The All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on True Federalism has made 10 far-reaching recommendations for the devolution of powers to states in order to restructure Nigeria.
The panel, among other things, proposed that greater autonomy should be granted to states by moving certain items from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.
The Chairman of the committee, who is also the governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, presented the report to the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led APC National Working Committee, at a ceremony in Abuja, on Thursday.
According to El-Rufai, the committee is of the opinion that narcotics and psychotropic substances should be left on the exclusive list while food, drugs and poison be moved to the concurrent list so that states can also legislate on these items.
The third item recommended for movement to the concurrent list are labour issues.
Speaking on this item, El-Rufai said, “We’ve also recommended that labour matters should be moved to the concurrent list so that the Federal Government and the states can legislate on these matters.
“Labour including trade unions, industrial relations, conditions, safety and welfare, disputes and prescribing minimum wage and industrial arbitration should be on the concurrent list.
“That way, every state can determine its minimum wage. This is a major recommendation that we got feedback from Nigerians and we’ve recommended as such, we’ve drafted this to reflect it.”
The fifth item recommended for movement to the concurrent list are the issues of mines and minerals, oilfields and mining, geological surveys and natural gas.
El-Rufai said, “If this amendment that we are proposing is passed, it means that all minerals including oil and gas that are onshore will be vested in the states of the federation. However, all off shore oil shall remain absolutely vested in the government of the federation.
“This is the feedback we got from Nigerians because offshore oil is federation asset, everything in the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone which is also policed by the Nigerian Navy belongs to the federation but minerals oil, everything in the land belong to those that own the land which is the state governments but we think the time has come that we take this bold step and move away from over centralisation of this.”
The panel also recommended that the issue of the police should also move to the concurrent list. This, the committee said, would open up the space for states to operate their own police alongside the federal police force with each given their jurisdiction and the manner of crime to control.
It made a similar recommendation for the Prison Service.
The committee noted that before 1966 most prisons were under the control of local governments or native authorities as such a return to that kind of arrangement would reduce the burden on the Federal Government and reduce prison congestion because states would be able to build additional prisons.
The panel also recommended that the registration of business names should also be moved to the concurrent list “so that business names which seek to operate nationwide can be registered at the federal level while those who seek to operate only in the states should be registered at the state level.”
It also recommended that the collection of stamp duty should also be moved to the concurrent list so that the Federal Government would be responsible for the collection of such duties from the Limited Liabilities Companies while states handle collection of such duties from individuals and small business.
El-Rufai said, “We believe that if these amendments are passed by the National Assembly, they will significantly re-balance our federation, devolve more powers to the states, reduce the burden of the Federal Government and make our country work better.”
On the issue of citizenship, local government or state of origin, the committee noted that it was discriminatory and recommended that it “should be replaced with state of residence.”
For this to happen, the committee proposed an amendment to the Federal Character Commission Act to allow people domiciled in a place to be considered as indigenes.
The panel said while it was recommending that the party support independent candidature, this should be allowed under strict conditions so that it would not provide an avenue for opportunists.
However, his request to post the entire report on the internet was turned down by the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who said all the relevant organs of the party had to consider the report and adopt it before it could become a public document.
In his remarks, Oyegun said, “From the presentation of the chairman of this committee, everybody now has an idea of what the APC stands for as regards true federalism and restructuring. This is the totality of our views, but it is still going to go through the mill.”
He said that the committee had provided details and mechanism for implementing its recommendations in terms of law and necessary presidential action.
Oyegun assured the committee members the report would get the expeditious consideration of the APC.
He stated, “I am going to promise that before the middle of February, it would have been considered and decided upon by the major structures of this party, the National Executive Council, the caucus of the party.
“Whatever is thereafter agreed on will be presented to the authorities as the considered views and decisions of the APC for appropriate implementation.”
