How will Federalism fix Nigeria?

There are basically three revolutionary movements in Nigeria today and each of them have a different perspective on how to solve the Nigerian problem.

The first group, lets call them the Unitarians. They believe that there is nothing wrong with the present unitary system of Nigeria. For them, what is wrong with Nigeria is Nigerians. There is a moral decadence that must be tackled, there is need for reorientation and values. Nigerians have become corrupt and have equally corrupted the political system. In summary, the unitarians believe that it is Nigerians that needs to be restructured and not Nigeria’s political system.

The second movement; lets call them the secessionists. This group of Nigerians believe that Nigeria is in fact a lie and that a lie cannot be restructured! They admit that Nigeria is badly structured and they doubt that it can ever be restructured. So far, they have opted for a complete dismemberment of he union as the only way to save themselves, their tribe, communities and region. They want Nigeria dissolved because they fear Nigeria has never worked and will never work.

The last group is where we belong here; the Federalists. The Federalists believes that something is obviously and fundamentally wrong with the political structure of Nigeria. After an interesting research, the Federalist has reached the conclusion that what is wrong with Nigeria is the structure of its defective federal system and that the solution will be to restructure the country and entrench true federalism.

The unitarians, secessionists and the federalists are now in a battle towards shaping the future of Nigeria's future. The future of Nigeria will be greatly determined by the success of one or more of these revolutionary movements!

Can the Federalists with their Federalism fix Nigeria?

From the foregoing, we can agree that the only period when Nigeria witnessed sustainable economic growth was during the short period of regional government based on federalism.

Federalism brings competition, competition drives productivity, productivity inspires innovation, innovations drives development. This is exactly what Nigeria lacks; competition, productivity, innovation, efficient and sustainable development.

The unitary system has not only distorted the necessary ingredients for growth but has also entrenched an entitlement mentality in the populace and among the federating units, making them less aggressive towards self-sufficiency. Recent statistics has shown that over 80% of the federating units (states and LGAs) are not sustainable without federal allocations. What this basically implies is that if the federal government suffers a major economic sabotage in its revenue generating base, the entire country will likely run into crisis and possibly collapse! How long shall we continue like this?

In summary, Nigeria is in crisis because it was built on a faulty foundation whose existence is now threatened.

Federalism comes with certain principles that guarantees sustainability of economic and political inclusive institutions. Nigeria does not have electricity today is not because she does not have the resources to have electricity, it is simply because of the centralization policy by law which forbids the federating units from competing, generating and distributing their own electricity without federal interference. And many others.

How then will Federalism fix Nigeria’s problem?

There are basic frameworks that come with federalism and that is necessary for the establishment of inclusive institutions that Nigeria currently needs to attain greatness. These frameworks are as follows;

1 Federalism guarantees the autonomy of the federating units thereby making the center (central authority) undesirable for local development issues. Under federalism, marginalization will become unnecessary as every state and community will be solely responsible for their own development or underdevelopment (its their choice to make).

2 Federalism eliminates over-centralization of political and economic powers thereby empowering the local people and their communities to take charge of their own development. States will no longer have to depend on federal allocations to survive and local communities will no longer depend on the goodwill of state governors to develop their communities.

3 Federalism has an in-built mechanism that promotes transparency and accountability. One reason why there is massive corruption in today’s Nigeria is simply because the people are not necessarily involved in the revenue generating process thereby making them less concerned about how the revenue is spent. The federal government simply ‘steals’ crude oil money from the people, collect customs taxes and goes about to share and spend it as it pleases. There is no real tax based revenue system where the people are expected to fund the government. As long as the crude oil keeps flowing, there is revenue for the government. This is the root cause of corruption in Nigeria. Federalism ensures that no tier of government has access to free natural resources without first going through the people who would then demand for accountability afterward. Under federalism, there is a bottom-up approach towards peoples relationship with the government. The local communities and their people control their resources and pays taxes to the various tiers of government. The communities and towns fund the state government and the state government funds the federal government. Each would naturally demand for transparency and accountability. You cannot hold a government accountable when you do not fund the government. Until the government's existence and sustenance is people driven, there can be no accountability and transparency towards the people. In a nutshell, federalism will fix corruption in Nigeria!

4 Federalism will bring a new ‘think home’ philosophy among Nigerians in diaspora. With every community having a community based government to handle its most basic needs, Nigerians in diaspora will be excited and willing to support their annual community based budgets for both recurrent and capital community development projects. Development will be centred around people and places. The local people and their communities will become the biggest beneficiary of a restructured Nigeria because most economic and political powers will be removed from Abuja and the state governments and sent down to the local people and communities. Until there is governance and government in our various localities, there is no democracy in Nigeria. True Federalism will bring governance closer to the people.

