₦airaland Forum

PassingShot:
From Wikipedia:
“As a subfield of public economics, fiscal federalism is concerned with "understanding which functions and instruments are best centralized and which are best placed in the sphere of decentralized levels of government" (Oates, 1999). In other words, it is the study of how competencies (expenditure side) and fiscal instruments (revenue side) are allocated across different (vertical) layers of the administration. An important part of its subject matter is the system of transfer payments or grants by which a central government shares its revenues with lower levels of government.

Federal governments use this power to enforce national rules and standards. There are two primary types of transfers, conditional and unconditional. A conditional transfer from a federal body to a province, or other territory, involves a certain set of conditions. If the lower level of government is to receive this type of transfer, it must agree to the spending instructions of the federal government. An example of this would be the Canada Health Transfer.
An unconditional grant is usually a cash or tax point transfer, with no spending instructions. An example of this would be a federal equalization transfer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_federalism

From the above, the components and principles of a true fiscal federalism are:
1. The Federal Government makes the money
2. The Federal Government Shares its revenue through conditional and unconditional transfers to the states and LG based on certain parameters.
3. Providing grants (what we now know as bail-out) to institutions and states
4. Providing balance and stability needed to overcome disruptive issues like uneven distribution of wealth and lack of widely available resources.

Looking at what we practice in Nigeria and theory/principles of fiscal federalism, I become confused on what the clamorers for true federalism actually mean or want.
Within two months of PMB administration, bail-outs were provided for states and there is another plan to provide another round of conditional grants to states that need them. Nigeria has bailed out some financial institutions in the past to avoid depositors losing their hard-earned savings.

We don’t need to waste our precious time to know why Nigeria is not working as we desire. It is not absence of fiscal federalism but absence of bringing leaders to account.

A few examples will buttress my summation:
1. James Ibori stole Delta state blind and he’s serving jail term in UK. Is it absence of true federalism that makes it possible for him to still have a cult-like followership in Delta state despite the evidence against him?

2. Alamieyeseigha was found guilty (he actually pleaded guilty) of mind-boggling financial crimes and was sentenced for two years. He was later granted state pardon by GEJ which meant his crimes were forgiven. Until his “death” he had supporters who were ready to die for his course. Was it absence of fiscal federalism that’s responsible?

3. Igbinedion, Saraki, Bode George, Jolly Nyame, Akala, Ali Modu Sheriff, Ladoja, and many other state governors were reported to be corrupt but they all have cult-like followership. Again, it was not absence of fiscal federalism that’s responsible for them having the die-hard supporters despite the corruption allegations on them.

4. Bayelsa is about the smallest state in Nigeria but she receives billions of naira in monthly allocation and additional 13% derivation allocation for being an oil-producing state yet the state, from what we read, is nothing to write home about. Just like many other states in the country, it lacks good roads, potable water, electricity, good schools, and above all the state cannot pay salaries of its workers just as some others. Was it absence of “true federalism” that prevented Bayelsa state from saving when she had surplus allocations from the federal account?

Absence of “true federalism” does not prevent any state from developing infrastructural needs of the state.

Absence of “true federalism” does not stop any state from improving the internally generated revenues of the state.

Absence of “true federalism” does not stop any state from investing her surplus earnings on other money-yielding ventures.

Absence of “true federalism” was not responsible for Nigeria’s failure to have diversified her economy since ten or five years ago.

In my own opinion, Nigeria’s problems are a result of:
1. Absence of sincerity of purpose on the part of our leaders
2. Lack of political will to do the right things always.
3. Failure of followers to demand for accountability from their leaders
4. Religion and ethnic bigotry, among others

Should more powers be given to states (what type of powers are we even talking about here?), I have no doubt that the state governors will behave worse than now that they have limited powers. Then, they will loot their state treasury without batting an eye and terrorize their political opponents and outspoken citizens as they like.

In conclusion, I believe Nigeria already has what she requires to succeed if we are determined to. We have the extant laws but we don’t follow them. We have well-spelt out penalties for different offences but we don’t apply them. The laws the present administration has used to recover some looted funds have been there since about fifteen years ago. Why were they not fully implemented in many of those years?
I am fully in support of peaceful balkanization of the entity called Nigeria but I have no doubt that absence of “true federalism” is not the reason for our challenges.


