₦airaland Forum

bunmititi:
buhari brought this total badluck to nigeria.
the hunger in the land by 2016 no go get part 2!

barcanista:
This is admittance of incompetence. Governor Rauf Aregbesola should immediately resign or be impeached by Osun state house of Assembly. He has already indicted himself of incompetence. I am not saying this for politics but for the good of Osun state.

obajohn:
Nice research work.Need to bring Ur attention to the beginning of Ur write up. Angola is nt in West Africa.
Once again bravo !

kalibaxter001:
How Swiss branch helped corrupt Africans including Nigerians hide loot.

http://theguardian.eu.pn/business/2015/june/08/hsbc-files-expose-swiss-bank-clients.php

shItGBO:
There are many non- Yorubas in the Government Cabinet of Yoruba states. There are many non- Hausas in the Government cabinet of Hausa states.


But it is almost imposible for you to find a non-Igbo in the cabinet of any given Igbo state ...... Few years ago, Governor T.A Orji sacked fellow Igbos who werent Abians from the Abia state civil service.


Igbos should learn to be tolerant, hospitable, accomodating and respectful.

slyfoxxjoe:
I read one of his 'biographies' the other day. I must say he was a brilliant man with great vision, second only to Awolowo. This has to be up there 'with' the most powerful inaugural 'speeches' from any 'politician' in Nigeria. In fact, I 'got goose bumps' reading this speech, with a realisation that Nigeria is still suffering from same issues he complained about. ..........................I have just corrected your gbagauns madam. Haba fine girl like you no suppose dey she'll like this na

shizzle11:
Where is the link to thread?

BTW, the opinion you quoted is pure fallacy! Igbos have always been unanimous with their demands for additional state creation, the only little hitch has always been where to carve it out from, and in this case as was agreed in the confab was that Etiti (Equity)state will be created by carving out at least 2lg's from the existing 5 states.

So please get it right.

(there's a link I'm still looking for to discountenance one wrong impression you had earlier) kinda busy now.

Brb

Gbigbon:
I thing it is high time the South East and South West come together as one and agree on a common ground regarding issues of national interest. They should shed their arrogance, suspicions etc. This is the only way we can fight northern domination in Nigerian politics.

shizzle11:
Hold it! Problem with people like you is that you are gullible, hence easily deceived.

Just hold on...

passion007:
I'm often surprised when Igbos kick against state creation in today's Nigeria. For one thing, state creation will bring development nearer the grassroots. Anioma will pay better attention to Asaba, Adada will pay better attention to Nsukka and so on. Unfortunately, regionalism is dead... the confab also made no effort to resurrect it. In Nigeria of today, how much you get and how much weight you throw around ultimately depends on how many states you have. That's why the NW can bully the rest of the zones. And the homogenous SW with 6 states has a decided political advantage.
If in the future we choose to return to regionalism, then I'll have no qualms about Igbo states forming a merger. But this present system will shortchange us if we opt for a merger.

harde2lah:
[color=#990000]People from Ebonyi State said they are happy as a state. They argue that returning to regionalism would mean going back to Egypt. I do not see it as such. Most of us believe that regionalism would be better for us and for this; we even made an offer to Ebonyi people to produce the first leader of a southeast region if it worked out. We said when he is through, we then rotate it to Enugu and so on. This was a mark of assurance that those of us who were for it were not interested in coming to dominate anybody. In spite of those assurances, they stood their ground. Even when we were drafting the position of the southeast, they insisted that a clause be inserted that they are opposed to it despite it being a majority decision.

http://theunion.com.ng/politics/why-regionalism-state-police-agitation-failed/

cc: EUROBOMBER

harde2lah:
Why Regionalism, State Police Agitation Failed

May 19, 2014

Dr. Dozie Ikedife is one of the delegates to the National Conference. He is one of the 15 delegates representing the southeast. Ikedife also served on the Committee on Devolution of Power. In this interview with our Editor-at-Large, Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, he gave insight into why southern agitation for a return to regionalism and state police could not succeed at the committees.


Southwest delegates to the conference feel betrayed by the counterparts from southeast and south-south. They feel that there were common positions agreed at the pre-conference meeting between southern delegates which they expected that all southern delegates would back but coming here, they sort of found out that the same delegates who agreed to these issues worked differently. What happened?

