Speech delivered by Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Federal Commissioner for Finance to the Conference of Finance Commissioners of the Federation in Kano on 23rd February, 1970.
On behalf of all the members of this Conference, and the officials in attendance, I wholeheartedly thank the Government of Kano State for playing host to us, and for its hospitality. I have no doubt that we will all continue to enjoy our stay here.
May I seize this opportunity to congratulate all of you personally for the successful and satisfactory conclusion of the civil war. The measure of the economic strength and resilience of our country is that it was able to cope with two major problems at the same time: armed rebellion, and the teething troubles of nine infant States. If we could succeed so well under the trying circumstances of the war, there is every reason for confidence that we will succeed in the future in building a new and prosperous Nigeria, where mass ignorance, preventable diseases, and poverty will be no more.
The agenda before us is short and non-controversial. But one perennial subject, which is likely to influence the minds of many delegates in their approach to the specific matters before us, is allocation of revenue among the Governments of the Federation.
Ever since the creation of Regional Assemblies in 1947, the country has been in continual but unsuccessful search for a generally acceptable and satisfactory formula for revenue allocation. Inside eighteen years, we had five full-scale Revenue Allocation Commissions. And we have, for some time now, been looking forward to yet another.
Our failure, in the past, to evolve a generally acceptable and permanent formula for revenue allocation, has been blamed on all sorts of causes which, I dare say, are completely mistaken. The reason for our failure, in my humble opinion, is that we have never set before ourselves agreed national objectives which all of us should pursue simultaneously, and to which alone any formula for revenue allocation must be geared in order to assure for it general acceptance and a fair degree of permanency. As long as each State has its own pet and distinct objectives, which it is intent on pursuing, so long it will be difficult and well-nigh impossible for us to fashion a revenue allocation formula to which: all of us could subscribe as satisfactory.
Before we embark, therefore, on the next exercise in revenue allocation, it is essential that we should, first of all, thoroughly search for, discover, and declare for ourselves, basic national objectives which, if pursued in concert and progressively attained, would bring prosperity and advancement to all parts of Nigeria without exemption or discrimination, and keep our diverse peoples harmoniously united.
There are naturally many economic, political, and social objectives which Nigeria must pursue in order to justify its existence as a State. Some of these can be identified as basic and fundamental, and are so relevant to the subject of revenue allocation that, if faithfully pursued, will decidedly satisfy the principles of Even Progress and Need which, over the years, we have been hankering after, and trying hard, with indifferent success or unsuccess, to quantify and materialise. It occurs to me that there are seven such objectives, which I will now state, and briefly comment upon.
THE FIRST IS FULL EMPLOYMENT. It is well known that, in the matter of exploitation, we have, so far, done no more than touch the fringe of our natural resources. They are still largely undiscovered, and inefficiently utilised. Our capacity for phenomenal economic growth is tremendous and truly colossal. To plan for less than full employment, therefore, is an admission on the part of Nigerian leaders that they are unequal to their admittedly difficult, but at the same time inspiring and manageable assignment. Besides, whenever we talk of merely reducing, and not stamping out unemployment, the questions which I always ask myself are: Who are the unfortunate victims we are planning to keep perforce on the unemployment market? And is it really just and fair that some of our fellow citizens should be left out in the cold to starve in the midst of plenty, and to suffer poverty, destitution, and degradation which are the inevitable concomitants of unemployment? In this connection, it is well to bear in mind that inadequate opportunity for employment among individual Nigerians will also mean inadequate and unequal opportunity for most States to cater for the economic welfare of those under their respective jurisdiction. And I believe that we now know from experience that it is inadequacy and inequality in employment opportunity which, more than anything else, breeds inter-personal, inter-State, inter-ethnic, and inter-tribal envy and bitterness.
There are only two problems that I can see concerning full employment in every State, and throughout the Federation. They are the problems of planning, and of executive capacity. Both can and must be overcome, if we are to generate a sense of economic security among our people in their entirety.
THE SECOND AND THIRD ARE FREE EDUCATION AT ALL LEVELS AND FREE HEALTH SERVICES FOR ALL. So far as is known, man is the only dynamic and purposive agent on our planet. All other things—the lower animals, vegetations, and minerals—are static by nature, and purposeless without man. In all economic activities, man is everything—the supplier and demander, producer and consumer; initiator, innovator, motivator, accelerator, multiplier, and distributor, the be-all and end-all; the Alpha and Omega. The more educated and healthier he is, the more productive he becomes as an economic agent, and the more useful and effective he is as a member of society. If all these propositions are true, it follows that the education and health of every Nigerian citizens are indispensable to our rapid economic progress, political stability, and social harmony.
CONTINUES NEXT WEEK
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