Lalasticlala, Seun, Mynd44, QuotaSystem, Omenka, Modath, TonyeBarcanista, Beremx, Obiageli

The last sentence of your disturbs me. There can be no peaceful breakup or the country. Any breakup must of necessity be violent and bloody with millions prematurely sent to their graves. The lessons of our immediate past history informs this opinion and confirms it as a fact. All the same, it is pretty obvious to unbiased observer that the present way Nigeria is structured cannot hold for long without the violent implosion we all fear.

cocoduck:
Nonsense! You haters of humanity always point to this when ever restructuring is mooted, you are among those who feed fat from this yeye system that is good for small countries like Togo, First of all why do corrupt people always win in Nigeria? Ever after the genocide which government has not been tagged corrupt? is it not because they have nothing else to think of other then going to Abuja cap in hand every 30 or so days to collect money, which there are little or no checks and balances, if it were that they will use their brains to think inwards to make the state or region viable there will be no room for corruption, if in my village we need something and wee are paying taxes we will always make the rulers to be on their toes, to make sure they do their jobs, is it not in an idle mind that the devil operates? The standards and qualifications have been lowers so much that merit no longer counts, godfathers everywhere, because a professional will never stoop so low to be appointed, only quacks and impostors do that, and I am sure you are related to one of them.

Don't mind that dude .. He was the one that was vigorously campaigning for grazing reserve and seeing that he failed woefully, they. Have sent him back to come and talk thrash here.. I.wonder how is able to sleep in the night? Tufiakwa..

PassingShot:
What makes us to be a unitary system?

That our Constitution doesn't give certain powers to the states?

That we don't have the three arms of Executive, Judiciary and Legislative?

I am amazed to read that ours is unitary form of government.

Mr we operate a unitary form of government. Nigerian states have limited powers, those of local governments are even worse. The presence of the three arms of government at state levels doesn't mean they have the powers to make any meaningful decision.

Passingshot
thanks for clearing the air on this confusing topic.

You are very right! Nigeria's problems are primarily caused because we nigerians do not hold our leaders accountable.

The big question is why? Because we formed from different tribes and religions? Other successful countries like Switzerland are also formed out of different nationalities.

What do all developed nations have in common that underdeveloped countries consistently lack?

TAXES.

whether capitalist or socialist, successful nations typically relie on taxes as their main source of funds for national development. Oil rich states which have a measure of development like Saudi Arabia, lack stable economies are remain highly vulnerable to world oil prices.

About every house in the parent's neighbourhood has a borehole. the cost of the boreholes may be able to provide water for all citizens in their home state.

Nigerians need to pay heavy taxes like in the western world as this would make them sit up to their responsibility of checking corrupt officials.

Achieving this feat is easier said than done because unnecessary civil servants will have to be weeded out as no one would want to pay people for no service rendered.

Again we will have to decide what to do with the cursed oil revenue nigeria earns which is another big issue.

In summary, government workers both civil and public servants should not be paid using crude oil revenues but taxes generated from nigerians. Hopefully, this will make them more accountable to the Nigerian people.

modath:
Passingshot,

First thing first, this contraption of unitary federalism isn't working for us, the feeding bottle unproductive system isn't working!! It allows for loopholes for laggards to run and hide under.


I have arrived at a point where i realised that the major problem beseiging these mismanaged states extend beyond the lack of foresight and greed of these administrators; A system of partisan political structure that turns state governors to party activities financiers and state HOA to rubber stamps does not allow for progress, accountability and fairness...

I also don't think federalism will solve the cluster bleep of problems we have, a regional government with smaller self governing components is the way forward.. Superstates in the region will take care of the less endowned parts in the same region, we can't have states in the new arrangement, rather local governments will be totally empowered like it's global best practices..


The little i know (experienced) about the west is that LGs are the bedrock of developments, that's why we can see LAPD (Los Angeles) , SFPD (San Francisco) etc in the state of California as against Washington sending officers to manage states policing.....


*I don't want to write disjointed epistle but the system is the cause of so much "thievery" *

Always remember that fiscal federalism is the common ground we always agree on.



It should not be politicised

Fedayeen02:
Always remember that fiscal federalism is the common ground we always agree on.



It should not be politicised

?? What is being Politicised?

modath:
?? What is being Politicised?

fiscal federalism

Fedayeen02:
fiscal federalism

Who is politicising? & of what use is this unproductive system?

trillville:
Passingshot
thanks for clearing the air on this confusing topic.

