Olubayo Oluduro, professor of Public Law, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, is also an associate of the Chartered Institute for Arbitration, UK. He speaks with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI on the state of the nation after 61 years of independence, among other issues.
Sixty-one years ago, the founding fathers of Nigeria envisioned a country whose diverse strengths and potential would coalesce into a formidable force in the world. In your own assessment, how well has the country fulfilled this vision?
To me, I don’t think Nigeria, as nation in its 61st year of existence, has been able to fulfill the vision of its founding fathers, because if you look at what has been happening in the country, you will see that there hasn’t been harmony among the various ethnic groups. Now, we have conflict here and there between one ethnic group and the other. Even when you look at the over 300 languages, you will discover that it is only three that are dominant. Just as you know, language is part of the culture of a society. And so, if your language is not recognized, it tends to go into extinction and when this happens, your culture is being devalued. These are some of the issues. For instance, if you look at a country like South Africa, I think they have officially just 11 languages and they are thriving with them, unlike Nigeria, which has many languages. So, we are not really fulfilling the visions of the founding fathers.
Looking at the economy, we are also not there yet. We have a population of over 200 million people, but we have not been able to take advantage of this to grow our economy which, to me, hasn’t thrived in any way. Every time, we go out to borrow to fund our budget. If our economy is really thriving, we won’t be doing this every time. Also, assuming the economy is growing, we won’t have the current rate of unemployment that we have in the country, where millions of graduates are churned out every year, but a majority of them have remained unemployed. When you look at all these variables and what is currently happening around us, you will see that our economy is really nothing to write home about. Some have said that Nigeria has the largest economy in West Africa, but I don’t believe this because the economy hasn’t been growing at the rate it should be growing. Though the government is trying, it can still do more to improve the economy of the country.
Another issue is that of the high poverty rate in the country. If you look at the statistics, you will see that Nigeria is a poverty-ridden country as a majority of the citizens cannot afford two square meal per day, because they live below two dollars per day, which is nothing to write home about. So, the government should do more, because it is the high rate of poverty everywhere that is pushing the youths into criminality. Assuming the Nigerian economy has been good, I believe that the high rate of insecurity and criminality that has enveloped the country wouldn’t have reached the level that it is now. So, the government really needs to put in more efforts into growing the economy.
Despite attaining independence, the country has continued to be disintegrated across party and religious lines, which has given rise to varied calls for secession from its major ethnic groups. Do you still believe that a united Nigeria is achievable?
To me, I still believe that a united Nigeria is possible, as I am an advocate of one Nigeria. Our founding fathers believe in this; that is one indivisible nation called Nigeria. And I believe it is still achievable notwithstanding the problems that have cloaked the country. The fact remains that most of the developed countries of the world also faced similar challenges in the past and they survived with good leadership. So, I believe if we too have a good leader that will be able to harness our diversities and properly turn them to strengths as our founding fathers dreamt, a united Nigeria will be achieved. We really don’t need to start making moves to disintegrate Nigeria, because by the time we start calling for secession here and there, what we will have will be weak republics that will still be at war with one another. So, I still believe in one indivisible sovereign state called Nigeria. I don’t believe that we should secede. All these calls for secession have been raised due to unfair treatments, as some people believe that despite being bona fide citizens of the country, they have not been fairly treated. So, if we are able to address the grouse of the separatist groups, I believe that we will still continue to live as one country.
Are you saying that if Nigeria breaks up today, the individual nation that will be pulling out will not be able to survive on their own despite the huge resources in their region?
They may be able to survive, but the fact remains that the agitation will still continue. For example, if you look at Nigeria, you will think about the Yoruba nation, the Biafra nation and the Arewa, but what about the minority ethnic groups? Where will they go? For example, the Junkuns, who are also minorities, are they also going to form their own republic too? Even within the Yoruba region that wants to become a republic, there may be problems there too. So I think the best thing for us as a nation is to harness the resources that we have to move the nation forward. I don’t think all hope is lost. As I said, the cause of the secessional calls is based on unfair treatments. And so, if you are able to tackle this problem, I believe that the calls for secession will diminish.
The problem is not that people are calling for secession, but whether they are ready to address the factors fuelling the separatists’ agenda. Going separate ways is not the solution to our problems in Nigeria, but addressing the root cause of the secession calls and harnessing our resources for one indivisible country called Nigeria. In 2014 that we had the national conference, people gathered to raise some solutions threatening Nigeria’s unity, why can’t the president [Muhammadu Buhari] look into these documents and not just dump them into the dustbin? Let us look at the views and solutions proffered by the stakeholders at the conferences and address the issues they raised. And once we are able to do this, I believe all these calls for secession will go down, because everything boils down to unfair treatments. We have some ethnic groups in the country that feel that they are being treated as second-class citizens and inferiors in their country. And this has been the problem.
So, I believe we should come together and address the agitations of the groups especially with the various submissions and agreements reached at the past national conferences. So far, nothing has been done with the solutions offered at the conferences. So, let the president harmonise all the views and submissions and work on them decisively, because we spent billions of naira putting the conferences together. So rather than calling for secession, let us address our collective fears and agitations, because diversity is our strength.
