By: Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, OFR, FCIArb, LL.D.
INTRODUCTION
I have always been surprised, but of late, bemused, when I hear some people kicking against restructuring.
Restructuring is not tantamount to a break-up. It is simply an idea designed to address the unnatural imbalance and lopsidedness of Nigeria, which puts her permanently on an explosive keg of gun powder, driven by various centripetal and centrifugal forces.
We are operating a Unitary System of Government, euphemistically dressed up in the borrowed garb of Federalism.
If we were federal, why does the Federal Government at the centre have so much money, as to dole out so called “Bail-out” funds, to weak federating units, the States, gasping for the oxygen of simple existentialism?
If we were federal, and needed no restructuring, why do the 36 State Commissioners of Finance in Nigeria congregate in Abuja at the end of every month in the ritual (like witches and wizards in a coven) of sharing allocations from the Federation Account under section 162 of the 1999 Constitution?
If we were federal, and all is smooth and well, how come States cannot be self dependent, without looking for crumbs that fall from the big master’s table in Abuja?
If we were truly federal and unitary, how come politicians engage themselves in a strangulating “do-or-die” war of attrition, to capture power at the centre, so as to have unhindered and free access to our common till patrimony and commonwealth?
If Nigeria were genuinely fiscally federal, how come every Nigerian is simply interested in how to share the national cake, without caring about how it is baked, who bakes it, the means and methods of baking it, and at whose expense?
If we were truly federal, how come Nigeria is still yearning for nationhood, 103 years after Lord Lugard forcibly amalgamated autonomous, self-existing Kingdoms, Emirates, Empires and Chiefdoms, on the 1st of January, 1914; and years after a young British Journalist, Flora Louise Shaw, (later Mrs. Lord Lugard), suggested the name “Nigeria” for the British Protectorate on the Niger River, in an essay she wrote in the Times of London of January, 1897, 120 years ago?
If we were truly federal, how come we have not successfully diversified the economies of the federating units from a monolithic and fast fading “black gold”, and embracing true fiscal federalism as we witnessed before the January 15, 1966 Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu-led military putsch?
At that time, each of the three regions then (Northern, Western and Eastern), and later the Midwest region, which was carved out of the Western Region on August 10, 1963, used and depended for their great strides and uncommon developments, on the products (mostly agrarian) that emanated from their Regions.
With that, the great Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello (Northern Nigerian), the great sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (Western Region), the Pan-Africanist, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr Michael Okpara (Eastern Region); and Dr Dennis Osadebay and Jereton Mariere (Midwest Region), were able to develop their regions with such produce as groundnut, cocoa, hides and skin, palm produce, cotton, timber, and rubber.
Under the 1963 Republican Constitution, each region that produced a product took 50% of the proceeds there-from; paid 25% tax to the central government, and still partook from the remaining 25% that was shared amongst the Regions.
If we were truly federal, and have no problems that require structural re-engineering, why do we have the continuing and recurring mutual distrust and suspicion, ethno-religious crisis, political implosion, unabated violence, insurrection, youth and gender discrimination, unspeakable criminality, simulated peace of the grave yard, fear of the unknown, fear of fear, elite’s collaboration to continuously hold down, by the jugular, in a most asphyxiating manner, the beleaguered hoi polloi and Frantz Fanon’s “Wretched of the Earth”; and stunted growth reminiscent of the fate of the Barber’s chair that rotates perpetually on its axis?
If we did not need restructuring to extirpate root and branch, our multi-faceted and hydra-headed challenges, why we do operate what late Professor Claude Ake derisively and oxymoronically referred to as a “disarticulate economy”, where we produce what we do not consume and consume what we do not produce?
WE MUST NOT TAKE NIGERIA’S UNITY FOR GRANTED
We must not take Nigeria’s unity and indivisibility for granted. The present agitations for self – determination by various ethnic groups (IPOB, MASSOB, OPC, APC, Niger Deltans, etc); the present crisis of confidence, ethno-religious crisis, Agatu, Herdsmen, Kidnapping, robbery, terrorism, Boko Haram, murderers, Southern Kaduna, hired assassinations, etc, are but symptoms of a larger malaise: lopsided and inequitable system of allocating and distribution of scarce national resources, leading to an eerie feeling of utmost marginalization, suppression, oppression, repression and subjugation.
The simple answer is that we need to go back to the pre – January 1966 true fiscal federalism.
The over 600 recommendations of the distinguished Nigerian patriots, men, women and the youth, from all works and strata of life of 2014 National Conference, must be immediately retrieved from the archives where there are gathering dust and spider cobwebs by this government, put on the front burner, and utilized meticulously for the purpose of re-engineering, retooling and reformatting this Nigerian contraption that is still not working.