You are very right! Nigeria's problems are primarily caused because we nigerians do not hold our leaders accountable.

The big question is why? Because we formed from different tribes and religions? Other successful countries like Switzerland are also formed out of different nationalities.

What do all developed nations have in common that underdeveloped countries consistently lack?

TAXES.

whether capitalist or socialist, successful nations typically relie on taxes as their main source of funds for national development. Oil rich states which have a measure of development like Saudi Arabia, lack stable economies are remain highly vulnerable to world oil prices.

About every house in the parent's neighbourhood has a borehole. the cost of the boreholes may be able to provide water for all citizens in their home state.

Nigerians need to pay heavy taxes like in the western world as this would make them sit up to their responsibility of checking corrupt officials.

Achieving this feat is easier said than done because unnecessary civil servants will have to be weeded out as no one would want to pay people for no service rendered.

Again we will have to decide what to do with the cursed oil revenue nigeria earns which is another big issue.

In summary, government workers both civil and public servants should not be paid using crude oil revenues but taxes generated from nigerians. Hopefully, this will make them more accountable to the Nigerian people.

You've brought in another interesting point of TAX and I agree with you 100%.

Free money has made us to be lazy and fail to demand accountability from our leaders.

PassingShot:
You've brought in another interesting point of TAX and I agree with you 100%.

Free money has made us to be lazy and fail to demand accountability from our leaders.

I'm still patiently waiting for how it will be possible to "heavily" tax a nation where 75% of its people are either unemployed or underemployed? An undocumented society at that.

Putting the cart before the horse bah?

As for the free money angle, I disagree, it is the secrecy inherent in Nigeria's system of governance, the divide and conquer attitude of the United in briggandage elites & the distance between the people and the authority body...

I don't know facts and figures of allocation to my state, neither do I have records of how my senator/rep receive constituency allowance, so how do I hold them accountable?

Bros, this system of unitary federalism will never in a million years move this nation forward, it's only enriching a few at the expense of the majority & God willing, we will rid ourselves of it!! Abuja is too powerful & too far away to adequately address the problems and NEEDS of the nation....


The leaders may be a problem, but the system is what has provided the loophole.

modath:
I'm still patiently waiting for how it will be possible to "heavily" tax a nation where 75% of its people are either unemployed or underemployed? An undocumented society at that.

Putting the cart before the horse bah?

Firstly, I don't know where you got your stat about 75% unemployed/underemployed from. And that we're not currently getting enough tax from people and orgs that should be paying tax shouldn't mean we cannot improve in that regards. Lagos state is a typical example of how tax money can relied upon for infrastructural development. Compare the IGR of Lagos btw 1999 and 2003 to what it is now.

As for the free money angle, I disagree, it is the secrecy inherent in Nigeria's system of governance, the divide and conquer attitude of the United in briggandage elites & the distance between the people and the authority body...

I don't know facts and figures of allocation to my state, neither do I have records of how my senator/rep receive constituency allowance, so how do I hold them accountable?

I don't agree there is secrecy in what each state gets from the center. Maybe in the past but not any longer as each state allocation is now made available at the end of every month. And that citizens have chosen not to care about what they should normally show interest in does not absolve them of culpability.

Bros, this system of unitary federalism will never in a million years move this nation forward, it's only enriching a few at the expense of the majority & God willing, we will rid ourselves of it!! Abuja is too powerful & too far away to adequately address the problems and NEEDS of the nation....

The leaders may be a problem, but the system is what has provided the loophole.

I have read extensively on fiscal federalism as it's practised in the US and I have not seen how ours deviates so much from theirs.

It then makes me wonder what exactly is missing in our to make some of you call it unitary federalism.

I insist our problem is not the system but the people (the leaders and the led).

modath:
I'm still patiently waiting for how it will be possible to "heavily" tax a nation where 75% of its people are either unemployed or underemployed? An undocumented society at that.

VAT

PassingShot:
Firstly, I don't know where you got your stat about 75% unemployed/underemployed from. And that we're not currently getting enough tax from people and orgs that should be paying tax shouldn't mean we cannot improve in that regards. Lagos state is a typical example of how tax money can relied upon for infrastructural development. Compare the IGR of Lagos btw 1999 and 2003 to what it is now.

