Nigeria can't work now, says Atiku

· Insists on restructuring of the country

 

Amid public outcry against the military and police kill­ing of agitators on Mon­day during processions to mark the 49th anniversary of the decla­ration of Biafra Republic, the Sen­ate has failed to entertain any de­bate on the massacre.

Media reports indicate that over 50 pro-Biafra protesters, three policemen and a soldier were killed on Monday in clashes between the security agents and the agitators in some South East and South-South states.

When the matter was tabled before the Senate on Tuesday by the Deputy Senate President, Sen­ator Ike Ekweremadu, the Upper House refrained from discussing it.

Ekweremadu had condemned the security agents’ handling of the protests and urged them to apply caution in quelling such crises.

Acting under Order 43 of Sen­ate Rules, Ekweremadu had drawn the Senate’s attention to the blood­bath in the South East and South-South on Monday.

He said: “If you go through many newspapers this morning, the leading headlines refer to the death of many people both young men and security agents. I will from the past has led to the resur­gence of both civil and militant ag­itations in the country.

He warned that these negative occurrences could draw the coun­try backward.

The event was attended by the former Chairman of the Na­tional Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu and for­mer Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili who extolled the char­acter of the author, Chido Onuma.

The author noted that all Ni­gerians are Biafrans in the way the people have faced maltreatments in one form or the other from the government.

Atiku described the book as a metaphor for the legitimate feel­ings of marginalisation by diverse segments of Nigerians who cut across the country, adding that agitations by many right-think­ing Nigerians, “call for a restruc­turing and renewal of our federa­tion to make it less centralised, less suffocating and less dictatorial in the affairs of the country’s constit­uent units and localities.

“As some of you may know, I have for a long time advocated the need to restructure our feder­ation. Our current structure and the practices it has encouraged have been a major impediment to the economic and political devel­opment of our country. In short, it has not served Nigeria well, and at the risk of reproach, it has not served my part of the country, the North, well.

“The call for restructuring is even more relevant today in the light of the governance and eco­nomic challenges facing us. And the rising tide of agitations, some militant and violent, require a re­set in our relationships as a unit­ed nation.

“Some may say that we are saddled with more urgent chal­lenges, including rebuilding our battered economy, creating jobs, fighting corruption and securing our people from terrorism and other forms of serious crimes. I believe, however, that addressing the flaws in our federation will help us address some of those very economic and security challenges facing this country.

“Nigeria must remain a unit­ed country. Our potentials are enormous. But, I also believe that a united country, which I think most Nigerians desire, should nev­er be taken for granted or taken as evidence that Nigerians are con­tent with the current structure of the federation. Making that mis­take might set us on the path of losing the country we love or, re­sult in our country sleep-walking to disaster.”

“Let me quickly acknowl­edge that no federal system is set for all time. There are always ten­sions arising from matters relating to the sharing of power, resourc­es and responsibilities. But, de­mocracies have developed peace­ful mechanisms for resolving such conflicts among the tiers of gov­ernment. They recognize that ne­gotiations and compromises are eternal”.

The former Vice President, who blamed the past military ad­ministrations in the country for dislocating the regional structure of Nigeria, insisted that while he believes strongly in one united Ni­geria, he is of a strong belief that the country cannot be strong un­der the present setting.

“The vast majority of Nigeria’s young population will be forgiven for thinking that our lives have al­ways revolved around oil and that the federal government has always been this domineering and con­trolling. They may not be aware that the federal system which we inherited at independence allowed the regions to retain their auton­omy to raise and retain revenues, promote development, and con­duct their affairs as they saw fit, while engaging in healthy com­petition with others.

“And they may not know that it was the emergence of mili­tary rule and the intervening civ­il war that led to the splintering and weakening of the federating units, centralization of resources and concentration of power at the federal level. The enormous rev­enues from oil rents encouraged the central government to play an increasingly domineering role in the economy and society. It as­sumed more responsibilities for infrastructure provisioning, edu­cation, social services and business investment.

“More critical is the distor­tion of our federal structure by our dependence on oil. We now have the ridiculous situation where the federal government creates lo­cal governments, enshrines them in the constitution and allocates resources directly to them, with people even calling for more au­tonomy from state governments. Today, virtually every section of our country feels marginalised–meaning they believe that other segments of society are prosper­ing in ways they are not. We often interpret marginalisation along regional, ethnic or religious lines, but experience has shown that this perception can exist even within homogenous communities due to uneven access to opportunities. For example, we have communi­ties feeling marginalised within their states or regions.

