The recent call by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, for a restructuring of the country along regional lines has again highlighted the structural imbalance in the administration of the country.
Atiku, who re-opened the age-old debate on the structure of the Nigerian polity at the 2012 Leadership Conference and Awards Ceremony in Abuja on September 18, said the country’s current governance structure which concentrates too much power and resources in the central government is inimical to the development of the country. He said that since the States are too materially and politically weak to provide good governance, the country should be restructured along the extant six geo-political zones as regions, with the current states existing as provinces of the six regions.
He insisted that the regions have the wherewithal to survive and prosper even without oil as they did in the past.
According to him: “The immense development strides achieved by our First Republic leaders were achieved without oil revenues, yet we have for over 40 years now been behaving as though nothing can be achieved without oil revenues.” Atiku advocated redesigning of the nation’s skewed federalism and advised Nigerians to think more about production rather than distributing and sharing of revenue.
He told the gathering: “I do not know of any country in the world that has developed just by its leaders gathering in their capital city every month to share revenues from rent.” We find merit in Atiku’s recommendations.
There is no arguing the fact that the present structure of Nigeria is inexpedient to the country’s quest for national development. Nigeria is supposedly a Federation, yet there are no true federating units. Revenue sharing formula is sharply skewed against the federating units to the advantage of the federal government. As federating units, the states ought to have co-ordinate powers with the federal government to which they, under a true federation, should grant certain powers to co-ordinate the country. But under Nigeria’s peculiar federation, this is not so. Our federation bristles with inconsistencies, both fiscal and structural. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, instead of rightly positioning and empowering the federating states that make up our federation, is an amalgam of federalism, unitarism, secularism and theocracy at the same time.
This is not how federations are run, as can be seen with administration of other federations such as the United States of America (USA) where each federating unit is autonomous with its own constitution and certain other paraphernalia of self-administration. Under a true federation, federating units agree on the powers to allocate to the central government. These powers are used by the centre on behalf of the units that ceded powers to it.
The implication of this is that it is the units that create the centre, not the other way round. Political power will, therefore, be centripetal, and not centrifugal. In the first Republic, Nigeria had semi-autonomous federating units in the regions, each with its flag, insignia, courts of appeal and police. There was also fiscal federalism, with the regions committing only certain portions of their revenue to the centre. But our federation, today, is more unitary then federal.
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says that no state shall adopt state religion. Yet, the same constitution provides for sharia courts. This is contradictory under an arrangement that is not truly federal. Instead of promoting production and autonomy of the federating units, all the 36 states go to Abuja monthly to collect doles from the Federation Account.
The result is that there is no attention to agriculture, production and other efforts that could make the states self-sufficient. Nigeria, consequently, has a mono-product economy based on a finite resource, oil.
This is the gargantuan problem confronting the nation that makes Atiku’s call for a return to strong regions attractive, because the states are definitely not strong enough for the challenge of autonomy and self-governance. The states, weakened and atomized as they are, lack the capacity to meet the challenge of autonomy.
Regionalism, as Atiku has suggested, can provide the platform for stronger federating units that can exact autonomy in most sectors of national life, including policing, and fiscal independence, from the centre. Strong, self-governing regions with states as their provinces can devolve powers for defence, foreign affairs and other mutually- determined sectors to the federal government while pursuing their destinies in an atmosphere of competitive fiscal federalism as Nigeria had in the First Republic.
Under this arrangement, the items on the Federal Government’s exclusive legislative list will be significantly reduced, while giving more power and responsibilities to the regions. This is the kernel of Atiku’s proposal, which we find worthy of consideration in Nigeria’s quest for a strong and prosperous nation.
Good talk atiku.if u were d president would u have advocated 4 dis type of arrangement?how will dis arrangement combat corruption which is our greatest challenge n not restructuring.
Atiku, you have said it all. Nigeria constitution made it that we should not State Religion in Nigeria but your brothers went on and established Sharia.
Your Northern counterparts are the problem of Nigeria; the law breakers.
Atiku, you have said it all. Nigerian constitution made it that we should not have State Religion in Nigeria but your brothers went on and established Sharia.
Your Northern counterparts are the problem of Nigeria; the law breakers.
General Ojukwu is a prophet and a true Hero. I don’t think He’s death yet…
A nice from Atiku, hope you mean what you said when you come into power?
Atiku will never come to power. I hope that you are not praying that a super corrupt ex – customs officer rule our country?