One Nigerian official
I usually prefer to discuss issues and institutions, not names or individuals, for I believe in building strong institutions, not strong men and women – this one Nigerian official, woke up one day and imperiously justified the consignment of these laudable recommendations to the vehicle of historical oblivion.
What was his justification? He said the entire conference was designed to “give jobs to the boys”. Holy Moses!!! He was, like the present government, looking at the messenger, rather than the message. Job for the boys, in the best ever organized conference that attracted the most illustrious sons and daughters of Nigeria?
A conference that attracted the vibrant youth, first class monarchs, organized Private Sector, Civil Society, the Academia, Diplomatic Corps, Diasporans, professional bodies, Ethnic nationalities, political parties, physically challenged persons, socio-cultural organizations, retired leading jurists, Elder Statesmen and women, Military, Police and market men and women? Kai! Haba!!
Why do I say we should not take Nigeria’s unity for granted, and that we must nurture our unity jealously with the manure of mutual respect, socio-economic justice, fairness, equity and egalitarianism?
Simple. Great nations of the world have been known to break up, at times, violently. In 2000, Chief Anthony Enahoro, advocating for a national conference, or even a con-federal system of government (which late Dr. Tunji Braithwaite also anchored, but failed to push through at the 2014 conference), once said:
“A Country at the turbulent cross-roads of its existence such as ours has no viable option but to find radical, innovative solution to its problems. We must not fear radicalism or radical ideas”.
More recently, former Vice President, Atiku Abubarkar, in very measured words, intoned:
“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.
“The call for restructuring is even more relevant today in the light of 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”.
So, who is afraid of restructuring? Are we to insist, that, in spite of the self-evident volatility and schisms in the Nigerian project, we must be glued to the British imperial conquest and bifurcations of the times of Consul John Beecroft (1849), King Perekule (King Pepple)(1860s) , Jaja of Opobo, Madam Tinubu, Nana Olomu of Itsekiri (1894), and Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (nemesis of the British that led to its punitive expedition of 1897)?
Are we cursed as a nation, that we cannot allow a wind of change to breathe fresh air into our apparently blocked nostrils, and stimulate, with the invigorating elixir and tonic of life, our tired muscles?
WHY THIS CRY FOR URGENT RESTRUCTURING?
NATIONS THAT BROKE UP
My recommendation for urgent restructuring, devolution of powers from the centre to the federating units, enthronement of true fiscal federalism, all of which the National Conference argued, fought for, disagreed, agreed on and finally consensualised upon, between its inauguration by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, on March 17, 2014, to August 14, 2014, is to avoid a violent break-up of Nigeria.
It has happened before elsewhere. We must be guided by history. At the start of the 20th Century, only about a few dozen independent states existed on the planet earth. Today, there are approximately 196 nations in existence.
Former Czechoslovakia broke up in 1992 into two, Czech Republic to the West, and Slovakia to the East. Yugoslavia is nothing but a product of the break-up of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire in the aftermath of the First World War.
After Marshall Josip Tito’s iron grip, internal tensions and rival nationalism in 1992, led to a civil war which split the country vertically and horizontally into six smaller nations-Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
The once powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated into Austria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Some parts went to Romania; others to Italy; yet some other parts went to Poland.
The Ottoman Empire that once stretched from Morocco to the Sudan, from Hungary to the Persian Gulf for over 600 years broke up in November 1922.
The once powerful USSR (the bulwark of Marxist Stalinism ), had an anti-climatic collapse in 1991, to 15 politically distinct entities-Uzbekistan, Latvia, Moldovia, Estonia, Armenia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Azerbajan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyztan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were once one country, just like Ethiopia and Eritrea; and more recently, like Sudan and Southern Sudan. So, let me warn, once more: let us not take our unity and indivisibility for granted. What is this true federalism we are talking about and clamouring for?
FEDERALISM AS A CONCEPT
Federalism as a concept is best suited for Nigeria, which is a Nation of diverse cultures, languages, ethnic nationalities, history and religions.
Federalism allows states to be co-ordinate, yet independent of one another and of the central government.
Nigeria misses the point when she predicates her existence on an imbalanced tripod of the three major ethnic groups-Igbo, Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba.
What place is left for the other 371 ethnic groups that speak over 350 languages as found by Professor Onigu Otite, a professor emeritus of Sociology?; or the other 467 ethnic nationalities, according to Banguma?
Although the 28 countries across the world that generally practice federalism have no single super model, yet certain irreducible minimum requirements must be met to term a model federalist:
Federalism unites diverse, disparate people, but supports distinct, pluralistic identities. Thus while uniting the people in to an entity; it permits their heterogeneity, without eroding the distinct identities of the federating units.
