By Ray Ekpu
The
failure of the Senate to approve the devolution of powers from the
centre to the federating states is a colossal misreading of the
country’s temperature. It sends the wrong message to the agitators
campaigning for ethnic self determination, total resource control and
confederation. It says to them that the Senate thinks everything is okay
in the country; that there is nothing to worry about and that the
country as it is, is working just fine. This is a most regrettable
decision and if the current tension arising from the dysfunctional state
of Nigeria reaches an irreversible crescendo the Senate should hold
itself largely responsible.
 |
| *Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki |
Here
are the facts: there has been a massive agitation by some Igbo youths
for a Biafra Republic . The numbers are increasing and on May 30, they
grounded all the five Igbo states as a show of their strength. Some
Arewa Youths have asked the Igbos in the north to go away from their
territory before October 1, 2017 otherwise… Some militants in the South
South also say that northerners in the South South should also go away
from their territory before October 1 otherwise… A group in the South
West has already drawn a map of an Oduduwa Republic meaning that they
are ready to secede except… The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,
has called a series of fence-mending meetings but no mending has yet
taken place.
The
Nnamdi Kanu group which calls itself the Independent Peoples of Biafra
(IPOB) has already declared that there will be no governorship election
in Anambra Statein November except there is a referendum on the idea of Biafra. Anambra is coincidentally the home of Emeka Odumegwu–Ojukwu, the Oxford
trained historian – soldier who led the Biafran revolt (1967 – 1970)
that ended in a monumental disaster. One million dead persons later,
Kanu is embarking on another Biafra
misadventure which is catching the attention of the youths who have
never been victimised by the horrors of war but are enthused by the
prospects of a putative utopia of that ill-fated name.
Take
note that it is the unworkability of Nigeria as a nation that creates
room for the workability of Biafra as an idea. Biafra may not become a
nation because a lot is stacked against it but the idea will survive,
will gain traction and gain converts as long as the dysfunctionality of
Nigeria persists. I have lived through one Biafra in my life and that
was horrendous. I don’t want to live through another Biafra ever again.
Kanu is threatening to halt the Anambra governorship election in
November if no referendum is conducted on Biafra before then. It is
easier to stop an election than to conduct it. The reason is that it is
easier and safer to stay at home than to go out to vote with all the
attendant risks. What will the government do if Kanu appropriates
Anambra by issuing orders that are obeyed. If people stay away from the
polls in Anambra either in obedience to Kanu’s order or out of fear then
Kanu has won and the government has lost. The Federal Government is
likely to tell people that they will be protected; they have no reason
to fear; that they should go out and vote. If people refuse to vote
because they fear for their lives, then Kanu has appropriated a part of
the Federal Republic because in a democracy election is the instrument
of legitimate governance.
With
or without Kanu’s shenanigans, Nigeria is a troubled Republic. This is a
huge country with a huge manpower and material resources, liquid and
solid, that ought to gain maximum benefits from the economies of scale.
Such countries as China, India and Indonesia which also have
multi-cultural and multi-racial differences have been able to manage
their diversities into a winning formula by giving significant powers to
the constituent states. On the other hand, we have not benefitted much
from our bigness and our diversity because of our policy of
centralisation and uniformisation of almost every aspect of our lives.
It is within these canons of centralisation and uniformisation that the
demon of injustice rears its horrid head. That causes disharmony and
disunity. And the government peddles the shibboleth that Nigeria ’s
unity is not negotiable. But the government itself has negotiated
Nigeria ’s unity already by selecting all the heads of security outfits
from one section of the country and from one religious group. What that
means is that the head of the government does not trust security
personnel from other parts of the country no matter how qualified they
may be. If you don’t trust people from other parts of the country why
should they trust you from the other part of the country. Trust begets
trust, they say. So Nigeria ’s unity is being inadvertently negotiated
already.
We
seem to be enthralled by the IMF philosophy of “one size fits all”. A
few example will suffice. In education at the University level we have a
central admission agent called JAMB. It fixes varying cut-off points
for kids from various states. That is discrimination, injustice and
inequality. You can’t build or unite a nation that way. There should be
only one cut-off point for all kids in all states. Those who fail to
meet that cut-off point can go through a remedial programme and get into
the university. In any case, I know of no sensible country in the world
that treats university education as “mass therapy”. Universities have
their individual idiosyncrasies and aim to produce graduates that are
uniquely theirs with the identifying attributes of their university.
That process starts with the university’s admission culture. Please
scrap JAMB. Let each university admit whoever they want. I went through
that process. I benefited from the freedom of choice. No two parts of
the country can grow at the same rate educationally no matter how hard
you try.
Part
of the problem of the states owing salaries today is corruption,
inadequate generation of internal revenue and a wage bill that is
nationally determined. Yes, there can be a national minimum wage but the
wages paid by each state should be determined by the state, according
to the ability of each state. No two states have the same financial
strength so the “one size fits all” policy is part of the problem of our
federalism.
Look
at this anomaly. We have a federal police force that is largely funded
in the states by the state government. The governor is called the chief
security officer of the state, but he has no administrative or
operational control over the commissioner of police (CP) in the state.
That power resides in the Inspector General of Police in Abuja . And we
have had several cases where the CP had refused to take directives from
the Governor, the Chief Security Officer of the state in which the CP
serves. That anomalous situation plus the fact that you cannot have a
single police force in a huge country with various cultural
idiosyncrasies and local traditions. In almost every instance, it is the
local police that knows the lay of the land, and the bad boys and girls
in the community. They, too, know the culture and speak the local
language. These two attributes make for effectiveness in crime
prevention and detection and are perhaps the strongest reasons for a
state police in a federation.
If
you did not know, know it now. Some states provide facilities for
federal universities and federal health centres in their states. Some
others repair federal roads. The argument of the state governments that
carry these extra burdens on their backs is that these facilities are in
their territories and are utilised largely by the state’s indigenes. If
that is so, why should the Federal Government have responsibilities it
does not have the ability to execute? And why shouldn’t such
responsibilities be handled by the state that is the direct beneficiary
of that facility?
The
logic for restructuring is that the system as it is, has not worked
efficiently and it could work almost flawlessly if restructured.
Restructuring, as I understand it, is giving more responsibilities,
powers and resources to the states so that they can perform some of the
functions that the Federal Government has not been able to perform. It
also gives each state the opportunity to grow at its own pace, utilising
its comparative advantage the best way it can. The actual content of
the restructuring has to be determined by the various stakeholders in
the polity through negotiation, accommodation and legislation. No
perfect solution may be found that will satisfy all sections of the
country but any solution that removes the current injustices, inequities
and roadblocks to a better life for all Nigerians will be an acceptable
solution to the current asphyxiating gridlock.
*Ray Ekpu, a veteran journalist, was the CEO of the defunct Newswatch Communications
Comments
Post a Comment