Mr president, please respond to this call urgently. This is what the majority of good Nigerians are dreaming every day. MAy the Living God Jesus Christ be with you as your responding positively to this call.
i must nt agree less. bt atiku was part of d system tha took us 2 where w re
It is foolishness to continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. Nigeria is over due for restructuring. But it still surprises me why some regions especially the North opposes any move to restructure and decentralize the government. I know they are afraid that once true federalism is introduced they are going to be getting less from the oil revenue. But the truth is that in the Long run, it will be the best thing that has happened to them. There are a lot solid minerals in the north. Every region of this country is highly endowed with natural resources. the only way we can harness this is by introducing true federalism and allowing each region to look inward and developing at its on pace and we stop over dependence on oil.
We should stop politicizing this and be realistic. Without restructuring we are going nowhere as a nation.
Do not mind Atiku, no core Northerners would want to leave Niger Delta Oil-riched-Aso-rock- alone for any other structure, they never mind if everybody dies, they must fight for one police, one Aso-Roch, One Nigeria, central Niger-Delta flowing oil Billion Dollars, One Sharia muslim, one North. KILLERS. HELL IS ALREADY OPENED FOR THEM AND THEIR FOUR VIRGINS. Make una embrace. Middlebets go in drove and embrace Christ now now, so that his grace and mercy we create a turn around for a better future life for you because I know that Middle belterns are blessed people with future, this is because , those whom has Christ has a great future/hope in abundantly not only on Earth but also in Heaven. Middle Belterns should hastily pull themselves out of the one North togga or else, you would perish with those infidels that fight for their gods and their shrines instead of otherwise, Mumu people as seen all other the whole wide world.
In as much as we know that atiku’s assertion is not far from the truth but one thing that keeps troubling my mind is what effort/role did he play in achieving the aformentioned when he was dinning in the euphoria of power during his reign as the number two man;after depleting our resources he comes back again to win our hearts.may GOD/ALLAH forgive him(atiku)
The call is the only way forward ..
THE MISSING PART OF ATIKU’S CALL IS THE PLATFORM FOR RESTRUCTURING NIGERIA – NATIONAL CONFERENCE, SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE, CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE OR CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENT?
There is nothing nice from Atiku Abubakar! Only diversionary tactics to make Nigeria ungovernable for Goddluck Jonathan, since his Boko Hara agents are surrendering to JTF. Atiku has been in Power ofr 8-years running as Vice -president and Acting President, while Obasanjo was President and Minister of Petroleum, Executive mnister of commerce and Tourism and Minister of international affairs ; and was touring the world for three years to go and bring investors form their villages to Nigeria. So, Atiku never gave heed to calls of Pa Anthony Enahoro and others for the restructuring of Nigeria. Atiku has by this statements on call for restructuring at the heat of Islamic jihadist attacks and bombing of defencesless and innocent Nigerias, and the Nigeria security forces; shown that he Atiku is either a confused joke who lacks understanding of naitonal security priorities; or he is displaying hsi mischief tendencies.
It woud make sense if Atiku Abubakar has rather, asked his Sharia legal code governors to renounce sharia in their home states for Secular laws; and for his boko haram mercenries and jihadist in Adamawa and Maiduguri to leave Nigeria alone and return back to their home lands in Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Mali.
Nigerians cannot be fooled by Atiku’s antics,
the early we do it, the better for us.Too much power at the center is a time bomb waiting to explode
I agree with Atiku’s suggestion if he is sincere. Nigeria is big enough to be restructured into six autonomous units. The current National Assembly exercise on amendment of the 1999 constitution should include that suggestion in their agenda.
Wen he was dia with baba y dint he re structure den and y nw… Wat of nitel money
It is now atiku wake up from sleep ,may god help us
Stop sponsoring Boko Haram with your money and awful religions believe
It is easier in nigeria to make comment bordering on national issues by our past and present leaders than to impliment them. Last time it was Atiku’s boss Obasanjo talking and now it’s his turn…What positive things did they do during their 8 years rule besides stealing, accusations and counter accusations.
It is most gratifying that northern political leadership are now voicing their support for the restructuring of the country. I think with this pragmatic signal from Turaki Adamawa major leaders from the north have to understand that the status quo is no more sustainable. Something has to give to avoid the impending cataclysm. There is no region or zone in Nigeria that will remain dependent on any zone if their leaders can use the natural and human resources for maximum benefit of the people. Agriculture is the most important resource after human.
This is the best and most unbiased contribution by a northerner since nigerian civil war.I wish the constitution com. and the Nass. are listening.
Best idea dat i ve ever heard u make. Hope is nt bicos u r nt in power?
atiku y dont u talk about boko haram?
Atiku, because you have looted enough of oil money you now think that it can serve you for life .you are not speaking onbehalf of the north. How many of our youth can handle hoe today. You have spoilt them with boko haram. Pls don,t be too confident of yourself. You cannot farm. Abegi lets hear word. .
