We need true federalism not state creation – Part 2

Out of the 36 states in Nigeria, the predominantly Hausa-Fulani Muslim North has 14, while ethnic minorities in the North have five; the Yoruba have six, with stakes in two, and the Igbo have five states. Therefore, the need to balance the states in the North with those in the South could justify the creation of more states. However, given the existing multifaceted challenges hindering the viability of some states in Nigeria today—such as high insecurity, poor governance, infrastructural deficit, inadequate road networks and health facilities, ethnic clashes, and economic underdevelopment—the creation of new states will be unbeneficial. The argument that creation of more states will assuage the anger of marginalised ethnic groups is a ruse.

 
The fact remains that the creation of more states is just another opportunity for siphoning public resources. This explains why politicians and big businessmen are the spearheads of the agitation for new states. In other words, state creation reflects the misplaced ambition of some selfish politicians to erect their own fiefdoms in the newly created states.
 
In any case, the process for creating new states in a civilian government, as stipulated in Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution, is tedious and cumbersome. Similarly, the process for altering the constitution to create a state is challenging and includes a referendum to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Despite the creation of states in Nigeria, the country is bedeviled by serious socio-economic challenges. Moreover, virtually all these states are not economically viable. Their dependence on petrodollars from the federal government for survival has worsened the increasing poverty rate in the country.
 
Consequently, state creation cannot be our priority at the moment in Nigeria. We urgently need to establish workable federalism—a true federalism with a weak centre and stronger federating units—to enable the federating units to grow at their own pace. What we are practising now in the name of federalism is an over-concentration of power at the centre to the detriment of the federating units. Such skewed and lopsided federalism that favours only the federal government, leaving the states as beggarly entities, is counterproductive.
 
As we have unequivocally stated in our previous editorials, now aptly encapsulated in a book entitled “Federalism is the Answer,” restructuring and federalism are the true balms that would heal Nigeria of her seemingly incurable festering wounds. The effects of decades of military overthrow of federalism have brought monumental ruin to Nigeria. The trouble with Nigeria transcends corruption, genteel poverty, ethnicity, and illiteracy. It lies in failed federalism. The overthrow of the principles of federalism and regional autonomy – systems that once triggered burgeoning economic growth in the defunct regions – is our greatest undoing today. Therefore, we must tell those clamouring for state creation the benefits of restoring true federalism in Nigeria. It will strengthen democracy and propel peace, unity, and human flourishing in Nigeria.

  
At the moment, it is unfortunate that the common strands that cut across the different geopolitical zones in the country are factionalism, balkanisation, mutual distrust, mutual suspicion, pent-up grievances, enmity, hostility, and fear of domination. Why? It is because the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria feel shortchanged by the encroaching and overriding federal power over the federating units. Therefore, we must establish a decentralised and democratised federal structure. There should be adequate devolution of power from the centre to the federating units. It is saddening that the 1999 Constitution concentrates too much power (as seen from the long list of federal powers in the Exclusive List of the Constitution) in the hands of the federal government, thus leaving the federating units at the mercy of the federal government or as appendages to the government at the centre. This is the main reason for the consistent clamour for the enactment of a people’s constitution and, by extension, the restructuring of Nigeria.
 
In that regard, the Exclusive List in our Constitution should be shortened to consist of only national defence, foreign affairs, security, commerce, and currency. We need state policing, state educational systems, state economies, state taxation, state health systems, and so forth. The challenges of fiscal federalism should be tackled by making the revenue sharing formula inversely related to revenue generation. States producing the oil wealth (if it is still so called) should get the lion’s share of the revenue. The sharing formula, which allocates 52.68 per cent to the federal government, 26.72 per cent to the states, and 20.60 per cent to local government councils, should be jettisoned. More revenue should be allocated to the states and local governments. There should be a provision for rotational presidency in line with the different geopolitical zones in the country. It is unjust and a violation of true federalism for one political bloc or geopolitical zone to consistently produce the president of the country.
 
Unity has a price tag. Unity and peace spring from the crannies of justice. The federal units want commutative justice done to them. Without justice, there will be no true unity and peace in the country.
• Concluded.