believe it is in the best interest of the country.”

It is not surprising that Afenifere and Ohaneze are for restructuring the country. That was why they supported the national conference convoked in 2014 by Jonathan where consensus was reached on the way forward for the multifarious political, economic, social, cultural and religious problems plaguing Nigeria.

After five months of national restructuring debate held at the National Judicial Institute, Abuja, the national conference produced a document drawn from reports of 20 committees set up during the conference which both Afenifere and Ohaneze have been urging the APC-led administration to implement.

The highlights of the far reaching recommendations of the conference include the creation of 18 new states (three per geo-political zone). Among them are Apa, Edu, Kainji, Katagum, Savannah, Amana, Gurara, Ghari, Etiti, Aba, Adada, Njaba-Anim, Anioma, Orashi, Ogoja, Ijebu and New Oyo.  The conference also recommended one new states for the South East to make the zone have equal number of states with the other zones except the North West which has seven. It also recommended that states willing to merge could also do so based on certain conditions.

The 2014 national conference noted that assigning percentage for the increase in derivation principle, and setting up Special Intervention Funds to address issues of reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas ravaged by insurgency and internal conflicts as well as solid minerals development, require some technical details and consideration. It, therefore, recommends that government should set up a technical committee to determine the appropriate percentage on the three issues and advise government accordingly.

It recommended the sharing of the funds to the Federation Account among the three tiers of government to be done in the following manner: Federal Government – 42.5 percent, State Governments – 35 percent and Local Governments 22.5 percent. It stated that the percentage given to population and equality of states in the existing sharing formula be reduced while that assigned to Social Development sector be increased to a much higher percentage so as to ensure accelerated development of all parts of the country.

It also recommended the modified presidential system, a home-made model of government that effectively combines the presidential and parliamentary systems of government. The president shall pick the vice president from the Legislature. The president should select not more than 18 ministers from the six geo -political zones and not more than 30 percent of his ministers from outside the Legislature; reduce cost of governance by pruning the number of political appointees and using staff of ministries where necessary.

 The 2014 national conference recommended a bi-cameral legislature, where all elected members of the legislative arms of all the tiers of government should serve on part-time basis. It recommended that the presidential power should rotate between the North and the South and among the six geo-political zones while the governorship will rotate among the three senatorial districts in a state.

It recommended that local government will no longer be the third tier of government. The federal and states are now to be the only tiers of government. States can now create as many local governments they want. The Joint State/Local Government Account is to be scrapped and in its place the establishment of a state revenue mobilisation allocation and fiscal commission, RMAFC, with representatives of Local Governments and a Chairman nominated by the Governor. The Constitution should fix the tenure for Local Government Councils at three years. The conference recommended the scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commission, SIECs.

According to the 2014 conference document the immunity clause should be removed if the offences attract criminal charges to encourage accountability by those managing the economy.

It also recommended that every Nigerian who meets the specified condition in the Electoral Act should be free to contest elections as an independent candidate.

It recommended the creation of the office of the Accountant General (Director-General) of the Federation as a distinct and separate office from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federal Government. The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation shall oversee the accruals of revenue into and disbursement from the Federation Account as and when due; and shall administer these funds as required by the Constitution, while the office of the Accountant General of the Federal Government shall oversee the accounts of the Federal Government.

 The 2014 conference recommended that Special Courts to handle corruption cases should be established in the light of undue prolongation in the trials and prosecution of corruption cases in the regular courts. A non-conviction-based asset forfeiture law should be enacted with broad provisions to deal with all issues of proceeds of crimes by the anti-graft agencies and the courts.

Also, it recommended that the Land Tenure Act should remain in the Constitution but be amended to take care of those concerns, particularly on compensation in Section 29 (4) of the Act to read “land owners should determine the price and value of their land based on open market value. It recommended that re-introduction of the old National Anthem and that there will be no government sponsorship of Christian and Muslim pilgrimages to the holy lands. It also resolved that churches and mosques should begin to pay tax to government.

One good thing about the National conference is that despite odds, no group worked out of the conference and all decisions were reached by consensus. That basically differentiates it from the 2005 conference done when former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power and that staged by the late head of state, General Sanni Abacha. That is also why the conference document is quite popular among many Nigerians who supported the 2014 conference. Also, a legal team has married the outcome of the 2014 conference with the present inadequate constitution of the country to produce a new constitution which could be subjected to a referendum in all the six regions in Nigeria.