Bros, I don't need stats, I listen to the streets, N-power website went live & in 24hrs, are you implying that the graduates that have are into recharge cards business or fixing phones in computer village are exploiting their full potential? Issokay

Apart from Lagos & few other states with heavy financial/economic activities, kindly design a template of how the shop assistant in oturkpo can be made to contribute to the IGR of Benue or the Bartender in Osogbo can be compelled to pay 6k of his 25k salary to Aregbesola of Osun?

I don't agree there is secrecy in what each state gets from the center. Maybe in the past but not any longer as each state allocation is now made available at the end of every month. And that citizens have chosen not to care about what they should normally show interest in does not absolve them of culpability.

There is secrecy, it may not be overt but government expenditure is mostly covert,only people in the know can say for sure what and what is that we get reports of allocations does not mean we get accurate account of disbursements.... some care but what will happen when there is "immunity"?

I have read extensively on fiscal federalism as it's practised in the US and I have not seen how ours deviates so much from theirs.

It then makes me wonder what exactly is missing in our to make some of you call it unitary federalism.

I insist our problem is not the system but the people (the leaders and the led).

As for the US, let's stop comparing our bastardised federalism with theirs, counties & states don't wait for Washington before fixing their roads, providing primary health care and basic education.... They don't wait for allocation, that's the difference.

Reading about it & actually seeing how things work are two separate things... The US does not run a mono product economy that supports itself with only one commodity & doles out handout to the states.....

In the US, you can't live in Oshodi & send your kid to a public school (basic education) in Gbagada, unless you do a bit of manipulation and you can't pick your phone, dial 911 in an emergency & insist you want to be taken to an hospital in Mushin because that's where you are "registered".... The system has been designed to take you to the nearest facility!!

In the US, states can make laws as they deem fit, there is no fear of federal breathing heavy down their necks like OBJ did to Lagos way back when, if Lagos had been a state like Nassarawa, sorry would have been their case.. a system that also makes it easy for governors to impose on another tier (LG funds) of government without any due consideration can't be compared to the US.

Bros, let's stop comparing apples and oranges......

*in your spare time, read about US' WIC program & state of Illinois Allkids & we can have a more robust debate*

jaybee3:
VAT

What value are they going to add the Tax to?

Everybody just throwing taxation upandan, make dem kuku lead the poor citizens to slaughter slab & remove their heads!!!

modath:
What value are they going to add the Tax to?

Everybody just throwing taxation upandan, make dem kuku lead the poor citizens to slaughter slab & remove their heads!!!

Me i just know we must generate revenue one way or the other and our over reliance on Oyel or the plan being put forward to exploit other mineral resources ain't a short term solution

VAT is at least a flexible way to add monetary value to the treasury

jaybee3:
Me i just know we must generate revenue one way or the other and our over reliance on Oyel or the plan being put forward to exploit other mineral resources ain't a short term solution

VAT is at least a flexible way to add monetary value to the treasury

We won't argue, I just asked, what is that Value government is providing for the citizens to necessitate collection of goods & sevices tax?.... Bear in mind that most hotels & businesses that collect VAT from guests & contractors end up pocketing the proceeds most times.

In this people generate their light, dig boreholes for their use, contribute to grade the roads in their neighbourhoods and you want to tax, what are they going to tax?

People are broke, down & out and all we can think of is to add more tax burdens? By the way, how do you intend to task my aunty who deals in plastic in my home town?

If successive government haven't killed the country's production capacity, we wouldn't be where we are today, do you have an idea of how many jobs are lost to China factories & foreign refineries? That is not even about exploration of other mineral resources & how many truly developed countries rely totally on what God buried deep into the ground?

Nigeria needs restructuring, we can continue to kid ourselves till the center eventually gives way!!! I hope it doesn't consume more people than necessary!

modath:
We won't argue

Me I can’t even argue with you before you use your usual on point epistle stifle my existence.

modath:
I just asked, what is that Value government is providing for the citizens to necessitate collection of goods & sevices tax?.... Bear in mind that most hotels & businesses that collect VAT from guests & contractors end up pocketing the proceeds most times.

Taxation is always a pain no matter how you look at it but it’s simply the easiest way to generate revenue in the short term.
People evading or avoiding taxes is another kettle of fish which I believe Mr Fowler has been delegated the responsibility of targeted increment in effective collection which will hopefully help us reduce our reliance on black gold

modath:
In this people generate their light, dig boreholes for their use, contribute to grade the roads in their neighbourhoods and you want to tax, what are they going to tax?

