TRUE FEDERALISM AND RESTRUCTURING....

By Perekeme Odon 

Map of Nigeria

A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central (federal) government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of party, the states or the federal political body. Alternatively, federation is a form of government in which sovereign power is formally divided between a central authority and a number of constituent regions so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs.

   

Federation and restructuring? Who says it cannot work again in Nigeria even with the shabby mentality of our present leaders? True federalism/resource control can still work here in Nigeria. 

Article of Confederation

Federalism is having or relating to a system of government in which several states form a unity but remain independent in internal affairs, controlling their resources, businesses, and paying taxes to the centre, which is the headquarter.  This is also denoting the central government as distinguished from the separate units constituting a federation. Before 1966, after Nigeria's independence, a true federal system was in place. The regions were very vibrant and minding their businesses, which led to a man like Sir Ahmadu Bello in the 1959 general election shunned contesting for the Office of the Prime Minister and sent Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to the centre, because the regions were stronger & richer back then with full autonomy of power too. 

The regions thrived when leaders of honour & valour were in charge. Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo used the resources to develop and promote the Northern and Western regions respectively; while the Eastern region of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe suffered due to low prices & patronage of palm oil.

Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi

However, after the military took over, Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi, out of share greed abolished true federalism & resource control when he became Head of state in 1966; thus making the regions weak and strengthen the centre. Since then, Nigeria has not known peace till today.

The former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who spoke on Friday 7, 2017 at Effurun, Delta state insisted that; “ The beauty of Nigeria is in our diversity. The greatness of Nigeria is in diversity of our different languages. In spite of our difficulty, your majesty, progress is being made. I have always said there is nothing wrong with Nigeria but there is a lot wrong with Nigerians.; and what we need to do is to correct what is wrong with Nigerians. Some of us have to speak up. If things are wrong and you refuse to speak out you become an accomplice".

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo

Yes diversity. Yes, togetherness. Yes size of population for business & other bla bla bla. I sill want to let OBJ know that something is very wrong and amiss with the entity called Nigeria, & not Nigerians alone. Restructure Nigeria, & allow resource control to happen again like in the regional days. Something is not only wrong with Nigerians, but with Nigeria too. We need federalism & restructuring. Every Nigerian should be on some platforms, & location/placement of structures should be distributed evenly. Lagos is not the only state with a befitting sea ports. What about the Onne, Warri, Port Harcourt & Calabar ports/wharf? Why are they not functional today for better living conditions? There should be no quota system, or educational disadvantage states. Every tribe need same points to be admitted into the university.We need to sit down & talk.

Federations are often multi-ethnic and cover a large area of territory (such as Russia, the United States, India, or Brazil), but neither is necessarily the case. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, reduces differences between the disparate territories, and gives them all even more common ground.

Several ancient chiefdom and kingdoms, such as the 4th-century BC League of Corinth, Noricum in Central Europe, and the Haudenosaunee Confederation in pre-Columbian North America, could be described as federations or confederations. The Old Swiss Confederacy was an early example of formal non-unitary statehood

    

The former President went on to further say that  “We have to say this is not good enough and when we say this is not good enough we have to offer something greater than what is not good enough. There are a lot of things that are good than what is not good enough".

Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815. The North German Confederation, the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations.

Founded in 1922, the Soviet Union was formally a federation of Soviet Republics, autonomous republics of the Soviet Union and other federal subjects, though in practice highly centralized under the Government of the Soviet Union. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system.

  

Today, Nigerians especially the oil rich Southern States are agitating and demonstrating for resource control & true federalism, while other parts are asking for restructuring of the country. These statements have been ushering in hate words and even fueling the secession and break away of the Igbos from the entity called Nigeria; while some Northern States are against it due to most states are not contributing anything to the development of the country but taking much home through several local government areas created for them by their military leaders while in power.

In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq since 2005. Even in the United States of America where the Nigerian federalism structure of government was pattern out from, not all states are viable to meet up their responsibilities.  

Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Malaysia became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire. Nevertheless, I still doubt if it resource control will work in Nigeria today with the kind of mindsets our present crop of leaders now have towards its populace. Let's still keep our fingers crossed, & keep dreaming, thinking, pressing, agitating, crying and fighting over it.