Unless we decentralise, scale down political leadership, we are heading nowhere —Dr Fapohunda

Dr Akin Fapounda

Dr Akin Fapohunda, one of the leaders of The Patriots, is the secretary of the Steering Committee of the Eminent Members Forum and secretary general of the Western Region (Atunto) Organisation, a Yoruba Think Tank. An advocate of restructuring, Fapohunda, in this interview by KUNLE ODEREMI, speaks on the frequent efforts to amend the 1999 Constitution, advocacy of leaders of The Patriots and the expected role of President Bola Tinubu on constitutional reforms vis-a-vis his letter to the President on the subject matter. Excerpts:

The National Assembly has rolled out bills relating to amending certain aspects of the 1999 Constitution. Do these bills align with your philosophy of reworking the Nigerian federation, which you have been a staunch advocate?

It’s unfortunate that we analogously have a huge “worn out cloth” but sadly, we are patching it anew in 39 places. Is it useful to patch a cloth that is worn out in 39 places and expect a good outcome? The House of Representatives has come up anew with 39 proposed amendments. Members of the Senate have not come up with their own set of amendments. Eventually, we might have between 60 and 100 amendments in the Constitution. What a waste of valuable time of the country and its people. Whereas, what we need is a readable prose Federal Constitution in not more than 30 pages We need to have a serious document that can be readable in just 30 pages, which all Nigerians can easily memorise and know what it’s all about.

The original Constitution was written on four large sheets, using about 4,500 words, Including the 27 amendments since 1776, it now runs 7,500 words. Printed on pocket-sized paper, it is just a 36-page document. The Nigerian Constitution, on the other hand, consists of 320 articles divided into eight chapters, running into almost 400 pages. This provides endless avenues for many half-baked Senior Advocates of Nigeria to terrify us citizens. The Supreme Court seems confused these days as it grapples with various stipulations embodied in a most obtuse 1999 Constitution and its unwieldy amendments.

One of the key items in the proposals that you made the other time was for the country to return to Westminster parliamentary order. This is one of the proposals before by the National Assembly. How do you see the move?

This often happens when you pick and choose what to leave or amend. A holistic appraisal of our framework of governance is most appropriate rather than just changing clauses that catches the fancy of some members of NASS. So, have they amended the revenue allocation formula? Have they acted on the winner-take-all electoral system? Have they amended the political party structure that would bring out well qualified candidates? What of the very bloated Exclusive List of functions that only Abuja is burdened with?

Overall and holistically, what the National Assembly is proposing is till vague. Is it the French model? Are we using the British model? But when you are picking and choosing areas to patch up, focus and coherence is lost. Why can’t they say that what we need is a federation with concurrent regional governments; with a two-tier Constitution in a decentralised system, and a clause that permits referendum in order to ascertain the wishes of the various ethnic nationalities?

In all these, what do you think is the role of President Bola Tinubu?

The chief executive of the country now is President Bola Tinubu. In any organisation or institution, when the CEO is not giving directions, staff members can do what they like. They can be working when in actual fact they are doing nothing that will be of a long-term interest. In the absence of any direction or guidance by President Tinubu, the National Assembly is merely groping in the dark. Eventually, he will pick and choose what changes to allow or veto. It would be most unfortunate to treat Nigeria with such levity. President Tinubu ought to have set the agenda by simply instructing the Attorney General to prepare a bill that takes a holistic view of the 1999 Constitution, make comprehensive changes and pass the same to the National Assembly to instigate a national debate beyond the chambers of the National Assembly. The country is not well governed in this regard. But, we need to decentralise. We need to reduce the cost of governance. There are so many requirements that need to be debated. Last year, I drafted a bill. A letter was delivered to the office the President. This is to urge him to take Nigerian seriously.

Did you eventually get a response as regards to the letter you wrote to President Tinubu?

Not at all! My appeal to President Tinubu is that very many eminent Nigerians cannot be wrong; as to be treated with levity. The views of very distinguished Nigerians such Chief Emeka Anyaoku; Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Chief Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), the late Chief FRA Williams; the late Professor Ben Nwabueze and the recently demised Chief Edwin Clark and Chief Ayo Adebanjo are very worthy of urgent consideration. All these people are eminently qualified to observe that things are not right with us as a country. Their opinions should not be just swept aside, like a used rag by any political office holder at whatever level whose tenures are bound to expire willy-nilly.

Why do you think the president has been apparently reticent on the issue of a holistic constitutional reform?

Let me give the president the credit that he is a very good person; we cannot impute motives to what is in his mind. But I remember when eminent leaders of The Patriots paid him a visit last year, he said he was interested in the economy and that he wasn’t interested in politics. By such thinking, the president would be making a very grave mistake because the economy is not the problem of Nigeria. Foundationally, politics is the problem. I am still appealing to him (the president) to reconsider without delay. Whatever his reasons are, they (the reasons) cannot supersede those of eminent Nigerians I have mentioned. The President should take time to go back, read and digest the People’s Republic written by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

The National Political Conference of 2014 came up with some far-reaching recommendations and some people argue that if former President Goodluck Jonathan had implemented the report, these issues would have been addressed. Do you think that the report is capable of solving all the problems that you have highlighted?

