NANFeatures/Vol.10/No.225/2016 (Sept.21)
Agitations for restructuring and maters arising
By Philip Yatai, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Since the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, different segments of the country’s population have, at different times, expressed feelings of marginalisation, domination, oppression or even being targeted for elimination, among other allegations.
Public analysts argue that the feeling is not misplaced since the basic challenge of any nation is the degree of its integration as a single political and economic community.
Mr Philip Olubiyi of the Department of General Studies, Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Ogun, said the task of nation building in Nigeria had been so difficult in spite of the enormous human and natural resources.
He observed that Nigerians faced crippling waves of insecurity, shortage of electricity supply, inadequate social and economic infrastructure, especially in healthcare, water supply and transportation system, among others.
Concerned citizens, therefore, note that these and many other problems might have informed various agitations for restructuring by some eminent Nigerians like the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
Abubakar has insisted that restructuring Nigeria remains inevitable and crucial in enhancing national integration and stability.
According to him, restructuring is the key to solving some, if not most of the nation’s problems, particularly as the nation struggles to build a nation where the component units would feel a true sense of belonging.
This call has, however, stirred unending debate throughout the polity on what must be done to keep the country united.
As a part of the debate, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State advocated an urgent review of the revenue allocation formula in the country.
He said that the formula should be reviewed in favour of the states and local governments due to their numerous responsibilities.
He said “the states and the local governments are the closest tiers of government to the people; unfortunately they are getting less than the Federal Government from the Federation Account.
“This ugly trend should be reversed to enable them meet the overwhelming demands of development at the grassroots’’.
In tune with the trend of the agitation, participants at a conference organised by the Department of History, Kaduna State University in Kaduna, solicited urgent need to foster national integration to save the country from disintegration.
The conference with the theme: “The Economy, Society and Social Change in Nigeria, 1800 to 2016’’, the participants argued that since the amalgamation of the northern and southern Nigeria, several efforts by both the former colonial masters and post-independence political leaders to foster unity remained unattainable.
They blamed the loud voices of separatists’ agitations, resource control proponents and true federalism advocates, among others, on the deep seated distrust from the former components.
“It appears the preference by the colonial masters for the three dominant tribes of Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and the Igbo in the colonial administration planted seed of discord and created a sense of fear of domination in the minds of the more than 250 minority ethnic nationalities in the country.
“This development renders governance problematic immediately after independence in 1960 and till date; true democratic governance has continued to elude the Nigerian state,’’ Mr Philip Ajey of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, said.
But Dr Kabiru Chafe of the Department of History, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in a paper presentation, argued that the agitators for true federalism or fiscal federalism saw it as the panacea to the political problems in the country.
“Perhaps, the agitators need to know that the present 36 states are federal units as opposed to federating units that some people erroneously assume them to be.
“The Nigerian federation is not a classical example of a federation such as the United State of America which was formed by hitherto existing sovereign nations at the time of the union.
“In the case of the United States, the sovereign nations determined ab-initio the function to exercise directly and those to devolve to the centre,’’ he said.
Chafe said that to apply this method to the Nigerian federation and extend the argument that the country should operate true federalism would imply that each of the 36 states should largely control its own resources.
“People should know that the Nigeria as a sovereign nation created the 36 states as constituent administration units not as sovereign entities with like status.
He said that agitations and debates on true federalism, fiscal federalism are invariably focused on the most sensitive and controversial issues in the operation of the Nigerian federal polity — equitable revenue allocation to the political tiers of the federation — derived from oil.
“Perhaps, this is the most serious challenge facing the Nigerian federal structure which many feel can make or break the federation.
“In Nigeria, we focus on revenue allocation formula which we reduced to sharing of the national cake while others focus on revenue allocation principles based on national objectives.
“The very concept of fiscal federalism is only a general normative framework for assigning of functions to the different levels of government and the appropriate fiscal instrument for carrying out these functions.
“This concept has nothing to do with the widespread perception that each unit should control its own resources and fend for itself,’’ he said.
He noted that the major weakness of Nigerian federalism was its very low level of political integration as a single political community.
According to him, human complexities are the chief ingredients of civilisation and leadership in world affairs, adding that Nigeria must take advantage of its multi-ethnicity to drive progress.
“History has shown that multi-nationality, multi-ethnicity or even multi racial composition can be turn into a source of strength by a nation.
“Today, the most powerful nation on earth, both economically and militarily, the United States, is the most heterogeneous country in the world.
“More so, throughout human history, no empire kingdom or country has ever risen to global power without being multi-ethnic or in most cases multi-racial and multi-religious,’’ he observed.
All in all, Sen. Ali Wakili (APC- Bauchi South), who chaired the occasion, said the theme of the conference was apt.
He observed that such forum would, unarguably, come up with possible suggestions on the way out of Nigeria’s political problems.(NANFeatures)
**If used, please credit the writer as well as News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)