Well, I believe the already pay taxes in one form or the other either through taxes passed directly unto consumers or VAT directly added to the cost of services when they engage contractors to provide services

modath:
People are broke, down & out and all we can think of is to add more tax burdens? By the way, how do you intend to task my aunty who deals in plastic in my home town?

I’m aware of the pain even if it isn’t being felt directly and I do sympathise but I’m a strong believer in no pain no gain so long as the leadership can show absolute honesty in their approach (Transparency/accountability/real empathy to our challenges through effective implementation of policies that will directly provide succour to millions) to solving our basic systematic problems

modath:
If successive government haven't killed the country's production capacity, we wouldn't be where we are today, do you have an idea of how many jobs are lost to China factories & foreign refineries? That is not even about exploration of other mineral resources & how many truly developed countries rely totally on what God buried deep into the ground?

Nigeria needs restructuring, we can continue to kid ourselves till the center eventually gives way!!! I hope it doesn't consume more people than necessary!

I agree that Nigeria needs restructuring but without having sincere and honest people with true values that share common goal to enact laws that will enable us flourish through devolution of certain powers to the state or regions then I’m afraid we going to be on a long thing.
Nigeria has far too many problems one of which sadly is non other Nigerians themselves to make such long term approach work.
You can’t start teaching grown people values and ethics or can you?

@modath, I hate to be so late to the discussion table, but it's better late than never.

I respect your views a lot and hold you in esteem but on this tax issue, your outrage at taxing already suffering people proves my point that nigerians will scrutinise government's activities more seriously when "taxed heavily".

Imagine civil servants are paid through public taxes. Will the Federal government employ people as it has just recently done in the CBN and FIRS targeted recruitments. Nigerians will be livid at the use of their personal wealth to pay connected people, and would protest. Such protests can even lead to the fall of a regime.

The effect of an increase in taxes on citizens is a reduction in money to spend and on the government, an increase (improvement in finances) in revenue.

Government recently removed fuel subsidies which has reduced citizens spending money and at the same time saved government's revenues( improved government's finances). Basically, the same effect as a tax, yet because money isn't directly taken from people, there is less outrage.

Again, yesterday the naira lost its value from about 200 to 280. The effect of this is still a reduction in spending money and savings in government revenue (I.e foreign reserves), yet because the action is not directly on the citizen but on the value of the naira, there isn't any outrage.

We humans are psychological beings. We act in certain ways under certain conditions. If you increase my salary from 100 thousand to 150 and then 6 months later you increased my taxes to 30 thousand leaving me with 120, I may feel outraged at what you spend my 30 thousand on.

@ Trillville,

I don't want to go into long debate cos I believe I've already articulated my position & my reasons... but I don't want to leave you hanging, won't be cool...

I still maintain that govt doesn't pay enough to tax civil servants, there is also no record/database available to tax the informal sector & the reason FiRS/CBN can be so brazen is because of weakness in the system & our collective mentality ("help your family & friends when you get into office" not because of taxes or what have you...

Tax who heavily? A graduate on 38k salary that is already in debt by the 17th of every month? You really think if the govt could they wouldn't? The countries that tax heavily have mechanisms for personal & societal development in place.

Naira didn't lose vaue at the 199 it was pegged at, it was overvalued & we all can agree on that, has naira not been trading @ 380 on the streets? How many people could walk into CBN & get approval for 199 as at last week?

Permit me to stop here cos we will only agree to disagree..... thanks.

PassingShot:
Restructuring is not the solution to our problems. Bringing people to account is.

Irrespective of the type of government we practice, wicked leaders will still perpetuate their wickedness.