Timeliness is everything. If the report was implemented in 2014, that’s 11 years ago it would have made some sense but the atmosphere in the country then is very different from what we have now. We have had eight years of (President Muhammadu) Buhari that led the country on a very wrong path towards ethnic self-determination. As we speak, the little glue that binds Nigeria together has been removed by how Buhari managed the country in a pathetic manner. All the compromises of 2014 have expired. Even if it was implemented in 2014, in 2025 things have become so bad that it’s time now to forget the patch-up of 2014. We now need a fundamental change. A lot of water has passed under the bridge. With a debt of over N140 trillion, Nigeria can no longer afford 18 additional states. the Oronsaye Report is in abeyance. By now, we have over 1000 Federal Ministries, Departments and agencies (MDAs).

On the eve of his departure from office, former President Buhari took some items, railways and electricity from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent list. To what does it show we are on course in a form of decentralising the government?

Our problem is more complex than applying cosmetic changes to them. Can states that are unable to implement 70,000 minimum wages take on power generation? Electric power investment is huge. You need a lot of dollars to build turbines, do transmission lines, and so on. Unless we decentralise government and scale down political leadership, we are heading nowhere. For the country to develop, we must reduce recurrence expenditure from 80 percent to nothing more than 30 percent to have enough money to execute capital projects. In 2024, only 25 percent of the federal capital budget was implemented while recurrent was implemented 100 per cent. We must cut areas of waste so that we can free enough money to do critical things for the next five, 10 to 20 years. In fact, we need five-year plans for our budgeting cycles. The cosmetic approach will never take us anywhere.

You believe that a new constitution will address this kind of infractions that you have noticed?

I’m going to credit the National Assembly for the creation of Regional Commissions. That’s an admission that Nigeria must be run in a modular manner: because each of the regions have peculiarities to be managed differently. If we have a Constitution that recognizes decentralized regions, each region should have control of affairs holistically. Each region will generate its own revenue and contribute to the maintenance of the Federal Government as if it is a club. We’re back to the time when the late Sir Ahmadu Bello said, look, I’m not interested in “Lagos” as it then was. I want to stay in Kaduna. Let (Sir Abubakar) Tafawa-Balewa go to Lagos and be the prime minister. We should make the center unattractive. In fact, President Tinubu would have made a better prime minister of Western Region. He knows far more about the Western areas than any other part of Nigeria. Obviously, Mr. Peter Obi will be better as premier of the Eastern Region. Mallam El-Rufai is most ideal for the North West and so on. Nigeria needs to be managed in a decentralized manner. There will be positive competition. There would be massive development across the country. Should there be any mistake at policy implementation levels, eight regional governments cannot make the same mistakes simultaneously.

What do you look forward to in this agitation? And what would have satisfied you in terms of the kind of changes that you want?

Not only me; other groups, such as The Patriots, the Eminent Elders Forum, The African Leadership Group, and many other bodies are saying the same thing. In the Western Region (Atunto) Organisation, our voice is clear that we need a Constituent Assembly without further delay. And it can be done. In fact, all these groups already have drafts that reflect what we have been saying for years. It is to just synthesize them and publish for Nigerians to debate and agree via a referendum. And within three months, we can promulgate a new constitution into law to replace the 1999 Constitution. And if we do it before the end of the year, it means the 2027 election will be based on the new framework where you don’t need to do more than win elections in your constituency and from there onwards, it will be an electoral college to get to higher offices. Once anyone wins elections at the LGA Constituency level, he/she can be elevated to become prime minister without expending any further funds. No one will ever need region-wide campaigns to become Premier or nationwide travels to be prime minister. This will reduce the tension and obviate maneuverings and backbiting all others in order to emerge. There will be no need for 100 million naira to purchase nomination forms. That is what we are hoping for. President Tinubu must be compelled to listen to this voice of reason. He has the next six months to prepare the good ground that his name will be remembered forever.

What advice do you have for President Tinubu in respect of the agitation that you are canvassing for?

As a country, we have been fumbling and wobbling since 1999. It has become imperative more than ever that Nigeria undertakes fundamental course corrections. We need to discuss how the 371 ethnic nationalities can live and coexist in peace, with focus on real development. History will not absolve President Tinubu and the entire political office holders if by error of commission or omission, Nigeria is allowed to sleepwalk into 2027 era, the way we are now. On the other hand, it might be said eventually that here was President Bola Tinubu: the father of a reformed modern Nigeria. Notwithstanding the esteemed value and respect accorded President Tinubu as the current de facto leader of the Nigerian polity, the eminent personalities mentioned by name in this interview have a very urgent duty to work concertedly with all civil society bodies and the leaders of the ethnic nationalities across Nigeria towards the Drafting of Bill seeking for the substitution of the 1999 Constitution for formal presentation to the National Assembly, as soon as possible. It is time to test the notion of where the sovereignty of Nigerian people truly lies.

Kunle Oderemi