BOLA BADMUS writes on the outcome of the southern governors’ meeting held in Lagos on Monday, especially its gains and prospects.
IN the early life of civilian dispensation, southern governors had embarked on a bold and pragmatic step to build and sustain a cohesive and formidable southern solidarity. While six of the governors were elected on the platform of the now castrated Alliance for Democracy (AD), the remaining 11 from the South-South and the South-East geopolitical zones got into office on the ticket of the behemoth Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the then governing party at the centre. The meetings of the governors became the real rallying point on vexed issues of state police, resource control, fiscal federalism, true federalism, equity and justice in the country. The meetings were rotated across the states with each session producing far-reaching decisions. However, the lack of political will, coupled with narrow political considerations, soon robbed the zone of the buoying solidarity and focus.
On October 24, 2017, governors from the South revived the initiative, with Lagos State as host. It provided yet another opportunity for them to take a unanimous stand on imperative of true federalism and devolution of powers to states. In the communique of the meeting read by the then Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the governors agreed to collaborate on the growth and development of their economies, give priority to security and lives and property, as well as work on effective linkage on good infrastructure across the 17 southern states. Ambode recalled how former Governor Bola Tinubu initiated and hosted the first meeting of the forum in Akodo Beach Resort, Ibeju-Lekki, about 12 years ago then. He praised the platform for its advocacy on a special allocation to oil-producing states in the Federation Account, which led to the current 13 per cent revenue derivation and allocation from the Federation Account. He said: “Another major victory won towards strengthening the country’s practice of true federalism was the declaration by the Supreme Court in 2002 that the then prevalent practice of the Federal Government deducting monies from the Federation Account as a first charge for the funding of Joint Venture Contracts, the NNPC priority projects, servicing of Federal Government’s external debt, the judiciary and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other federal obligations were illegal and unconstitutional. The Supreme Court, in that case, abolished the special funds created by the Federal Government to enable it draw funds from the Federation Account to pay for matters that fell within its exclusive responsibility before sharing whatever was left with states and local governments.”
Asaba Declaration
At their maiden meeting hosted by Governor Ifeanyi Okonwa of Delta State in Asaba, the governors came up with a 12-point resolution, among were consolidated at the Lagos meeting on Monday. But, it was apparent that the newly found solidarity and comradeship among the Southern governors encapsulated other fundamental issues in the polity, including the recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) with its inherent vexatious provisions. Other salient matters like constitutional amendment, power shift and the alleged tampering with the draft Electoral Act also came to the fore.
Current effort
There is evidence of consultation, consolidation and actions on most of the resolutions of the governors at what many now describe as the Asaba Declaration of the Southern governors. This is because majority of the issues they discussed were updates on their previous resolutions. It was apparent that the governors had been working silently and constructively on the agenda of the group. In the opinion of observers, the governors had serious engagement and consultations on all resolutions, which enabled them to take firm and decisive decisions, at a fast pace, at the Lagos meeting. That the governors were able to rise above political leanings and affiliations, as well as regional attachment and other primordial factors, were seen as indicative of their level of concern for the critical issues confronting the collective will of Southerners nay Nigerians.
Their resolution on power shift is instructive. With the expected lapse of the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023, the general assumption and expectation among most Nigerians is that power will rotate to the South. Where in the South could be determined by the principle of micro-zoning, political sagacity and brinkmanship across the political gladiators and power blocs in each of the three zones in the region. There is also the issue of equity, fairness and justice together with the strength of political platform playing a significant role. Coupled with this is the issue of external forces since no zone across the country can singlehandedly produce president without the complementary votes of the other five zones. Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State acknowledged this fact when he said the next stage after he and his colleagues from the South resolved that the next president should come from the South, would be to lobby the rest of the country. He said the pronouncement of the governors was a political statement that required further engagement, consultation and lobbying.
At Monday’s meeting, the governors unanimously agreed on rotational presidency between the South and North, and resolved that the next president of the country should emerge from the Southern Region, come 2023. The governors, while demanding that presidency must shift to the South, come 2023, rejected the removal from the Electoral Act of the clause that mandated transmission of election results electronically. This is as they also outright rejected the confirmation of exclusive jurisdiction in pre-election matters on the Federal High Court, saying the Forum’s position was based on the need to consolidate the nation’s democracy and strengthen the electoral process. Part of the communique read: “the Forum agreed on the following: Re-affirmed their commitment to the unity of Nigeria on the pillars of equity, fairness, justice, progress and peaceful co-existence between and amongst its people. The Forum reiterates its commitment to the politics of equity, fairness and unanimously agrees that the presidency of Nigeria be rotated between Southern and Northern Nigeria and resolved that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the Southern Region,” the communiqué stated.
Notwithstanding their stance of rotating power between the North and South, the governors affirmed their commitment to the unity of Nigeria on the pillars of equity, fairness, justice, progress and peaceful co-existence.
In following up on their maiden meeting in May on open grazing, the governors set a September 1, 2021 date for the promulgation of the law against open grazing in all-member states. Still on security, the Southern governors, in their deliberation on the Nigeria Police Security Trust Fund, resolved that funds deducted from the Federation Account (FA) for the Trust Fund “should be distributed among the states and Federal Government to combat security challenges.”
On PIB, the governors commended the National Assembly for the progress made in its passage. They, however, rejected the proposed three percent and supported the five percent share of the oil revenue to host community as recommended by the House of Representatives. The governors also rejected ownership structure of the proposed Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), maintaining that it was against the move that “the company be vested in the Federal Ministry of Finance but should be held in trust by Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) since all tiers of government have stakes in that vehicle.”
“Given the 13% derivation to ameliorate environmental degradation of the oil producing host communities, any other provision, be it 5% or 3% for oil producing host communities amounts to double provisions for degradation of environment arising from oil exploration and exploitation. It is therefore our view that rather than making another provision for host communities, efforts be made to manage the 13% for the benefits of host communities whose environment have been degraded. The 13% is not for states to build flyovers, five star hotels and airports in state capitals,” the communique read. The undue emphasis on state police’s ability to cut the Gordian knot about insecurity is misplaced precisely because if state police are dearth in number of well trained, well equipped and well-motivated personnel reminiscent of what happens with the Nigerian Police, they cannot possibly be the margin panacea for our insecurity. In addition, the governors insisted on the establishment of the state police, frowned on selective criminal administration of justice and arrests.
In his reaction to Monday’s resolutions of the southern governors, immediate past general secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr Anthony Z. Sani faulted them on some of their key decisions, especially issues on the Electoral Act. He said: “While I appreciate the concerns on some of the issues raised by southern governors in their recent communique, I wish to point out that electronic voting process has never been part of the electoral act of 2010 as amended. Even the card reader has never been part of the Electoral Act. That was why Atiku Abubakar’s reliance on the central server in the nation’s electoral process was rejected by the presidential tribunal and the Supreme Court.”
There is no doubting the fact that Nigerians had awaited the stance their governors on how various pertinent issues rocking the polity. While the assessment of the resolutions continues to dominate public discourse, observers hold that if the governors remain united and strong in their resolve, it could mark the beginning of some form of restructuring, where the “all powerful central government” no more dictates to parts of the country on how to issues should be dealt with.
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