I could not help but contribute to this discussion.
You make good points in your write up, but the problem with your point is it simplicity, you leave out a lot of important issues.
The problems that this unitary System of governance has brought about is far more complex and has lots of dimensions to it. The bedrock under which successful relationships are built is trust, this virtue or factor is lacking in Nigeria today not just because of the multi-ethnicity nature of the country, but especially because of the serial miss-governance and abuse perpetrated on Nigerians by all past Nigerian leaders. Trust is long dead in Nigeria, most especially when the person asking for your trust is from another tribe. Once bitten they say....twice shy. (Though Nigerians have been beaten like 20 times). Trust has deteriorated to the level that leaders who mean well, but who are from other tribes than ours is not given a chance, negative givens and rationales is read into their actions. It is that bad. The points you made about the governors looting their states blind and still getting popular support is correct, but you must understand that the abused, the poor and the downtrodden (60% of Nigerians are in this class) will turn to thieves, their oppressors (who steal what is theirs) so far that their crumbs are guaranteed. Ibori et al are perceived as the good ones by their people because they empowered a fraction of their people (though just a fraction of their enormous loot, this has a ripple effect because of the dependents that would benefit from the empowered and the perception that their actions create; what the federal government would not do for our sons...our own governor, one of us has done for them). Let me cut to the chase.
The one way to restore a bit of sanity to the system and give Nigeria a chance of survival is to restructure or enforce true federalism. The issue of trust would be taken care of to an extent as people will give a government headed by one of theirs a benefit of doubt. Also, the miss-interpretation of government actions would be reduced. Politicians and magicians have a lot in common, they both work assiduously to keep peoples attention from what they really are doing. Politicians always blame the center for the woes in their communities, they tell their constituents how some hausa fulani man is blocking their attempts to bring development to them. The poor constituents, how can they verify? With true federalism it becomes clear who to hold responsible.
Another issue is that of productivity revenue generation and national development. It has been empirically proven that countries do not grow from proceeds from rent. How do people get committed to their civil duty and ensure that the government is up and doing when they dont finance the government? The extract below is Awolowos word from far back...

"...There is that broad, smooth road, with promises of no taxation, and no efforts to get money from other places, leading nowhere but to perdition, poverty, disease and economic enslavement; and there is the other road - people who go therein pay tax. They also have to apply self-help and self-sacrifice to get where they want. But this road ... leads to success." Awolowo, speaking to the nascent rentier Nigerian state, drunk on oil revenue in 1954.

See how the words from 1954 seem like they were spoken today? very smart man he was. True federalism will make the man in Anambra, Sokoto, Osun, Kogi to stand up his ass and become productive or he dies of hunger. This spoon feeding from the proceeds of rent must stop. Let all states sustain themselves, those who cannot should merge.
I have a million and one argument for the restructuring of Nigeria but i have made the most salient one, to foster trust between the ruler and the ruled. And I tell you, I dont trust anybody in Aso rock but Buhari (even the way Buhari is playing deaf to lots of grievous issues this days is giving me a rethink) APC and PDP politicians are all thieves who have done and would keep doing every evil to preserve their privileges... they have fed fat for too long on the proceeds from rent...we need to scatter the party using true federalism. Let the senators or governors/reps understand that have to earn money before they can spend it.

@PassingShot: yet again, you prove your mettle- bravo!!

We've been down this road several times and have flogged the issue to near death.

Make no mistakes, Omenka stands for "true federalism" any day any time especially for one cardinal reason- granting such would expose what lazy, ignorant, unintelligent, and irresponsible bunch of leaders we have in our various states as excuses for non-performance would become almost nonexistent!

I have said it time and again- true federalism isn't in itself our major problem as espoused in your article, political and moral corruption is. Our current crop of leaders possess neither the political will or the moral fortitude to wean us off the current system of eternal breastfeeding. Grant an autonomous status to the states of some of these governors screaming "true federalism" at every mic that has the opportunity to come before their face and watch them whittle away like gmelina tree in the Sahara desert.

Those who have the will to make changes in their respective domains are doing so and would do so under any system- and those who aren't might fare even worse regardless of the strength of their state purses.

[s]

omenka:
@PassingShot: yet again, you prove your mettle- bravo!!

We've been down this road several times and have flogged the issue to near death.

Make no mistakes, Omenka stands for "true federalism" any day any time especially for one cardinal reason- granting such would expose what lazy, ignorant, unintelligent, and irresponsible bunch of leaders we have in our various states as excuses for non-performance would become almost nonexistent!

I have said it time and again- true federalism isn't in itself our major problem as espoused in your article, political and moral corruption is. Our current crop of leaders possess neither the political will or the moral fortitude to wean us off the current system of eternal breastfeeding. Grant an autonomous status to the states of some of these governors screaming "true federalism" at every mic that has the opportunity to come before their face and watch them whittle away like gmelina tree in the Sahara desert.

Those who have the will to make changes in their respective domains are doing so and would do so under any system- and those who aren't might fare even worse regardless of the strength of their state purses.

[/s]

Omenka = Passingshot

omenka:
@PassingShot: yet again, you prove your mettle- bravo!!

