The ABC of restructuring

A major issue dominating the political space as the nation prepares for the 2019 general election remains the restructuring agenda for the country. Its trajectory lies in the amalgam of challenges that have impeded the pace of the country occupying a prime place in the league of advanced nations, despite Nigeria’s huge and diverse potential. Perceived defects in the structure left behind by the British colonial masters, which compounded by military incursion into political power in 1966, have given rise to strident demands for retooling towards achieving a true federation, where equity, justice and fairness among the more than 250 ethnic and sub-ethnic nationalities making up the country shall subsist.

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Experts, including scholars, have offered what the author of the book, Federal Government, Wheare K. C. called prima facie for a federation such as existed in Brazil, Switzerland, India, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Germany, South Africa, United States and others. The factors include that there must be desire by an association of states which is formed to achieve a common purpose in a coordinate arrangement, to be under a single independent government for some purposes. The issue of desire is regarded the first prerequisite of federal government.

Another factor, which the experts said forms the template is that they (people) must desire at the same time to retain or to establish independent regional governments, with Wheare stating: “Once the two conditions are met, there is good prim facie for saying that federal government is appropriate.” Beyond that factor is that the constituent nationalities must have the capacities to work the system they desire; existence of cultural affinity, as well as similarity of social institutions, and according to Wheare, “But of all the factors which produce the desire for union, the one which at the same time produces best the capacity for union is similarity of social, and particularly political institutions, particularly its Constitution.”

Advocates of restructuring have used various platforms to inform, elucidate and rationalise their advocacy with unassailable data. The statistics are derived from government agencies and reputable international organisations like the United Nations and the World Bank. While the advocacy seems to have registered in the psyche of most Nigerians, a privileged few claim what restructuring entails in meaning, contents and intention remains vague. A few of the antagonists put an apocalyptic tag on the advocacy. For instances, while in an audience with some leaders of an ethnic groups from the South-South recently, President Muhammadu Buhari insinuated a variegated agenda by the promoters of restructuring. His words: “You mentioned something, which is topical these days: the restructuring of Nigeria. Every group asking for restructuring has got its own agenda and I hope it can be accommodated by the constitution.”

Similarly, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) was curious about the clamour for restructuring saying the  advocates were not clear about what they want. “The term, however, means different things to different people or groups,” the spokesman of ACF, Mohammed Biu, said in a statement. “To some, it is true federalism, whatever that means. For others it is fiscal federalism, while some groups tout resource control, yet we have those for resource ownership. ACF notes with regret that those clamouring or demanding for the so-called restructuring are yet to define what they actually mean by the concept and its application in our present democratic setting. In most cases, the meaning depends on which section of the country or where the person advocating it comes from. It is, therefore, the considered view of the ACF that any acceptable restructuring meant to improve the unity, stability, harmony and peaceful coexistence of the country must be based on just, fair and equitable principles to all Nigerians that come with clarity of definition.”

Restructuring and due process

According to the advocates, the restructuring agenda encapsulates the fundamental issues that constitute encumberances in Nigeria’s quest to attaining nationhood and the real and pragmatic constitutional and legitimate steps that must be taken for the country to fulfill its primary objectives and obligations to all the stakeholders in the Nigerian project. It is based on building consensus among the various ethnic nationalities in the country based on past and current realities in the country. The leaders of the crusade constantly harped on due process. Some individuals and groups like The Patriots, a pressure group, led by senior citizens like Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Professor Ben Nwabueze once proposed a Bill to facilitate the process of restructuring the country, mass-based groups like the United Action for Democracy (UAD) produced a draft model of the kind of constitution Nigeria should operate. From the South-western part of the country, where the advocacy on restructuring has been sustained and well-coordinated for decades, the crusade has spread to all other stakeholders in the federation, such that today, the leading lights cut across the zones, age bracket and professional callings. Varying strategies deployed by the promoters, including intense lobbying, media campaigns, talk shows and seminars as opposed to threats and violence have made the advocacy widespread and effective. Leaders of the Southern and North-central zone have sustained the tempo of the advocacy by embarking on an aggressive drive across board nationwide.

Cores issues being raised under restructuring centre on the quasi-military system foisted on the country which has been subsisting as a federal arrangement. It has subordinated the other tier of government, the states, which ought to exist in a coordinate arrangement with central government. Powers of the states have been eroded over matters that fell within their jurisdiction in the pre and post-independence constitutions of the country.

