When former Vice President Atiku Abubakar spoke on the need to restructure Nigeria, saying the structure of the country is heavily defective as it does not provide the enabling environment for growth and progress among the 36 component states of the federation, he was right. “Our current structure and the practices it has encouraged have been a major impediment to the economic and political development of our country. 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,” Atiku said, adding: “agitations by many right-thinking Nigerians call for a restructuring and renewal of our federation to make it less centralized, less suffocating and less dictatorial in the affairs of our country’s constituent units and localities.” What is also not in doubt is that defective constitutional provisions that hardly promote true federalism is the source of the endless vista of inefficiency and corruption that has taken Nigeria hostage.
At a public presentation of a book entitled: We Are All Biafrans by Chido Onumah in Abuja, Atiku said his call was “even more relevant today in 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.” Atiku who chaired the occasion noted: “Some may say that we are saddled with more urgent challenges, including rebuilding our battered economy, creating jobs, fighting corruption and securing our people from terrorism and other forms of serious crimes. I believe, however, that addressing the flaws in our federation will help us address some of those very economic and security challenges facing this country. Nigeria must remain a united country. Our potential is enormous. But I also believe that a united country, which I think most Nigerians desire, should never be taken for granted or taken as evidence that Nigerians are content with the current structure of the federation. Making that mistake might set us on the path of losing the country we love or, as Chido Onumah puts it, result in our country sleepwalking to disaster.”
There has never been a shortage of pronouncements by Nigerian leaders in favor of good intentions to govern in the best interest of the country and its people. Over the years, Nigerians have heard, to the point of being deafened, that government, as represented by whatever official, is committed to promoting the security and welfare of the citizens – in sum, to good governance. Atiku needs to be reminded that Nigeria has had enough of lamentations. The government should do something about the batardisation of the federation and Atiku as a chieftain of the ruling APC, should lead the way. It has become necessary to ask the government to rectify the anomalies, put in place a system that gets the right people to run the country and make the system work.
But it should not be lost on Atiku and President Buhari that the yet-to-be-implemented, but widely accepted 2014 National Conference report actually provides a useful roadmap for their government in any attempt at reforms, including but not limited to funding, which has so far tied the states to the federal government’s apron strings. Worse even, local government’s recognition by the constitution as a separate entity or tier of government has been of little interest to state governors who act as overlords.
Blaming over-dependence on oil for the rot in the polity, he canvassed the devolution of powers and resources to states and local governments, a tax-centered revenue base, diversified economic activities and productivity in order to enlarge the tax base, an end to the indigene-settler dichotomy, and state police to augment the federal police for the states that so desire that system. He thereby urged well-meaning Nigerians to refrain from assuming that anyone calling for the restructuring of the federation is working for the breakup of the country.
Rather than engage in such political point-scoring and empty grandstanding, Atiku should leverage his position as APC chieftain to ensure full implementation of the 2014 Conference report, true to the yearnings of majority of Nigerians who were fully represented across the country at the sessions. The former Vice President appropriately argued that the present state of the federation has led governments at all levels to abandoned their primary responsibility of promoting greater efficiency in service delivery to transform the lives of people and that the defect signposts a weak model of governance. Therefore, the earlier the government moved to correct such inefficiencies, the better. And the logical point of departure should be the local governments at the base.
For their failure to work independent of the states, the local governments have indeed become a joke but the councils must be made to work and any talk of development in Nigeria outside of this framework would be an exercise in futility. Essentially, a functional council should deliver effective local governance. This, if taken seriously by the operators, would reach out to every man in its immediate environment and also impact positively on his living conditions.
For local governments, there has been a fundamental disconnect from the past, from a situation where communal culture of honesty, probity and accountability gloriously held sway. Then, the culture of the people and ethos were guiding principles of the local governance across the nation. That was when administrators had a clear focus and mandate to deliver to towns and villages the desired services, an era which can be recreated with the right attitude and approach. What obtains at present, however, is a centralization mentality which flows from the central government in Abuja to the states, with the result being that the local governments are mere uncircumcised appendages of the states.
Indeed, it can be argued that most of Nigeria’s problems are rooted in this stunted structure; hence lack of development pervades the grassroots. However, a system that produces wrong leaders at the local level, most of them with little knowledge and no understanding of the basics of governance, ought to be looked at and reviewed. The culture of putting the best leaders at the local level must be nurtured. As in other climes, the best feet must be put forward. As a matter of collective honor, the APC must effect the changes that should redirect, regenerate, and reposition Nigeria for its deserving place in the global arena. And the best place to start is, in the words of the first article in the APC manifesto, “initiate action to amend Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true Federalism and the federal spirit.”
If this is implemented, there are strong reasons to believe that most of the problems that hold Nigeria down, all really symptoms of the national question – would fade away. Atiku and the APC government should be at the vanguard of efforts to sanitize the system to ensure only appropriate persons are given the responsibility of governance. In essence, the people must be genuinely allowed to raise their own leaders. Development has to be rooted in the people’s culture. Above all, officials at whatever level of government should constantly be reminded that governance is about service to the people. If the country gets its leadership right, gets its act together Nigeria can be as great and livable a country as any under the sun. Nigerians are tired of institutional failures engendered by leadership inadequacy.
