When a former vice president and presidential hopeful on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, recently addressed the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), London on the importance of strengthening the economic management system of the federating states in Nigeria, the major takeaway was that we have lived on a dangerous structural fault line for too long and pretended all was well.
Though the former vice president used the auspicious opportunity of his speech to harp on some of his economic programmes and policies as a presidential candidate, the emphasis was heavily on the ills of our defective federal system of government.
First, we can no longer afford to keep promoting, or rather tolerating a defective political structure as it has become obvious that the federalism we practice is at best not smart and at worst a complete negation of what it should be. How long can we continue to deceive ourselves that the present relationship between the centre and the federating states are sustainable?
After 19 years of uninterrupted democracy, it is now an undisputable fact that today’s Nigerian states have essentially been reduced to parastatals of the federal government and have become dangerously addicted to the monthly allocations they receive from Abuja.
We politicized the creation of states and local governments over the years. States and local governments became too weak to meet their constitutional responsibilities and consequently the government emasculated them and took away those responsibilities which belong to them. It is therefore very attractive for these states and local governments to become addicted to revenues from the federation account and to care less about their internal revenue opportunities.
If we accept the wisdom behind calls for restructuring of the economy, we must be ready to build a foundation for its success: we must, in other words restructure the polity.
True federalism ensures that a strong federal government guarantees national unity while allowing various parts of the country or the federating units to set their own priorities.
As a consequence, the federal government appropriates, along with these responsibilities, huge resources. For example, in the allocation of revenue from the federation account, the federal government is unduly favoured at the expense of the states and local governments. Out of every naira in the federation account, 56k will go to the federal government and four other ‘special accounts’ which it manages! This is neither efficient nor equitable.
We can no longer afford to keep promoting, or rather tolerating a defective political structure as it has become obvious that the federalism we practice is at best not smart and at worst a complete turnaround of what it should be.
Beyond the healthy competition among the federating units which a restructured Nigeria would engender is the unique opportunity for the retooling of the leadership recruitment process in the country. Governance would be elevated to a serious business manned by equally serious-minded people. The attraction to power would no longer be a chance to stumble upon privileges not worked for. But a carefully calibrated move to demonstrate ingenuity and quality in creating wealth for the country.
The restructured Nigeria is a Nigeria that will not only provide opportunities for everyone to work but even more specifically is one that will challenge the leadership to demonstrate capacity to create wealth for every layer of governance.
It is time for citizens to demand from people aspiring to lead them as a matter of right, a plan on not just how to manage their wealth but most fundamentally how the wealth is going to be created. We should not continue to allow political slogans take the place of cogent plans and propagandas substitute clear-cut agenda.
Nigeria needs a leadership that can create wealth for the country and make it work. Every part of Nigeria has enough wealth to sustain it. What is lacking is the leadership with the required capacity and vision to tap and manage the wealth on behalf of all.
We need a Nigeria that challenges our leadership to create wealth in every layer of government and make it work for our citizens. Only restructuring can make that happen and any skeptic of restructuring Nigeria is merely submitting to continued leadership indolence we have in our country today. God bless Nigeria!
Ifeanyi Izeze writes from Port Harcourt
