Following the frenzy clamour for restructuring of the country, Professor Igho Natufe has called for creation of homogeneous federating states for 15 most populous ethnic nationalities that have contiguous boundaries,
He made the submission in a lecture he delivered at the 94th anniversary of the founding of the Okpe Union held in Lagos at the weekend.
Natufe, who is the president general of the Okpe union, noted that the country is currently facing an existential crisis caused by the failure of its leaders to tackle the issues bordering on nation building in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious polity.
To reposition the country, he said there should be a universal recognition of the tenets of federalism as contained in the 1963 Constitution for restructuring to succeed in Nigeria.
He said: “As a framework for a restructured federal Nigeria, we propose the following: The creation of homogeneous federating states for the 15 most populous ethnic nationalities that have contiguous boundaries, respectively.
“These federating units will be 15 homogeneous ethnic-based states for the Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, Okpe, Tiv, etc.
“The creation of a maximum of 15 heterogeneous (multi-ethnic) federating states for the other ethnic nationalities. An ethnic nationality occupying a defined contiguous boundary in a heterogeneous state shall constitute an autonomous region with due constitutional jurisdictions.
“It shall also have concurrent jurisdiction with the heterogeneous state over natural resources discovered in its territory; but shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over primary and secondary education, culture, language, and traditional institutions, etc.
“A Charter of Rights and Freedoms protecting minority rights will anchor this restructured federalism.
“If the proposed homogeneous and heterogeneous federating units are rejected in favour of the existing 36 states, then it is recommended that a distinct ethnic nationality occupying a defined contiguous territory, like, in alphabetical order, the Bini, Itsekiri, Nupe, and Okpe, for example, be classified as an autonomous region with due constitutional jurisdictions to exercise concurrent jurisdiction with the state over natural resources in its territory; but shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over primary and secondary education, culture, language, and traditional institutions.”
According in him, the proposed frameworks, the revenue allocation formula shall be 50% derivation; 20% Federal Government; and 30% to the Federation Distributable Pool.”
Natufe explained that restructuring by itself does not guarantee an end to marginalisation because in each local government area and across Nigeria, there are communities marginalised out of the mainstream by leaders and political parties comprising members of the same ethnic and religious groups.
He also remarked that over the past two decades, the Federal Government has systematically forfeited its responsibility of safeguarding the well-being and security of Nigerians, as herdsmen of particular ethnic group, as well as bandits and terrorists have become a parallel government in the country, especially in several communities in the northern states of Nigeria, kidnapping, raping and killing at will.
“Several indigenous ethnic nationalities in Central Nigeria, especially in Benue and Plateau states, have been forced into internal refugee camps due to the innocuous activities of the criminals, a trend he claimed has been spread to other ethnic nationalities across the country.
He accused appointive and elected politicians as well as traditional rulers of being the guiltiest in the leadership failure and local colonisation by abdicating their responsibilities.
“This leadership failure is replicated in all 36 states of the Federation and the 774 local government councils, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja,” he said.
He also frowned over that the perceived overbearing of the majority ethnic groups to lord things over the minority ethnic nationalities, adding: “This is evident in the onslaught of minority ethnic nationalities in central Nigeria, for example, and the arrogant inclusion of southern minority ethnic nationalities in the Biafran and Oduduwa Republic maps produced by the Igbo and Yoruba, respectively.
He said the military jettisoned the federal principles of the 1963 Constitution in favour of a unitary system, even though they christened the 1999 Constitution a federal Republican Constitution.
He said that while it may be fashionable to condemn the military regimes for restructuring Nigeria via their respective state creation exercises between 1967 and 1996, it is most disturbing that the elected civilian governments (1979-1983; and since 1999) have failed to address the issue in a meaningful way to halt the various centrifugal forces in the country.
“For example, their refusal to restore the 1963 Republican Constitution and jettison the 1999 Constitution, which is essentially a militarized command-system constitution, can only be construed as a rejection of renewed federalism.
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