A group, Core Federalists (CF), has thrown its weight behind the call by Southern Governors for collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) by the Federating units and a total ban on open grazing, saying, given the division, the troubled polity, among others that the issues had raised, it had become imperative for the country to redraft a new Constitution before December 2021, which should be legitimatised through referendum by February 2022.
This was just as CF noted that the position of the Northern Governors on VAT collection and cattle grazing ran counter to the demands of their forebears prior to independence, recalling that the position then was that each region shall have complete legislative and Executive Autonomy with respect to all matters except External Affairs, Defense, Customs, among others.
According to CF, a sociopolitical political organisation that advocates for a comprehensive restructuring of Nigeria, one of whose founders was late Comrade Yinka Odumakin, the new constitution should address the above and other important Federalizing Reforms, particularly the Exclusive List.
The group made the call on Wednesday in a statement titled: “North-South Power Shift Divide- If Federalism Wins, The People Win!” copy of which was made available to newsmen by its Acting National Spokesperson, Mark Adebayo.
CF, while declaring that the two key demands by the Southern Governors were in order, posited that the communiqués from the forums of the Southern and Northern Governors relating to them under the reference “have made it clearer to identify and determine the issues that should be addressed to assure a better future for Nigeria and they demand urgent attention.”
This was just as the group, while noting that the immediate cause of their political rift can be situated in the 2023 general elections, pointedly said that “the values they represent, advocate for and promote as their casus belli are inseparably linked to the Federalist imperatives that the CF has repeatedly called all stakeholders to address, namely a restructuring of Nigeria to make governance in Nigeria work better for all Nigerians.”
It said, with the new development, North-South Governors’ political divide had been reduced to three core issues, namely Control of Open Grazing of livestock, Collection of VAT by Federating units and Power sharing through power rotation between the North and South.
According to CF, Control of Open Grazing of livestock, and its security implications for federating units, is linked to devolution of policing and the empowerment of the federating units to enhance community policing, while Collection of VAT by Federating units is linked to the call for a review of the Exclusive and Concurrent lists to reflect more devolution of powers to enhance the viability of Federating Units, adding that Power sharing through power rotation between the North and South, in this instance principally between the North and South is linked to the need for Constitutional reforms to ensure explicit and justiciable clauses for breaches of the Federal Character Principle.
“But progress cannot be made if the truth and justice of the issues are not addressed,” the group warned.
Speaking further, CF recalled that the position of the Northern Governors ran contrary to the demands of their forebears prior to independence.
“To be specific, *items 1 and 7* on the eight-point demand of the North in 1953 regarding the need for regional autonomy states as follows:
“1. That each region shall have complete legislative and Executive Autonomy with respect to all matters except the following: External Affairs, Defense, Customs and West African Research Institutions.
“7. All the revenues shall be levied and collected by the regional government except Customs revenue at the port of discharge by the central Agency and paid to its treasury,” CF said.
It argued that if Nigeria was to truly practise Federal governance that incentivizes autonomy of federating states, opposition to collection of VAT by Federating Units would be a reversal of these intentions of the founding fathers of Nigeria.
The group, however, said there may be modifications requiring states to contribute parts of their collection for federal developmental purposes but quickly noted that such contributions can only be meaningful with collective understanding of its purposes and benefits.
On power shift, CF, while warning that opposition to it is a recipe for chaos, called on all stakeholders in the country “to engraft the power sharing mechanisms explicitly in Constitutional Law and provide legal and administrative triggers to address breaches of such agreements.”
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