Sounds like someone deeply depressed and insanely troubled. From regions that led to a civil war to states that led to Boko Haram and back to regions leading to who knows what? Atiku is a Camerounian and he was instrumental to Bakassi being ceded to that country. He should go back there and create regions. The states structure in Nigeria is very promising if properly implemented. States are small nations that can come together to form one united country like the USA. Nigeria fits perfectly into that structure because of our diversity. Creating six regions would be like creating six more Nigerias within the present Nigeria with the same inherent problems. However the regional experiment suggested by Atiku can work in may be the West that is a monolingual region but not in the North and the South South where the present five states that make up the region, for instance, are not related in anyway. In fact, Dr. Atiku is prescibing more problems that will make it difficult to manage. In suggesting the idea of regions, he fails to point out why he thinks the states are not working except that, according to him, ” they are weak.” That assertion is wrong and marks several steps backward.
If you ask me, more states should be created so that people with a unique characteristic in language and culture should form one state and ones too large should be split for ease of governance. For instance, Northern Cross River State should form Ogoja State away from the present Cross River. After creating these states, the federal govt should allow them to function like independent nations: controlling their resources and being free to choose path for development. The biggest single reason that the state structure in Nigeria is not working well is that the fed does not allow them to function like states.They are presently being owned by the federal govt that owns everything in the country. They own the police, the army, the fire service, Ambulance service, some primary schools, secondary schools and even churches. That is why Nigeria is a failure because all Nigerians including Atiku regard it as no man’s land. We look at it as a place to grab whatever you can when you atre opportuned. There is no sentimental attachment to it. The regional structure will function that way only that they will be smaller in size. Nigeria can be a very strong country with the states as federating units if we stop this North South West South East dichotomies. In the USA for example, a president can come from any state and vp can be from the next state tp the president’s, no north or south, east or west. Mitt Romney is from Michigan and his vp choice is from Wisconsin, next door neighbor in the north. They are all Americans. What we should do in Nigeria is create a conducive environment where Nigerians become free and secure to live anywhere in the country and call it home. From there that person can run for an office representing where s/he lives. By so doing, you can hear Chukwu representing Kano and Adebayo representing Enugu because those are their homes.
Another big problem is the issue of religion taking center stage of Nigeria’s federal govt. The fed pays people to go on pilgrimage reducing our presidents to mere non-preaching pastors and imams. This is wrong. Any nation that puts religion ahead of people cannot grow effectively. You can’t worship God by ignoring to solve people’s problems. Because we elevated religion to the forefront of our national life, we are now like the Middle East: impatient, unreasonable, irrationale, destructive, and above all, palling with lunatics whose stock-in-trade is destruction of their nation. Atiku’s suggestion is fraught with religious thoughts and should therefore be discarded for Nigeria’s progress. Is he not the same man who duped our nation only to invest Dubai? Atiku Abubakar is a very dishonest man. His suggestions should not be trusted.
Dat y i hv much luv&respect for atiku.dis is d solution to nigeria’s protracted problem.dis has bin d yearnings of many nigerians.i wish dis wuld be d ist agenda in d ongoin constitution amendment.i wish our law makers&our daddy[GEJ] wil adhere to dis recomendation by turaki.if dis is done,nobody wl be interestd on who becomes d president,d rush to abj wl reduce.
The present structure is democratic in its features if not the abuses of its principles by unpatriotic leaders which makes the structures weaken by corruption and abuse of office. Alh,atiku where is N.E.E.D.S.today. Nigeria major problem was lack of long-term economy planing that will create legitimate wealth for the youth. The former vice president roles in Nigeria politics was not a Good example for the youth His tasty and adamant for presidency qualified Him as puppet of the western world. Alh, Aliko Dangote is a PROUD of Nigeria and Africa in legitimate wealth creation in Non oil sector of the economy.
Ojukwu said this in ghana at aburi accord 50 years ago your pple fought him before he now declared for a state of biafra. fools who thinks dat siting at a place to eat frm oil proceed is in fashion this days wot is in vogue d world over is education nd industry that make china great
THIS IS THE BEST COMMENTS THAT HAS EVER COME FROM THE NORTH. IF ALL THE POLITICIANS IN THE NORTH WERE TO SAY WHAT ATIKU HAS SAID NOW, NIGERIA WILL HAVE NO NEED TO DISINTERGRATE. WITHOUT THE RESTRUCTURE, NIGERIA WILL BE IN THE DUST BIN OF HISTORY. THANK YOU MALAM ATIKU. YOU ARE NOT AWUSA MAN. ALAGAM KIAKA.
Outside of the aforementioned federal structure implementation, Nigeria will surely disintegrate in no distant future. Period!
