First Legislative Summit On Collaborative Agenda By Southwest States - Politics - Nairaland
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| First Legislative Summit On Collaborative Agenda By Southwest States by HyeBits: 8:54am On Feb 16, 2012 |
Text of the communique issued at the end of the First Legislative Summit on Collaborative Agenda by Southwest and Edo State goverments in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital yesterday Sequel to the First Legislative Summit on Collaborative Agenda (South West and Edo State), held from 12 to 15 February 2012, at Premier Hotel, Ibadan, Oyo State, the participants made the following resolutions: •Given the glaring failure of Nigeria’s present federal arrangement, regional cooperation, collaboration and integration offer the best approach to saving Nigeria as a federal republic; and delivering development and prosperity to Nigerian citizens. •Regional integration is not to break up Nigeria. It is rather to renew the Nigerian federation and deliver its capacity to deliver the greatest good for the greatest number of Nigerians, in the six geo-political zones. Simply put, it is regional growth as a strategy for national integration. •Regional integration is erected on the pillars of true and fiscal federalism, aimed at weaning Nigeria from centralised sharing of resources, which has created mass poverty; to regional creation of wealth, which has the capacity to create mass prosperity. •Regional integration is all about a new Constitution, to reorder Nigeria’s malfunctioning federal system. The National Assembly cannot give us a new Constitution. That is the job for a Constituent Assembly, thereafter subjected to referendum or plebiscite. But it should facilitate the process by passing a Bill for the setting-up of a Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution, which product would be subject to a simple referendum of “Yes” or “No”. •Issuing from this premise, the states in present Political South West of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, as well as the contiguous Edo, are better off integrated into an economic zone, sharing resources and attaining economies of scale for economic growth and development. •Though integration is on the surface economic, its basis and driving force is political. Therefore, the present ruling progressives in the South West and Edo states must make the people the centre-piece of their policies and programmes. That will ensure they retain political power and continue to drive the South West integrated regional agenda. •But beyond politics, winning or losing power, there must be a robust legal framework for South West regionalisation, so that the laudable agenda is not reversed. To this end the summit called for a South West Consultative Assembly, made up of legislators in the South West states and their members in the National Assembly, to serve as clearing house for such legislations and give adequate advice to the legislatures in the South West states. •For the regional integration agenda, the Legislature is key. So, the South West Executives must closely work with the Legislatures, both in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly, to achieve the desired goals of the agenda. •South West members in the National Assembly must network, lobby and sell regional federalism among their peers from other parts of the country, to demonstrate its mutual benefits to all; and as a better alternative to the present failing federal arrangement. •Also, South West legislators in the National Assembly must lobby their colleagues, across party lines, for the repeal of anti-federal laws in energy/power, mining and minerals. If regional federalism must deliver the goods, states constituting the regions must have legal backing to prospect economic activities in such areas as mining and minerals, railway, aviation and other strategic areas like energy/power in which the present laws give the Federal Government absolute or near-absolute monopolies. •In the area of security, South West legislators in the National Assembly must lobby their colleagues to press for constitutional amendments to establish State Police. •In the envisaged regions themselves, State Houses of Assembly are very crucial to making such strong legislative frameworks. For this task, the South West legislatures would require sound legal advice. •In the 1999 Constitution, even as amended, there are strong legal impediments to regionalisation as a panacea to save Nigeria’s failing federalism. However, the South West states can work around these impediments to jump-start the process, pending the requisite constitutional amendments. •To preserve Yoruba as a living language, the summit called for all legislatures in the South West to conduct proceedings in Yoruba for at least a day in the week. The summit also resolved that Yoruba language be made a prerequisite for admission into tertiary institutions in the South West from 2015. •To deepen good governance and best global practices in public sector management, the regional executives and legislatures must subject themselves to institutional peer review. •As a result, South West states and Edo can start with close collaboration and cooperation in agriculture, with each state concentrating on areas in which it has core competence and comparative advantage. •To boost agriculture, the summit resolved, as a matter of urgency, to push for regional investment in research, innovation, access to land and training of young farmers. There is also an urgent need to invest in agricultural extension services to boost improved crops and seedlings. There is also need for a regional commodity exchange to protect farmers and guarantee good prices for farmers and make farming profitable and sustainable. •In education, the South West states can start with integrating their state universities into a better funded South West University, along the model of the University of Cairo, or even the multi-campus University of California. State universities should be turned into colleges offering specialised disciplines. Aside, the region should urgently consider setting up a University of Native Medicine to maximise the economic use of Yoruba flora and fauna, particularly in processing them for drugs to curtail killing diseases like cancer. It also calls for setting up specialised science laboratories to take advantage of modern strides in genetic research and engineering. •Still on education, the summit resolved that the region declare a state of emergency in education to restore effective and qualitative basic education. There should also be a revamping of vocational and vocational technical education to equip youths for self-employment. •On transportation, the summit resolved that the South West state government approach the federal government for the take-over of federal roads in the area, as a cheaper alternative to building a new network of roads. The summit also moved for the South West government to prevail on the federal to create the enabling legal environment for the region to develop fast trains as part of a multi-modal transport system that would seamlessly link every part of the region by road, air, rail and water. •In sports, the South West states can pool resources to fund a regional football club in the Nigerian Professional League, in the mould of Enugu Rangers, which approximated the Igbo spirit after the Nigerian Civil War, or the former WNDC, later IICC (now known as 3SC) that was popular enough in the whole of Western Nigeria to approximate the spirit of the people of the region. •The summit also resolved to promote cultural integration in the form of regional cultural festival to further propagate Yoruba traditions, mores and norms. It also resolved that culture should be used to promote tourism in the region, even as each part of the region can invest in specific tourism products to create gainful employment for our teeming youth. •The region should save cost by integrating manpower training and development. For instance, it suggested that Lagos State serve as specialist centre for training regional civil servants. •There is urgent need for a clearing house for regionalisation; and to gauge specific areas in its progress and implementation. •Osun State has shown leadership by establishing a Ministry of Regional Integration. Other South West states should establish their own regional integration ministries. •Without prejudice to the anthems of other South West states, the gathering resolved to adopt the State of Osun Anthem as the South West Regional Anthem. That anthem was composed by our late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and it captures the correct spirit and sentiment behind integration for regional development and greatness. In the same token and for the same reason, the crest of the State of Osun should be adopted as the regional logo. •The current South West must recreate and even surpass the glory of the old Western Region. The old West is rediscovering and must rediscover itself. http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/36977-%E2%80%98our-stand-on-integration%E2%80%99.html |
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