According to Professor Anya O. Anya, who participated in the conference, “All Nigerians interest was protected in the document that has emerged because every single decision in the conference was passed with consensus. Consensus meant that as far as possible the greater majority agreed to them which is why our brothers who were raising issues were quite embarrassed because there was nothing they could point to that was not a decision of the conference. There was nothing they could point to that showed an attempt to amend anything that the conference had decided on. What you should say is, are the interest of all the various groups in the country protected in the new Constitution,” and the answer is yes.

Unfortunately, the All Progressives Congress, APC, which was in opposition when the conference held did not participate in the conference. This may explain the reluctance of the present government not to touch the document. This perceived reluctance gained credence recently when John Odigie Oyegun, national chairman of the APC, dismissed Atiku’s call, saying the issue of restructuring was not the party priority for now. He is of the view that the President Buhari-led APC administration is currently focused on rebuilding the economy, creating jobs and ensuring the security of lives and property. He explained that because the issue was important, the party would at the appropriate time; make its position on the matter public.

Similarly, Femi Adesina, special adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, told Sunday Punch: “To bring this additional issue (restructuring) – is not the wisest thing for a nation that is struggling to stabilise to go into an unnecessary diversion at this point. Nothing is wrong with the idea but at this time, it is best for us to concentrate on our priorities. As a party, our priority right now is to rebuild the economy, create jobs and deal with the security problems at hand. And with what is happening in the Niger Delta you can see that there is so much to do. We must get our priority right some day we will come to that.”

Whatever, the APC “Roadmap to a New Nigeria” showed that the closest information to the issue of restructuring was contained in a section titled “Strengthen Peace, Security and Foreign Policy. Under that section, the APC listed its roadmap for peace, security and foreign policy to include; to enable states to have their own local police forces that address the special needs of each community, including community policing initiatives that restore trust among local citizens; establishing a serious crime squad with state-of-the-art training and equipment to combat terrorism, militancy and ethno-religious communal clashes; and to provide a comprehensive compensation plan for victims of ethno-religious crisis, communal clashes and terrorism.

The ruling government may not be in a hurry to restructure Nigeria. But the unrelenting nefarious activities of the Niger Delta militants demand that something should be done and very soon too. Since the advent to the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, a new militant group, whose major demands are restructuring the country, resource control and self-determination for Niger Delta, the production of the country’s major cash cow, crude oil has been threatened. For the past one month since the coming of the NDA, many oil facilities belonging to international oil companies have been bombed. The affected companies include Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, Chevron Nigeria Limited, ExxonMobil, and Agip. Major important oil pipelines including Chanomi creek which supplies crude oil to Wari and Kaduna refineries have been blown up by the avengers. In addition, more militant groups such as the Ultimate Warriors and the Niger Delta Liberation Force have also joined the agitation with their disparate demands and ultimatum being given to the federal government. Unlike in the past when the militants were kidnapping the present crop of agitators are not interested in such criminal activities.

Infact, the avengers on Thursday, June 9, threatened to secede from Nigeria, saying that successive governments had been unfair to the people of the Niger Delta region. It said that what the people of the Niger Delta had been asking for from successive governments in Nigeria was the provision of basic amenities and inclusiveness.

The group called on the international community, especially Britain, France, United States, Russia and China not to allow the region to go the way of Sudan.

In a statement issued by Murdoch Agbinibo, its spokesperson, the NDA maintained that all that successive governments wanted was the flow of crude oil from the region and not its development. It vowed to remedy the age-long devastation against the region with every means necessary.

“Since the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 to date, our resources have been used to sustain the political administrative livewire of Nigeria to the exclusion of the Niger Delta. Finally, we are calling on the international community to come and support the restoration of our right to peaceful self-determination from this tragedy of 1914 that has expired since 2014. We want our resources back to restore the essence of human life in our region for generations to come because Nigeria has failed to do that. The world should not wait until we go the Sudan way. Enough is enough,” the statement said, adding: “This history of terror, we the Niger Delta Avengers will resist and correct with every means necessary. We have nothing to lose in the battle ahead.”