I REALLY WONDER WHY WHY ALL THESE REPORTERS LIKE TO RE-CIRCLE OLD NEWS !! THEY MUST BE PAID BY ABUBAKAR BECAUSE OF HIS INTENTION TO RUN IN 2015 .MALLAM ABUBAKAR WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOUR ROLE IN THE ELECTION OF 2011.PLEASE TRY AGAIN AND SEE IF YOU CAN CON US BY PAYING ALL THESE MICKY MOUSE JOURNALISTS TO RE-PUBLISH YOUR STATEMENT AGAIN AND AGAIN,IT NOT HELP YOU GAIN POPULARITY !! WHERE IS THE MONEY YOU LOOTED FROM NIGERIA TO THE U S A ?YOU WERE JUST A CUSTOM OFFICER WHERE DID YOU GET THE MONEY FROM?.ONLY THOSE SICK NIGERIANS WILL VOTE FOR YOU !! SO PLEASE GIVE IT UP ! TIME OUT OOOOO!!
I beg to disagree with you and the IG that there are a class of Nigerians who are entitled to use sirens on our roads. No, nobody is entitled to use sirens on the roads. Sirens are patently unsafe for road users as you said. They cause confusion but not in the sense that you intended. They cause disorientation of people on the roads, whether they are pedestrians, drivers or riders. Because these people get disoriented, they may cause accidents. Sirens are to be used by EMERGENCY VEHICLES ONLY, not any president, service chief, or discredited chietains who are not even recognized by the Nigerian constitution. The IG is only trying to further the interest of his likes and not interested in upholding the laws of the federation. He has no clue. Police, customs, and the armed forces are fond of using sirens and clearing the roads for their own use or the use of their officers. This is clearly an abuse of power and they should be arrested by the police or any other agency that the federal government would designate for such arrests since the police have failed the Nigerian people. There is no need to sing the praises of the IG and thank him for trying to bring about sanity on our roads because he is not doing that. He has no Clue. It is the same IG who was telling Nigerians that the police should be petied because they receive so little renumeration that they are led to collect money on the streets and kill people in the process. This is very shameful that the police leadership should be justifying such a behavior among his subordinates when he should be chastising them for failing in their duties and allowing corrupt practices. He should be telling them that those who feel they are not getting enough from the government should resign and allow those who are happy with the pay to do a decent work instead.
How about you start by dipping your hands in that deep pocket and returning any looted funds…if any. That is the best restructuring initiation! na me talk am!
Never ever trust this man call Atiku, hes only campaning for 2015 with sweet talk. He should know that, they power is no more for hausa/ fulani. Atiku better look for some thing else to do. You can never ever be president, because you are a fagort. You are a sinner already, terrorist, jihadist, blood sucker.
you know this but did not canvas for it when you were in power. You are saying this cos you want us to believe that you can do well if given power.
Oga Atiku,this is a nice presentation from the spirit inside you.I pray the spirit continue to tranform you till you will be ripe to be the next presido,because you and OBJ did not make the correction in your last 8 years rule.Carry on.
Imagin who is calling for restructuring of this country. If only Nigerians dont know those that are behind the scenes of distablising today’s government because they refuse to vote them instead. Atiku! Did you know the word,”RESTRUCTURING” when you were the vice president at a time when Nigeria was topping the list of the most corrupt countries of the world? Shot that dirty and smelling mouth of yours so we can have fresh air to breath. Baboon!
See problem oooh. why in Nigeria, kettle is alway callin pot black bottum? Hahaha lol, nobody is perfect!
May God bless u and ur family uzo, dnt mind those sycophants praising an idiot that is a factor to Boko Haram in Nig. He said there wl make this country ungovernable 4 Gej and dre re doin it.this northerners are known for stealing our money,either through custom,military,or ministries. Igbos re knwon 4 trade, yorubas re kwn 4 education, Dre re kwn 4 the presidency is our birth right. The must all pay for all d inocent bloods dre ve shed. Atiku my ass.in develop countries pple lik u re suppose 2 b in prison criminal.no citizen of america cn threaten america and d threat happen and go free. God help us.
Atiku Abubakar you have spoking well again,this is the second time you have spoking the mind of the masses concerning the restrcturing of Nigeria under tue Federalism and Six Geo Political Zone and i hpoe your Northern brothers and the Governors of North we listing becouse they have been clamouring Oil sharing,greedy Northern Governors
this could have been easier implemented in your regime as vice president; assuming this comment was not set out in mischief
When Atiku was vice, what the hell did he do for the nation.
I do not support that power be given to the states the We should not forget
The present structure of Nigeria do not prevent any state from developing its economic potential. The power of regions was misused and that is what lead to Nigerian civil war when a section of the country felt it was cheated and plan to secede. Have we forgotten? The states should believe in itself and pursue hard work and diligence.