For example, Federalism allows me to remain an Etsako and Afenmai man and be recognized and respected as such by all ethnic groups in Nigeria, including the bigger ones. My identity cannot be subsumed into another ethnic group, just as other Nigerians cannot subsume theirs into mine.
It allows a division of powers, functions and legislative powers between a central Government and the federating units, with non weak enough to be trampled upon; or strong enough to override slipshod on the other.
Each of the central and federating units performs within the sphere of influence constitutionally devolved on it, without any interfering with, or usurping the powers of the other.
Federalism encourages healthy competition amongst the Federating units, thus serving as a veritable tool for nation building.
In a true federal set up, each unit is allowed to develop its resources, utilize same, develop its institutions, move according to its pace and prioritize its needs and the ways and means of achieving them. No unit dictates to the other as to how it should carry out its affairs.
WHY THE 2014 NATIONAL CONFERENCE REPORT MUST BE IMPLEMENTED.
There are several reasons why the 2014 National Conference Report must be implemented by this government. Indeed, with forever politicking, rather than governing, elections are already around the corner. Are you shocked?
Wait till December, 2017. The recommendations must form the gravamen, the lynchpin and the pivot around which the entire campaigns and manifestoes of the various political parties and office seekers must articulate.
The first reason is that there has never before been a conference of the plenitude, amplitude, depth, breadth, weight, magnitude, capacity, loftiness, plurality, accomplishment, patriotism, openness, transparency and intellectual fecundity of the Conferees as the 2014 National Conference.
I can attest to this, at least since my participation at the 2005 National Political Conference (Civil Society delegate, and chairman, of the subcommittee on civil society, media, labour and trade unions); the Vision 2020 of 2009 (as Federal Government delegate in the law, Justice and Judiciary thematic area); and the 2014 National Conference into which Almighty God personally gate crashed me as a Federal Government delegate (Addendum), by repelling people who oxymoronically tried to cover the sun with their palm.
The resolutions taken at the Conference were voluntarily and consensually reached passed by all delegates at the Conference, without compulsion. When these resolutions are implemented, they are capable of taking Nigeria to a higher altitude, to be one of the greatest countries on the face of planet earth.
In case effluxion of time has made us forget, or suffer some amnesia, such resolutions which can retool, re-engineer and reclaim Nigeria from her present socio-economic and political doldrums, and probably (probably, I say), calm genuine agitations by nationalities, include but are not limited to critical and thorny issues such as Devolution of Powers, Citizenship, and Immigration, Economy, Trade and Investment, Law, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Reform, Energy, Agriculture and Water Resources, Persons with disabilities, Civil Society Organizations, Labour, Youths and Sports, Foreign Policy and Diaspora matters, Land Tenure and National Boundaries, Environment, Gender matters, Political Restructuring and Forms of Government, Political Parties and Electoral Matters.
Other topical issues of national concern on which solid recommendations (over 600 in all), were made, include: Public Finance, Politics and Governance, Public Service, Religion, Social Sector, National Security, Transportation, Science, Technology, and Development, Creation of State and Community Policing, Federalization of the Judicature in such a way that each State has its own Supreme Court; and the creation of additional states to address the evident imbalance in the system and cases of marginalization of the Minorities by the Majorities in the existing State.
It was agreed that some of the recommendations could be embedded as alterations to the 1999 Constitution (for which proposed amendments were made); some subjected to legislative drafting (for which Draft Bills were actually made by the Conference); while some yet were to be treated by Government as policy matters for implementation.
The Conference agreed (through wholesome adoptions of that aspect of the Report of the Committee on Law, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Reforms), that where desirable, decisions of the Conference on constitutional matters should be subjected to a plebiscite or referendum of the Nigerian people.
To me, this is a very crucial recommendation that will allow the Nigerian people that possess the sovereignty, buy into the new Constitution. The reason is simple.
The process by which a Constitution comes into being are more important than the contents of a Constitution.
Thus, the present Constitution of 1999, which is actually Decree No 24 of 1999, made by the military, is not a peoples Constitution; does not enjoy the Nigerian people’s mandate, and so lacks legitimacy, autochthony, integrity and collective acceptability by the people.
CONCLUSION
History beckons on this gathering to do the needful, seize the bull by the horns, shame fixation and stereotypes, and point the way forward as to how to actualize the laudable recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.
Can you? Will you? Dare you? History waits; smiles, and beckon on you, on us all. In achieving our objectives of actualizing the implementation of the 2014 National Conference recommendations, delegates present here today must not leave any stone unturned or any turn un-stoned.
Let me end this key note address by quoting William Shakespeare’s HAMLET (Act III, Scene 1):
“To be or not to be: that is the question: whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end time? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to…”
Welcome and thank you very much, for this historic opportunity accorded me to present this keynote address to this very eminent and august gathering of Nigerian patriots.