“Having established the ‘fed­eral character” of marginalisation in Nigeria, it is imperative that our response to the issues raised by our various ‘Biafras’ across the country is holistic. I have long advocated for greater autonomy, powers and resources for our federating states. Some have retorted that state gov­ernors will abuse those powers and resources. Well, the same logic ap­plies to the federal level, which, as recent revelations show, is not without blemish. In fact, the cur­rent situation encourages gover­nors to abuse their power, do little to raise revenue and point fingers at the federal government, thereby making it more difficult for their people to hold them to account,” Atiku said.

Continuing, the former Vice President noted that, “Nigeria is not working as well as it should and part of the reason is the way we have structured our country and governance, especially since the late 1960s. The federal gov­ernment is too big, and too power­ful, relative to the federating states. That situation needs to change, and calling for that change is patriotic. We must refrain from the habit of assuming that anyone calling for the restructuring of our federation is working for the breakup of the country. An excessively powerful centre does not equate to nation­al unity. If anything, it has made our unity more fragile, our govern­ment more unstable and our coun­try more unsafe. We must renego­tiate our union in order to make it stronger. Greater autonomy, pow­er and resources for states and local authorities will give the federating units greater freedom and flexibil­ity to address local issues, priori­ties and peculiarities. It will help to unleash our people’s creative ener­gies and spur more development. It will reduce the premium placed on capturing power at the centre. It will help with improving securi­ty. It will promote healthy rivalries among the federating units and lo­cal authorities. It will help make us richer and stronger as a nation.

On measures that are need­ed to ensure that Nigeria does not break up, Atiku advocat­ed that the country should be composed of: “First, a smaller, leaner federal government with reduced responsibilities. This means devolution of powers and resources to states and local gov­ernments. State and local govern­ments should control education, health, agriculture, roads and other infrastructure. A true fed­eral system will allow the federat­ing states to keep their resources while the federal government re­tains the power of taxation and regulatory authority over stand­ards. The result will be a politi­cal and governmental system that empowers local authorities and gives them greater autonomy to address peculiar local issues, while enhancing accountability and contributing to the general good of the country. Such a ro­bust federal system would reduce the tensions that are built into our current over-centralized system.

“Second, autonomy for the component states and localities to determine their development priorities and wage structures. For instance, there is no reason for the governor of Akwa Ibom State to earn the same salary as the Governor of Benue State or for a teacher in Orlu to earn the same salary as the one in Abuja or Port Harcourt. The costs of living and revenue generating capacities vary widely across the country.

“Third, a tax-centred reve­nue base. Modern democracies derive their revenues from tax­ation whether or not they have fossil fuels and other natural re­sources – personal income tax, property tax, sales tax, corporate tax, licences, and duties. Taxation is a sustainable revenue base and one that compels governments to promote increased econom­ic activities, and respond to the demands of their tax-paying cit­izens.

“Fourth, enhanced, diversi­fied economic activities and pro­ductivity in order to enlarge the tax base. The US, UK, Canada, Malaysia, and UAE are all oil pro­ducers. But because they have di­versified economies, oil does not dominate their government reve­nues and does not have the same distortionary effect it has on our own.

“Let’s compare Malaysia with Nigeria. Both countries were at a comparable level of development at independence but now, Malay­sia’s GDP per capita is $11,000 while Nigeria’s is $3,000. Malay­sia has foreign reserves of $100 billion and a sovereign wealth fund of $41 billion.

“In Malaysia, manufacturing accounts for 40% of GDP and the country is rated 14th most com­petitive economy in the world. In Nigeria, however, manufac­turing accounts for a mere 10% of GDP, and only 12% of the la­bour force. And Nigeria ranks 127th out of 144 in global com­petitiveness. Think about this for a moment: If the bulk of the reve­nues of our federal and state gov­ernments are dependent on the level of economic activities in the country, would we be shut­ting down the entire country or a state on election days, on cen­sus days and during environmen­tal clean-up?

“I wish some of our research­ers would calculate the resulting loss of productivity and incomes to individuals, families and the economy as a whole, and, there­fore, potentially government rev­enues.

“Fifth, an end to the indi­gene-settler dichotomy. A mod­ern united Nigerian society can only be built on the basis of com­mon citizenship for all based on residency in a state or locality rather than the local government or ethnic group one is born into. Nigerians should be free to live, study and work anywhere in the country as long as they are law-abiding. We cannot claim to be promoting national unity while also promoting policies that tend to confine people to their places of birth,” Atiku concluded.