Therefore, the contents of the restructuring agenda involve restoration of the powers of states based on the legislative items that fall on  the Exclusive List, Residual List and the Concurrent List as contained in the 1963 Constitution. Another vexed matter is the lopsided political structure that favours the North against the Southern divide. This remains a major source of friction among the ethnic nationalities making up the federation, as the inequitable distribution of states, federal and state constituencies confers a curious advantage on the North. It is the belief that proper devolution of powers will remove the imbalance, enthrone equity and justice. The application quota system in official appointments is increasingly becoming unpopular among stakeholders in the country, who argue that it undermines competence, quality and merit. It has deprived many the opportunity to take advantage of their sterling qualities towards contributing to nation-building. Similar grouse has been expressed by a lot of Nigerians over population census, with allegations that it is often skewed in favour of a section of the country. Unfair representation in the National Assembly underscores the bitterness that characterize every political contest. Constituting another major source of crisis is the controversial revenue sharing formula, which enables the central government get the lion share, whereas states literally lay the golden egg.  Coupled with that is the fact that both federal and states constitute the federating units and ought to relate in a coordinate arrangement. Consequently, there is the clamour for resource control by states based on the principles of federalism, just as the question of a single police command structure underlines the call for state police. It is also a popular contention that economics of federalism will allow federating units look inward to augment their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) 9instead of going cap-in-hand to the centre at the end of every month) and harness their potential to reenact the glory of the First Republic, when regions only contributed 50 percent of their revenues to the central purse.

Prior to the 2014 national conference convened by the administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, some personalities, professional groups and pro-democracy and human rights organisation had been at the vanguard for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). Former President Olusegun Obasanjo could not suppress the agitation through a constitutional reform/conference but that of Jonathan became the ground for compromise between the moderates championing the SNC and the conservatives vehemently opposed to any form of conference. The next stage was implementation, which required due process through the Legislature (National Assembly), since there was no enabling law for plebiscite. It therefore stands that those pushing for restructuring recognize the strategic position of the Legislature and the rights of the people in the ongoing crusade.

The narrative among a few that have expressed reservations against restructuring is that the country has been going through reforms since independence in 1960. They cite the creation of the defunct Middle-West Region, states under different military regimes and multiplicity of local government areas. But the promoters of restructuring said those reforms were designed to serve certain selfish interests, stagnate development and implant instability, which are manifest in the country today. For instance, more than 30 out of the 36 states of the country are cannot pay workers’ salaries, just both the federal and state government agencies cannot meet their statutory obligations due to scarce resources, in efficiency and leadership ineptitude under what the current deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu described as a “feeding bottle federalism.” Accordingly he advised: “Unfortunately, there is little we can do about meaningful youth economic inclusion and employment until we restructure our behemoth federalism. I still hold the view that this feeding bottle federalism, this act of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which we have gradually enthroned as State Policy since the fall of the First Republic remains the cause of our economic quandary.”

Divergent views

The leader of the Ijaw ethnic nationality, Chief Edwin Clark, a major apostle of the restructuring, said it is wrong to equate restructuring with the leadership question as the core problem of Nigeria was the existing defective federal structure. “The reason Nigeria is not progressing the way it should is because of the unitary form of government we operate in the name of federalism. I think that is the problem. We need to restructure the country in line with the 2014 National Conference recommendations, 600 recommendations to move forward. Leadership People talk about leadership being the nation’s problem, but leadership can only work under a good environment; leadership under the present system cannot work. I strongly believe that a return to a federal system of government like we had it under the 1960 and 1953 constitutions will make Nigeria progress.”

The Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, was even quoted as saying that he preferred restructuring of the country to Igbo presidency in year 2023. Achebe said: “I think that most Nigerians also believe in restructuring because if the constitution is restructured, we will be going back to our independence constitution when we had the regions which were autonomous and yet, we also had a federal government in place.”

But, a Second Republic Minister of Steel, Chief Paul Unongo, in an interview, on restructuring, stated: “Restructuring, to me, means nothing. It’s just politics to me. Nigerians when they want to talk, they just talk and talk. We have been restructuring, we had a three regional government and we have had a parliamentary system…, So, when people are talking about restructuring, I hope that they understand history and the sort of thing they are referring to. So, what do you mean by restructuring? Do we need reforms? Yes. Are reforms being made? Yes. Do we need all the noises being made? No. Do we need all the people of Nigeria to be gathered and we truncate constitutionalism and ask the people to rewrite the constitution? I have never seen a country that has written so many constitutions as Nigeria.”

Matters arising

The Bill initiated by 171 members of the House of Representatives on constitutional reform, including a return to parliamentary form of government and  which generated public interest last Thursday, represents a chain reaction to the ceaseless campaign for restructuring, going the comments of  the advocates. However, pundits say the crusade requires a serious synergy from all that are involved in the renaissance. They will need to form a powerful lobby group comprising technocrats, professionals, peasants, CSOs and labour to curry the favour of the the Executive arm of government at all levels, National and state Houses of Assembly, as well liaise with the Parliamentary Caucus favourably disposed to the overall agenda and course of consensus building on restructuring.

Shortly before he passed on, world renowned novelist, Professor Chinua Achebe had expressed concern over the predicament of his fatherland more than five decades after attaining independence from Britain. In his part of his memoirs on the Nigerian Civil War, entitled, There was a country, he had raised a number of gnawing teasers on the inability of Nigeria to rise above the traits of an infant. “Nigeria’s history has been, entirely, one long, unrelieved history of despair. Fifty years after independence, Nigerians have begun to ask themselves the hard questions: How can the state of anarchy be reversed? What are the measures that can be taken to prevent corrupt candidates from recycling themselves into positions of leadership? Young Nigerians have often come to me desperately seeking solutions to several conundrums: How do we begin to solve these problems in Nigeria, where the structures are present but there is no accountability,” he pondered.