If they feel betrayed, we from the southeast, particularly those from Anambra, Imo and Abia states feel more betrayed because we stood firmly for regional governments. We also strongly supported state police. So, the question of betrayal is not right. It can be said that they did not get what they want, but so do we. We stood for regionalism, we fought for it, we talked about it, and we canvassed for it too. But don’t forget that in situations like this, if you are indeed talking of democracy, you must respect the opinion of the minority but the majority must take the vote.
That is the position. However, there are pockets of people from the southeast, who did not want regional government; specifically, people from Ebonyi state. There are also some from Enugu state who did not want it. Apart from those, delegates from Anambra, Imo and Abia were all for regionalism.

So, no one can say we disappointed them or let them down. That did not happen. Rather, we were all let down. Unfortunately, we have a saying that once a word is said, it cannot be retracted. Some of the people from south-south, who opposed state police, soon after, told me that they had taken a further look at it and are all for it now. But a decision has already been taken on it. However, I don’t think it is all lost yet. Don’t forget we are returning to plenary and these are just committees and what they come up with are recommendations. At the plenary, it is possible that some of the recommendations may be taken as they are. Some may be shot down. Some may be modified and carried.
These are possibilities. So, it is all not all lost yet. They should not think it that way. All hope is not lost yet. We still have opportunity of canvassing certain positions depending on how other geopolitical zones view your positions too.

What was responsible for divergent of opinions in the Southeast on issues of regionalism?

People from Ebonyi State said they are happy as a state. They argue that returning to regionalism would mean going back to Egypt. I do not see it as such. Most of us believe that regionalism would be better for us and for this; we even made an offer to Ebonyi people to produce the first leader of a southeast region if it worked out. We said when he is through, we then rotate it to Enugu and so on. This was a mark of assurance that those of us who were for it were not interested in coming to dominate anybody. In spite of those assurances, they stood their ground. Even when we were drafting the position of the southeast, they insisted that a clause be inserted that they are opposed to it despite it being a majority decision.

So, Ebonyi people were clear that they do not want regional governments. And you know how these things work. Someone may canvass an idea, no matter how wrong, and it will catch on with the ears and thinking of the people. That is what I think may have happened. However, I am not sure how the rest of the country will vote when this is put to vote on regionalism and state police even.

How about the argument against state police?

People recall the havoc done by the native authority police in the colonial days and before independence. Even now that we have federal police, it can also be used rightly or wrongly. So, the fear of state police may not be justified. You can have a state police that is totally independent of the powers that be; one that respects the law and nothing else and safeguards life and property while ensuring security irrespective of who is involved.

The fundamental thing really is that we have not yet learn to respect the law in Nigeria. Some people generally thing they are exempted from any law made. They think the laws are made for the other person and not them. Some think the law should apply as they want it. That is quite unfortunate. But I believe that with evolution of time, we shall come to become law abiding both in the spirit and letter of the law; but the tendency for impunity is still there. Until we fight and kill that tendency for impunity, either state police, community police or even federal police will not mean much.

When we look at the police structure in the United States, which most of us want to copy, we see the separation and role every level of police plays in the society. That was what some of us were thinking of coming to this conference. Our police structure, as it is now, makes it difficult for effective policing because when you take someone and send him to work in a society where the culture, tradition, language, etc are alien to him, he may be diligent but would also make mistakes that come from not understanding certain norms that are either accepted or not accepted by the people there. But if you get the local people into a police for the locality, they will be more effective because they are likely to know more about the area than a stranger.

Southwest delegates also say they are not happy that their proposal for parliamentary system failed because all southern delegates refused to back it?

Once again, it is a matter of individual opinion. Delegates from southern Nigeria were separated into the 20 different committees. That means it won’t be easy for anyone of them to galvanise enough support to push through his position. Remember also that there are other groups, like the trade unions, civil societies, and professional groups etc, who were spread across all the committees and who may not be aware of the position of the southern delegates on such issues. So, I think there were gaps in selling the position of the southern delegates to delegates from other zones. You know that if you are not briefed on an issue, you freely play on your own understanding of it. However, I don’t think we should all see this in negative terms. I can tell you that to a certain extent, this conference has been a success in the sense that we Nigerian are now talking about how we will be governed. What we have here is a gathering of a very wide section of Nigerians representing diverse interests and for this, it will be difficult to get unanimity of opinion on any issue. If you ask ten different persons about an issue, you may end up getting 10 different opinions.

Some may hold two even. We are not here to do a rubber-stamping of any particular issue. That may be the wish of some delegates but it is not possible.