5 Abuja (federal government) will no longer be blamed for the underdevelopment of the states and local communities. Everybody will simply be in charge of their own development. Under a restructured system, nobody will blame the Presidency for lack of electricity in his locality. The Presidency will no longer be in charge of so many things. This will in turn improve our local democracies and enable us hold our local politicians more accountable.

Like Professor Claude Ake once said, 'development is a process of social transformation in which the people (local) themselves are in charge of the process.' Federalism puts the needed economic and political powers in the hands of the local people and away from the politicians, making the local people in charge of their own development.

It is time to restructure Nigeria and entrench true federalism. It is time to put the local people in charge of their own development by giving them a system of government that constitutionally empowers them to do so.

It's patriotism that can solve our problem

sarrki:
It's patriotism that can solve our problem

Its safe to say that Sarrki is a Unitarian

I support True Federalism. Let every region grow at its own pace, all regions cannot grow at the same pace simply because we don't speak the same language, serve the same God, share the same environment, etc.

I urge us to go study about the Swiss system of governance and copy it.

Op nice write up. Hope this thread gets the needed exposure by MODs. We need to enlighten Nigerians on the merits and demerits of the system of govt we're practicing.

System needs to be purged, not necessarily restructured Because that will take much more time and resources, but if we somehow manage to get the present system to work better then we can start journey of transition to true federalism and most importantly the mindset of average Nigerian needs to be reset.

My one cent.

Take a step and join Kowa Party today, let your voice be heard.

jtwest:
System needs to be purged, not necessarily restructured Because that will take much more time and resources, but if we somehow manage to get the present system to work better then we can start journey of transition to true federalism and most importantly the mindset of average Nigerian needs to be reset.

My one cent.

Take a step and join Kowa Party today, let your voice be heard.

Purging or changing leadership won't amount to much not with the way the country is presently constituted. This 'feeding bottle' system of government is not sustainable and it is the major reason why the country is the way it is, largely underdeveloped.
We have lazy governors who lack the vision to make the much needed change happen in their states just because the of the allocations they get from the centre.

signz:


Its safe to say that Sarrki is a Unitarian

I support True Federalism. Let every region grow at its own pace, all regions cannot grow at the same pace simply because we don't speak the same language, serve the same God, share the same environment, etc.

I urge us to go study about the Swiss system of governance and copy it.

Op nice write up. Hope this thread gets the needed exposure by MODs. We need to enlighten Nigerians on the merits and demerits of the system of govt we're practicing.

Thanks for your interest, we need to get the message out. I honestly believe Restructuring is the only way to go. If we must achieve a reasonable level of development.
Basic amenities that people need like health care, infrastructure, schools and power have no business being regulated from the centre.

In the 1960s federalism ensured rapid development. Every Nigerian developed their wealth base without scheming to steal from niger delta which has caused all the crisis in Nigeria

OreMI22:
In the 1960s federalism ensured rapid development. Every Nigerian developed their wealth base without scheming to steal from niger delta which has caused all the crisis in Nigeria

Exactly, there was healthy competition among regions in terms of development with each leveraging on their core competences and areas where they have comparative advantage.

That is the beauty of True Fiscal Federalism, your development is dependent on your abilities to fully harness the resource in your domain.

Return To Ground Zero, The Foundation, The Major ethnic Divisions as natural by The Rivers Niger and Benue down to the Creek. Development starts from Foundation and not from the Rooftop.

restructure:



Purging or changing leadership won't amount to much not with the way the country is presently constituted. This 'feeding bottle' system of government is not sustainable and it is the major reason why the country is the way it is, largely underdeveloped.
We have lazy governors who lack the vision to make the much needed change happen in their states just because the of the allocations they get from the centre.

I feel the problems are so intertwined and encompassing so much it looks hopeless, any lazy governor has its judiciary and legislative arm there to do the needful (impeachment) the whistleblowers (media) are also there and other NGOs. You feel if the sectors work diligently even the most lazy governor will be trying to improve the states and meanwhile the case of Local governments are worrisome; like they don't even exist. I feel we got used to some political abnormalities and since has turned to norms.

jtwest:



I feel the problems are so intertwined and encompassing so much it looks hopeless, any lazy governor has its judiciary and legislative arm there to do the needful (impeachment) the whistleblowers (media) are also there and other NGOs. You feel if the sectors work diligently even the most lazy governor will be trying to improve the states and meanwhile the case of Local governments are worrisome; like they don't even exist. I feel we got used to some political abnormalities and since has turned to norms.

You are right, the feeling is that of complacency. They are not motivated to act or do their jobs and majority of the people are either too docile or just lack common understanding. Why else will anyone applaud a Governor for paying salaries or building roads?

The system encourages mediocrity. Nobody is doing their jobs, have you ever wondered why our Civil Service is the way it is?
Restructuring offers complete independence and autonomy to the States and LGA down to the community level.

See this thread on Community Based Government
https://www.nairaland.com/3659838/restructure-nigeria-what-community-based#54207327