With the central government in Abuja stone deaf to calls for political reform, state governors in the South are forging a united front to force the issue. At a summit in Lagos, the governors concretised their position on restructuring, advocating the devolution of powers or true federalism. The theme of the summit resonates with a majority of the people in Southern Nigeria. Beyond that, the coalition is significant for the future of our fractured union.
The meeting of the 17 governors – except for Imo State, which was absent – had been long in coming. It was the first time in 12 years that the governors deemed it expedient to meet over common interests. Their inaugural summit had held in 2001, before the last one in 2005. Apparently engrossed in their different political agenda, the governors in the South kept their own counsel. Politically, this has been detrimental to the South. Conversely, the 19 governors in the North had been meeting regularly to championing their common interests.
In Nigeria’s complex and convoluted politics, the summit is encouraging. Apart from the main theme, the summiteers stressed the need for cooperation on security issues and the ways to develop their economies. Kidnapping, robbery, street gangsterism (or cultism in local parlance), Fulani herdsmen invasions and the infiltration of Islamist terrorists from the North, have been generating concern in the South. Without a police force of their own, these breaches have put Nigerians on the edge.
However, the governors made their biggest point by calling for the devolution of powers to the federating units. It is a signal that they want a change to true federalism. The current arrangement is a mess, with Abuja in control of practically everything. It has fuelled agitations, especially in the South, and is gaining ground in the North.
“There is certainly a lot to be done about true federalism, an issue that requires urgent, meticulous and proactive attention from the forum,” Akinwunmi Ambode, the host governor, said. Organisations like the Indigenous People of Biafra, MASSOB, Egbesu and O’odua Peoples Congress evidently challenge Nigeria’s tenuous political system. Left unattended to, these stressors are capable of exploding into political volcanoes that might consume the country.
The forum cited several constitutional incongruities impeding development at the state level. Among them are the failure to undertake the periodic review of the revenue allocation formula as prescribed by the 1999 Constitution and the overarching influence of the Federal Government. But federalism is about resource control. Any other system is an aberration.
Currently, the states that contribute a chunk of their resources to the Federation Account derive no benefits from doing so. Lagos State generates 55 per cent of all the value added tax collected but has no law to take care of its interests. The oil producing states, which generate over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s external revenue, get just 13 per cent of their resources. This is unlike what obtained under the 1963 Constitution, which granted 50 per cent to the region that generated the income.
Currently, the Federal Government controls the revenues generated at the state level and shares among the three tiers of government on a 52.68 per cent to the centre, 26.72 per cent to the states and 20.60 per cent to the local government council basis. This formula is against the practice in the United States, Australia, Germany and Canada, all of them federal jurisdictions. In the US, the states control the bulk of their resources and pay royalties and taxes to the centre. In other federal systems, it is the constitutional responsibility of the federating units to generate revenues and just remit a defined percentage to the central government.
If federalism was conceived as a political system meant to accommodate disparate ethnic groups, the governors, therefore, have an unassailable argument in calling for a strict adherence to this basic principle. The current constitution misses the dynamics of a complex political agglomeration, which Nigeria is. Inexplicably, it arrogates 68 items, including railways, insurance and police, solely to the centre in the Exclusive Legislative List. This is unmanageable for the centre. To achieve their objectives, the governors should put partisanship, their political antecedents and personal ambitions in the cooler, and forge a common campaign that will compel the centre and their governor colleagues in the North to buy into the argument. Led by Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada, 17 American states, in 2016, signed the “Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future.” The deal makes an economic case for expanding cooperation between the states on renewable energy.
It is going to be a long journey. For example, getting the Federal Government to undertake a constitutional review for state police will be tough. Although insecurity is the order of the day, the anti-federalism forces usually escalate and play up on the fear that governors will abuse state police to deter the demand. This is not true. Currently, the state governments largely fund the police, yet they do not have control over police commissioners. He who pays the piper calls the tune. In the US, policing is devolved to the federating units. Even in the United Kingdom, policing is decentralised.
However, the governors should not stop at the meeting in Lagos. As they projected, other meetings should hold to press home their demands with the support of the state Houses of Assembly, and the lawmakers representing the states in the National Assembly. The governors should get their colleagues in the North to realise that true federalism is beneficial to all areas of the country as it unleashes economic potential and multiplies opportunities for growth and development.