There are insinuations that the Committee on Devolution of Power, where you served, was only able to migrate six items from the exclusive legislative list to the con-current list with nothing to the residual list. It is said that this is no achievement because in a clash between federal and state, the federal government takes precedence?
If you look at the exclusive list, there are certain things, with due respect, that you cannot contemplate moving from exclusive to concurrent or residual. We reviewed the items one after the other. Personally, I would have preferred that many more issued were moved from the exclusive list, but you don’t’ just move for the sake of moving. The ones moved to concurrent are open to states participation.

The idea was not to pull down the federal government. Much as we say that a lot of powers are concentrated at the center, if we had regional governments, there won’t be this monthly exodus to Abuja to ask for money. Also, there are issued for and against the parliamentary system of government. But I think that we could take a few good things from the parliamentary system and merge them with some of the good things found in the presidential system and have an amalgam of what we could call Nigerian democracy.

I do think we could take something from parliamentary system of government and also a few things from the presidential system on government to have a home grown system that works for us. For some of us, the presidential system is very cumbersome and expensive with a lot of power centred on the federal government and president. That is why the fight for the control of power at the center has become such a bitter one. If a lot of eyes are removed from the center, then, the clamour for control of power at the centre will be minimised. To that extent, I think a little bit more can be done to devolve more power from the center.

Delegates represent their states and other interests. Would it be right to say that the delegates are afraid to hand more responsibilities to their states?

I don’t think so. Rather, there is a general feeling that federal, states and local governments are not performing; and have not performed really. When you take power and decide to devolve it to the states, the same Nigerians will cry foul and say governors or council chairmen will abuse them. So, what do you do? You can critic from the council to state to the federal but we have to re-educate ourselves as Nigerians that wherever you are operating, you should do so with broad-mindedness; ability to distribute amenities with evenness of heart rather than working for turns. If we are able to move away from turn by turn, people will care less about the amount of power left at the center or who is the president or where he comes from. The clamour and tension we have always had is because Nigerians, at this stage of their evolution, have not come to accept that a president is for all Nigeria.
Don’t you see a contradiction in the fact that the committee was quick in deciding on revenue sharing formular but were slow on other critical issues?

Basically and logically, if you remove power from the center, then you have to remove the amount of money you give to it. The decision to add more money to the states and local governments was not without due consideration, there were issues we debated for five days before arriving at a conclusion. So, we did extensive work and took our time to make our recommendations. We need not do a haphazard work. So, the accusation is not right.

http://theunion.com.ng/politics/why-regionalism-state-police-agitation-failed/

cc: EUROBOMBER

ademoladeji:
Abeg do jeje ‎​Ooº°˚ ˚°ºoo

ABJDOT:
Next time you want to comment......please always make use of your sense.

superstar1:
Only daft and myopic people will think fiscal federalism will be achieved under this structure of governance.

Whose loss? SS. We are OK with it.

Regionalism comes automatically with resource control.

CSTR2:
It is too late already.
The people that have the power now to constitutionalize regionalism are the ones that are going to suffer the most from it.
Of course, you don't expect them to implement it now.
Southern Nigeria has messed themselves up with their oversabi politics.
A crying shame indeed.

Setaje:
This is the same thing I have said from the beginning. Do not align wiv gambari. We cannot exclude jonathan from the blame. He messed up greatly by neglecting the yorubas. He would have started wooing the yorubas long before election. Tinubu would have given the votes to jonathan like he did 2011. They would have signed a deal. And just maybe yorubas would be back to their glory in jonathans second term. It would have passed a message to the north. That the whole south can stand together.


Just look at what is happening now. I said it on fb and I am saying it here. Osinbajo eye go see wennn for Hausa hand. But osinbajo will not take half of what jonathan took. He will resign at the long run. Just watch!

ABJDOT:
its your father you're referring to as subhuman...foolish animal. I'm sure none of your family has ever achieve what Gov Aregbesola achieve in life. Please get yourself a work and stop be jobless on nairaland, bitch Nincompoop.

harde2lah:
Jonathan (your brother) had the opportunity to call for it, but instead made an unforgivable gaffe. So, why do you think a Gambari will call for it? During the National Conference, which delegate advocated for Regionalism? why didn't the SE & SS delegates support the SW but instead your SE delegates collaborated with the Gambaris to vote against it because the Yoruba called for it. Your people are designed to oppose any Yoruba agenda. You have to live with the consequences of your actions.

1after:
A mentally deranged animal used a Yoruba fake mame to post trash on punch readers opinion and the devilish tribalist OP Ebuka Phils tagged it Yoruba. We dont want regionalism or federalism, we are okay with this government and we support it. Stop killing your foolish self over yoruba matter. Ediots.