Many observers have argued that despite the country being richly blessed, years of bad governance have stifled its potential and forced it into socio-economic woes and insecurity. What is your take on this?
I believe that the observers have a point. And that is the truth. Nigeria is a country that is richly blessed with many resources which if they have been properly utilized by our leaders, we shouldn’t be where we are today. So our problem has been bad governance. As I said earlier, we have over 200 million people, which should ordinarily tell us about our economic growth. If you look at the natural resources that Nigeria is blessed with, you will discover that we have many of them that we are yet to tap. Except oil which we have relied solely on for years, other resources have been begging for attention in the country. So it can only take a courageous and very sensitive leadership to maximize the resources and move the country forward. So, I believe that if we have good governance in place, we will definitely get it right in Nigeria. And so, I want to share the views of the observers that we have not really done well in terms of governance.
Nigeria boasts of huge human resources aside the minerals and that is why when our people, including those that have graduated with Second Class Lower honours, leave the country and travel abroad, they excel. That is just to tell you we are really blessed with both natural and human resources. Nowadays, our doctors go out to developed countries and they perform very well. So that tells you that we have only been deficient in leadership.
In an attempt to lift the country out of its current abyss, many stakeholders have called for an end to the 1999 constitution on the premise that it is filled with irregularities that impede the country’s progress; how true is this?
Well aside the constitution, people have complained that the current presidential system of government that we run in Nigeria has been expensive. But, to me, I believe the problem we have is with the operators of the system. This is because the country where we borrowed the system from is doing very well. So, I really don’t know what is wrong with us that is making us not do well with the system. Before the civil war, we practised the parliamentary system of government, where we operated on the basis of regions, before the military now gave us the 1999 constitution which brought in the presidential system of government. To me, there is really nothing wrong with the presidential system, but rather, we are the one that haven’t been operating it well.
Now, in Nigeria, the system is very expensive to run. Even starting from the election, to become a governor in Nigeria, you need to go round all the local governments, spending money and bribing people, unlike what we have in the parliamentary system in which you only need to go to your local government alone. So people tend to compare the two systems vis-à-vis the running cost. And they have now seen that the parliamentary system is very cheap to run. But notwithstanding, I still believe that nothing is wrong with the presidential system, but with its operators in our country.
(Cut in) But sir, some people have said the 1999 constitution gives more power to the federal government at the expense of the state governments and that this is one of the factors stifling the potential of the state as it limits their powers. What do you make of this?
Yes, I agree with that. The fact remains that there are some parts of the constitution that need to be reviewed. The constitution is entitled ‘The 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria’, but the question is: how federal is the constitution itself? And this has been the issue that many people have been raising, especially when you compare provisions of the constitution with the real features and elements of a true federal system of government. According to scholars, one of the fundamental characteristics of a federal system is that it is a political system that features two sub-systems, which are the central government and the corresponding state governments.
As laid-down in the system, the two governments are supposed to be coordinated, such that neither of them should be politically subordinate to the other. They are to be independent of each other and interact only cooperatively and competitively. So if you look at this definition, you will see that we have not been running the federal system of government in Nigeria as it ought to be run. The 1999 constitution appears to give more powers and shift more responsibilities in favour of the federal government. There should be equal distribution of powers and not that one will arrogate powers to the detriment of the other, which is the way we practise it in Nigeria and that is why many people are crying, because the federal government is gaining grounds, while the states are being paralysed. That has been the problem.
In the federal system of government, we have the exclusive legislative list and the concurrent list. In the constitution, we have about 68 items under the exclusive legislative list, which is for the Federal Government. When you come to look at the concurrent list, which is to be shared by the Federal and State government, we have about 32 items. So if you look at the 68 items for exclusive and 32 items for concurrent out of which the federal government still takes some powers, you will discover that the constitution gives more powers to the Federal Government at the detriments of the state governments.
More so, there are some matters that are placed under the exclusive legislative list; they are to be determined by the Federal Governments, but they are of huge importance to the states. For instance, look at the census. A state should be able to carry out its own census, because without knowing your population, you cannot develop. But by the constitution, no state can do that, except the Federal Government. Also, look at Section 44 or so of the constitution, which states that the entire properties across the states, including all minerals and natural resources, both above or under waters, belong to and shall be managed by the Federal Government. But when you look at the country where we borrowed this federal system of government from, for example in the United States, it is not like that. Each state government in the country controls and manages the resources in their state and then pays some amount to the Federal Government. But in Nigeria, it is the reverse. And that is why people are shouting and calling for an end to the constitution.
Another thing is that the constitution has a lot of military features. Look at the issue of policing. In the US, each state has its own state police. But in Nigeria, the police are controlled by the Federal Government, which makes it very powerful. There are no state police, and every month, you see the state governors running to Abuja to collect monthly allowances, which is not supposed to be under a federal system of government. The State Governments are supposed to be independent and be empowered to control and put the resources in their state to good use, instead of turning into beggars before the Federal Government. So these issues should be looked at.
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