All for restructuring

RESTRUCTURING is fast becoming one overused and over-stressed word in the Nigerian political lexicon. It is one word that has regularly been on the lips of many since the catastrophic annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, won by the late MKO Abiola.

Somehow, projections around restructuring have been more of the preserve of Southern political elite, who tailor their attention to the geopolitical imbalances in the Nigerian federation.

The agitation has been unwinding and widespread. Lately, some Northern political figures started joining in the clamour for restructuring. Leading that pack is the former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, who has presented some celebrated papers on that subject at well-attended events.

Last week, a good number of delegates who attended the 2014 National Conference converged in Abuja to kick start agitations to press home the call for implementation of the report of that conference. The delegates, who held a one day parley adopted a communiqué, which resolved to keep alive the agitation to ensure the Federal Government and the National Assembly, implement the report of the Conference.

At that Abuja parley, South-West delegates presented a goodwill message, which eventually signposted the dimension the agitation would take.

The message signed by 27 Delegates from the zone including the chairman, Chief Olu Falae; Gen Alani Akinrinade (Deputy Chairman); Dr Kunle Olajide (Secretary); Chief Ayo Adebanjo; Pastor Tunde Bakare; Dr. Amos Akingba; Senator Femi Okunrounmu; Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu and Chief Ajibola Ogunsola among others read in part: “Many of the issues threatening our corporate existence today would have become a thing of the past if we had implemented the report of the conference.

“We therefore state unequivocally that implementing the report is the minimum irreducible to move Nigeria forward and build a country that works for all its citizens. We, therefore, call on the executive arm of the government to initiate the process for the National Assembly to pick the 2014 conference report submitted to the immediate past legislative session for implementation.

“Feelers from our zone are that our people strongly desire that the 2019 elections be conducted on the basis of a new and truly federal constitution.”

There is no doubting the fact restructuring is at the heart of the 2014 National Conference and those calling attention to the report have their eyes on that idea. But the truth remains that even as more people of calibre join the restructuring clamour, the hints that such would become a reality have continued to narrow down; as holders of political power at the centre have always found the idea repugnant each time.

Proponents of restructuring have called it different names; federalism, fiscal federalism and restructuring. They then decried the semi-unitary system currently in place since the military intervened in the polity in 1966 as “feeding bottle federalism,” a course, rather than a blessing to development.

But if development is the target of restructuring, why is restructuring this elusive in Nigeria? That is a question that has continued to agitate the minds. But I fervently think that the main gap has got to do with communication.  Those who believe that the current system offers them some advantage fear that a restructured polity would take them out of existence. Though that may not be the view of the man on the streets, the elite, who hold the knife and the yam, plant it on his head. They tell him that those seeking restructuring are planning to legislate him out of existence.

The simple problem is communication.  How do we project the idea of restructuring to sound nice in the ear of those who currently hold the leavers of power and the future leaders?  How do we play down the fears of subjugation or is it supplanting? How do you project the adoption of federalism as a win-win-situation?

These questions were simply dissected in an interaction I had with Nigeria’s former Minister of Information, Pa Edwin Clark, who simplified the idea of federalism as projected by the late Sage, Chief

Obafemi Awolowo and agreed to by the regional leaders of that time. Clark said: “By the time Chief Obafemi Awolowo became a politician, he had mastered everything. And I remember that federalism was his watchword. He believed that Nigeria should have a federal system of government and this was what happened during the Macpherson Constitution whereby it was agreed that there should be a federation of Nigeria, a federal system of government; the Western Nigeria, Eastern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria. This was put into practice 1952 to 1954 and I remember the three areas of agreement among Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the Sardauna of Sokoto were; we would have a federation where everybody will be equal; number two, every region will develop at its own pace; number three, there will be fiscal federalism.

“Whatever you produce in your area, 50 per cent of that will come to you, the remaining 50 per cent, you will also have a share. The Federal Government will take 20 or 30 per cent, the other one will be divided among the regions. This was how Chief Obafemi Awolowo projected that system called federalism and with that, because federalism means the relationship between the Federal Government on one side and the state government and the local government and so on. Obafemi used that 50 per cent, which he had, which was not controlled by the Federal Government to his advantage.”

I believe that if the idea of restructuring is simplified the way Awo and the Regional leaders of the First Republic had it and the way Pa Clark defined it above, no region or state would oppose the idea. It would be difficult to see a state tag itself as unproductive.