It stated that “Justice, they say, is only found within the structure of a nation state; rather than provide justice, the Nigerian government has decided to mobilise her military might to intimidate, torture, maim, victimise and bombard a section of the nation and her citizenry to allow the free flow of our oil.

“Since the day crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity and quality in Oloibiri in the present day Bayelsa State, what we have being asking from successive governments in Nigeria is potable drinking water, electricity, roads, employment, quality education, resource control and inclusive governance,” the NDA said.

Worried about resurgence of militancy in Nigeria, many eminent Nigerians are supporting the call for restructuring Nigeria. Some Nigerians also see the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers as the only hope to make this happen in the country.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, emir of Kano, Emeka Anyaoku, former secretary-general of the Commonwealth, and Maj. Gen. Ishola Williams (retd.), ex-chairman of the Nigerian chapter of Transparency International, have called for the restructuring of the country.

Sanusi observed that the bloated size of governments at different levels of Nigeria’s political system is unsustainable, and the country urgently needs restructuring to make any appreciable development.

Ebongabasi Ekpe-Juda, security expert thinks Atiku hit the nail on the head. “It’s long overdue. We have too many crises and it’s not good for the nation. What we should do first and foremost is find out what is causing these crises so that we can move forward. We can’t be fighting too many crises on many fronts. So it’s only good for the government to sit down do the right thing,”

Ekpe-Juda is of the view that the government should make use of the 2014 national confab report. “I don’t think that there is need for another confab. What I think is that government should look at that report, accept comments and contributions from Nigerians and put it together and present to the National Assembly to pass into law. We don’t have to spend the kind of money we spent in 2014 to organise another confab.

There are too many conferences on how best to restructure this country, so the President should pick this recent one, fine-tune it and send to the National Assembly. This country will not be divided if we decide to adopt a true federalism, it will challenge component units to look inward to see what they have and how best to harness it.”

Similarly, a Lagos-based Lawyer, who wishes anonymity, fervently said that the only hope in restructuring Nigeria lies in the hands of Niger Delta Avengers and other militants in the Niger Delta region. He is of the view that Nigeria cannot continue to go the way it is structured which is not working. “There is need to change the way things are going on at the moment so that each region should move and develop at its pace. Buhari is slow not because he is bad but because that is the culture of the area he comes from. He does not understand why the South wants to move fast. So there is need to loosen the federation so the six regions can develop at their own pace without let or hindrance. In fact, the way things are going calls for an urgent need for restructuring. Look at the Post UTME exam, which has been abolished. They now want to flood the universities in the South with incompetent candidates whose Jamb scores have been arranged. The universities have a right to screen candidates they want to admit. Things have to change in this country for us to remain one.” he said.

According to Ambassador C.D. Orike, “Many Nigerians, concerned about the slow progress of the nation since independence in 1960, and desirous of giving the country a new lease of life via restructuring the federation by devolving more powers and responsibilities to the constituent parts have at various times and for long, called for the restructuring of the country.”

By restructuring, these concerned Nigerians want a situation whereby more freedom is allowed the constituents to be in charge of their affairs while the central government retains control of only those areas of national affairs where sovereignty confers superiority and exclusive jurisdiction on the central government. In a restructured system, the constituent units would have more control over their local resources and endowments and exploit these for their benefit, paying only royalty and taxes to the central authority. This means that in such a federation, unlike what we have now, states or federating units would be less dependent on the central authority for revenue and their pace of development, he said.

With less revenue and authority, the attraction of the center would be reduced while the economic and development action will be more at the constituent levels thus reducing competition for power and control at the center.

Something close to a weak center obtained in the 1960’s when Nigeria operated the parliamentary system of government, anchored on the regions with latter being the constituent parts of the then Federation. The then powerful regions dictated and decided the pace of politics and economic development. In fact, at that time, the regions were engaged in healthy rivalry for development as none depended on the central government for funding rather each paid taxes to the center when they export their agricultural products which was the mainstay of the nation’s economy. However, Odike observes that while there are many voices clamouring for restructuring, there is no consensus as to the degree; time or even in what sectors of national life these important changes should take place.

But the 2014 national confab document appears to have settled what most Nigerians want to achieve with the restructuring of the country.

Reported by Anayo Ezugwu

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