By UMA ELEAZU
AS I have noted in an earlier article, the only part of the Report of the 2014 National Dialogue that President Buhari needs to look at is the section entitled National Charter for Reconciliation and Integration. Until we, as Nigerian look at ourselves critically and agree to forgive each other and adopt a national ethos which embraces reconciliation, forgiveness, live and let live, religious tolerance etc, no amount of tinkering with the constitution will guarantee peace or law and order in our national affairs.
Take any Nigerian newspaper, any day of the week and count the number of acts of crass indiscipline, intolerance, impunity of action by civilians upon civilians, law enforcement agents on civilians and neighbours on one another. One finds so much intolerance breeding a culture of violence. Whether it is religious fanatics, Fulani herdsmen, highway robbers or militant rebels with or without a cause, people do not act like those who want to live together in peace and harmony as one country.
In the last few weeks, we have heard very strong voices calling for the restructuring of the nation. We have heard from two former Vice Presidents, legal luminaries, civil rights activists and militants in the Niger Delta. Our elected President, Muhammadu Buhari, says the 2014 National Conference Report belongs to the archives. In effect, he is not going to do anything about it except to consign it to the archives. And, as a citizen of Nigeria who voted in the last election, I ask: does the 2014 Report belong to Buhari to do what he likes with it , or to the people who sent their representatives to the Conference? If it is the latter, as I believe it is, each ethnic nationality or social force that was represented at the conference is entitled to call for the report and decide what it wants to do with it.
I believe this is an occasion to exercise our democratic rights. Every May 29, people troop out to celebrate “Democracy Day”. They march around and talk about “Dividends of Democracy.” Then, every June 12, another set of people celebrate “Abiola and Democracy”, and yet we hardly have imbibed democratic ethos.
People confuse Democracy with return to civilian rule. In 1999, ostensibly we returned to civilian rule but we knew who were calling the shots.—the party of the Retired Generals. While they were waiting for the Group of 34 to form a political party, (the PDP) , they perfected the 1999 Constitution and hijacked the party and installed their man. That is why we are in this mess. Each time those in government and those in ‘politics’ mouth platitudes about democracy, “I laugh”
So, former V P Abubakar Atiku says Nigeria needs to be restructured. Also, another former VP, Dr Alex Ekwueme, wants Nigeria to be restructured. My NADECO chieftains concur we need true federalism and to get that, we must restructure the country. Resource control activists also want restructuring of the country. Are we all talking about the same thing?
Because people are calling on President Buhari to implement the 2014 Report of the National Dialogue I decided to go deeper and see what the Report has to say on Restructuring, just in case Buhari changes his mind.
Here is what I found: On true federalism, the conference recommended that states should be considered as federating units; that one more state be created in the SE zone to bring it at par with other zones (six states per zone) and that 18 more states be created bringing the number of states to 48.
Curiously, the conference recommended that contiguous states may coalesce, but did not say whether that will be within a geopolitical zone or across two or more zones.
It was said that states could also create more LGAs since it will not affect their allocation from the Federation Account.
In other words, the Federation Account stays. Each state is to set up its own Resource Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and share whatever its get from the Federation Account by the same formula as the federal RMAFC. I did not see where they spelt out how and what kind of revenue should flow into the Federation Account. Presumably, the old centralized order changeth not.
Instead, they postponed the evil day by recommending that a Technical Commission be set up to decide what percentages should be allocated vertically and horizontally.
In other words the Report did not deal with the core issue of fiscal federalism. Nor did it deal with the issue of decentralization of powers back to the people.
Besides, they recommended that their amendments are to be incorporated into the faulty foundation of the 1999 Constitution. In my view, that destroys everything they tried to achieve, and it will not work nor will it satisfy the yearnings of the people who want a change of, not a change in the constitution.
As someone who, in the last fifty years, has studied, taught and seen how Federalism and Democracy work, in this section I will like to use our past experience to adumbrate what I think will work, and the change Nigeria needs. I am sure people of my age grade can relate to it. In 1951, under the MacPherson Constitution, there were three regions under three different Administrations coordinated by the office of the Chief Secretary to the Government, each Region had a Lt. Governor who reported to the Colonial Office through the Governor in Lagos. Each Region had its own Constitution which suited its traditional political culture.
For example, the North had a House of Assembly and a House of Chiefs where the Emirs were given an honorific role in the affairs of the North.
To be continued on Monday
*Elder (Dr) Eleazu writes from Lagos
Waiting for Buhari on National Conference (1)
