Two foremost Nigeria’s nationalists and patriots have asked both the Nigerian leaders and followers to begin to develop strategies and tactics that can reposition Nigeria to the path of greatness taking advantage of the peculiarities and complexities of various nationalities that makee up the Nigeria nation..
Both Dr Yemi Farounbi and Prof. Olutayo Adesina, on Sunday dissected the topic: ” Travails of Nigeria’s Federalism and the Imperative of Rethinking our System of Government “ on the popular Boiling Point Arena , a monthly online discourse on governance and national development in Nigeria.
Taking a voyage into the historical perspective of Nigeria Federalism, Prof. Adesina asserted that Federalism in Nigeria is a very touchy subject that has become very difficult to track. According to the erudite Professor, the Federalism adopted by Nigeria has always exhibited complexities of difference.
”When you talk of Federalism in Nigeria, you are talking of a touchy subjectare quite difficult to track. Since 1939 when Colonial Governor Boudillon divided Nigeria into North and South, we began to see the complexities of difference which ultimately led to the adoption of the Federal system in Nigeria. that we practice in Nigeria.
Federalism is a situation where you allow the component parts of a nation to stay independence while relating. Nigeria is practising an admixture of Federalism and unitarism. That is why we appear not to know where we stand. We appear confused and without understanding the Federalism we practice.
Rather than going by the tenets of Federalism, we practice a command and control system where the Federal Government dictates all. Expectedly, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. This type of system makes everyone to kowtow and thereby leaving so much power with the Federal Government, distributing largesse.
Nigeria, notwithstanding the current situation can grow beyond the unitarism brought about by Agwui Ironsi in 1966 with Decree 34 of May 24, 1966. To achieve this, the Federating units must enjoy some autonomy for each region to grow at its own pace and give room for positive competition.
”Nigeria is a Federal country in name but run contrary to the principles of Federalism. We have not been able to get out of the shadow of the unitary government created by Ironsi. It a confused state that we are running. Though there are no pure Federalism but the practise in Nigeria as it is, is a confused one”.
”What we should be looking at is a country that will provide an atmosphere for positive competitions so that Federalism can become proactive and productive. Sadly, as it is now, Federalism has failed all of us”.
In a Federating unit, there will be healthy competition, growth and development.
In the opinion of Dr Farounbi, what is currently in practice is an improvement from the previous constitution stating emphatically that there is nothing wrong with the constitution but something wrong with the people. That does not mean that the presidential is better than the parliamentary system.
” What we have is a fundamental failure of chracter. There is nothing wrong with the constitution. There is nothing wrong with the spirit behind the constitution but the problem is the people who run the constitution”.
As long as we have these type of people who run the constitution and are ready to manipulate it, we will continue to have these problems. They do not keep faith with the people. They do not keep faith with the country.
‘’There are no bad constitutions, it is the people who run it.’’ We have experienced the fundamental failure of characters. It is not the constitution that has problem but the people who run the constitution.
One of the biggest problems of Nigeria is the lack of the spirit of nation building. We need to begin to re-school or re-tool those who run the country.
Those who run our constitution have their flaws and they should begin to understand what their flaws are towards making amendments”.
On recommendations from the national constitutional conference, Prof. Adesina expressed concerns that President Buhari did not bother to read the report of the constitution amendment despite the enormous resources invested in it.
‘’ Millions of naira went down the drain to come up with the report of the constitution amendment of 2014.
It behoves on Nigerians to begin the advocacy all over again.
With Tinubu , a pro-democracy activist as the President of Nigeria, it is important we begin to make a case for the re-opening of the result”.
One of the challenges of Nigeria, is that the government is directed towards government as against being directed towards the masses. As long as we continue in this trajectory, we will continue to waste time.
The Platform lamented the hegemonic marginalisation of minority nationalities. Resources are domiciled in the territories of the minorities
Allow the component parts of a country to
Where we are now is that the Federal Government dictates
The role played by the military in stiffening the development of Nigeria was brought to the fore. According to the resource persons, ‘’the military government created the problems and left us with a constitution that makes it almost impossible to create any state . This is for them to strengthen their selfish agenda of making the advantage their people have over others to be permanent.
The Nigerian leaders are not doing anything in the interest of Nigerians but their hegemonic interest. This can be attributed to the structural drawing of Nigeria being faulty. Once the structural drawing is faulty, there is nothing anyone can do.
One other factor that was believed contribute to the current situation of Nigeria was poor leadership with dearth of intellectual capability to drive the country to lofty heights.
‘’ Nigeria is not putting forward its first eleven. The people who are leading us are completely unintellectual.
‘’ There is rapid deterioration in the quality of people called to serve. Many of them cannot develop a comprehensive roadmap that can take Nigeria out its current situation. They lack the mental capability to salvage the country. There is an alarming level of mental poverty. Most annoying is the fact that many of the leaders while trying to solve problems create more problems than they were trying to solve.
Challenging the masses to begin to engage their leaders towards ensuring an improved standard of living, the resource persons cautioned that the leaders must not wait till when people begin to agitate.
‘’ The masses in Nigeria are in bondage but one day, very soon, the masses will be strong enough to throw the bondage away. This can, however, be destructive, hence, it is better for the leaders to be proactive’’.
Mr Ayo Arowojolu, the Convener of Boiling Point Arena while appreciating the Council of Boiling Point and other very important personalities charged Nigerians not to leave government to governance but to continually engage the government to achieve improved way of life.
‘’ We cannot leave governance to the players alone. We must all be involved. I believe God will help our President to be able to do the needful.
Boiling Point Arena, a monthly current affairs programme with an incredibly large online followership, is the brainchild of the Initiator and Convener, Mr. Ayo Arowojolu, a Media Professional with 33 years multi-varied work career spanning the media, banking and education sectors.