We've been down this road several times and have flogged the issue to near death.

Make no mistakes, Omenka stands for "true federalism" any day any time especially for one cardinal reason- granting such would expose what lazy, ignorant, unintelligent, and irresponsible bunch of leaders we have in our various states as excuses for non-performance would become almost nonexistent!

I have said it time and again- true federalism isn't in itself our major problem as espoused in your article, political and moral corruption is. Our current crop of leaders possess neither the political will or the moral fortitude to wean us off the current system of eternal breastfeeding. Grant an autonomous status to the states of some of these governors screaming "true federalism" at every mic that has the opportunity to come before their face and watch them whittle away like gmelina tree in the Sahara desert.

Those who have the will to make changes in their respective domains are doing so and would do so under any system- and those who aren't might fare even worse regardless of the strength of their state purses.

I could not help but contribute to this discussion.
You make good points in your write up, but the problem with your point is it simplicity, you leave out a lot of important issues.
The problems that this unitary System of governance has brought about is far more complex and has lots of dimensions to it. The bedrock under which successful relationships are built is trust, this virtue or factor is lacking in Nigeria today not just because of the multi-ethnicity nature of the country, but especially because of the serial miss-governance and abuse perpetrated on Nigerians by all past Nigerian leaders. Trust is long dead in Nigeria, most especially when the person asking for your trust is from another tribe. Once bitten they say....twice shy. (Though Nigerians have been beaten like 20 times). Trust has deteriorated to the level that leaders who mean well, but who are from other tribes than ours is not given a chance, negative givens and rationales is read into their actions. It is that bad. The points you made about the governors looting their states blind and still getting popular support is correct, but you must understand that the abused, the poor and the downtrodden (60% of Nigerians are in this class) will turn to thieves, their oppressors (who steal what is theirs) so far that their crumbs are guaranteed. Ibori et al are perceived as the good ones because they empowered a fraction of their people (though just a fraction of their enormous loot, this has a ripple effect because of the dependents that would benefit from the empowered and the perception that their actions create; what the federal government would not do for our sons...our own governor, one of us has done for them). Let me cut to the chase.
The one way to store a bit of sanity to the system and give Nigeria a chance for survival is to restructure or enforce true federalism. The issue of trust would be taken care of to an extent as people will give a government headed by one of theirs a benefit of doubt. Also, the miss-interpretation of government actions would be reduced. Politicians and magicians have a lot in common, they both work assiduously to keep peoples attention from what they really are doing. Politicians always blame the center for the woes in their communities, they tell their constituents how some hausa fulani man is blocking their attempts to bring development to them. The poor constituents, how can they verify? With true federalism it becomes clear who to hold responsible.
Another issue is that of productivity revenue generation and national development. It has been empirically proven that countries do not grow from proceeds from rent. How do people get committed to their civil duty and ensure that the government is up and doing when they dont finance the government? The extract below is Awolowos word from far back...

"...There is that broad, smooth road, with promises of no taxation, and no efforts to get money from other places, leading nowhere but to perdition, poverty, disease and economic enslavement; and there is the other road - people who go therein pay tax. They also have to apply self-help and self-sacrifice to get where they want. But this road ... leads to success." Awolowo, speaking to the nascent rentier Nigerian state, drunk on oil revenue in 1954.

See how the words from 1954 seem like they were spoken today? very smart man he was. True federalism will make the man in Anambra, Sokoto, Osun, Kogi to stand up his ass and become productive or he dies of hunger. This spoon feeding from the proceeds of rent must stop. Let all states sustain themselves, those who cannot should merge.
I have a million and one argument for the restructuring of Nigeria but i have made the most salient one, to foster trust between the ruler and the ruled. And I tell you, I dont trust anybody in Aso rock but Buhari (even the way Buhari is playing deaf to lots of grievous issues this days is giving me a rethink) APC and PDP politicians are all thieves who have done and would keep doing every evil to preserve their privileges... they have fed fat for too long on the proceeds from rent...we need to scatter the party using true federalism. Let the senators or governors/reps understand that have to earn money before they can spend it.

@ 1freshdude: I really can't see what "trust" has got to do with anything here quite frankly. Pray tell, what has trust for whoever it is at the center got to do with the respective state governments upholding the and protecting the interest of their people through visible commitment to good governance manifested by infrastructures on ground The meagre advancements we've recorded in some states still took place under the same atmosphere of "mistrust", if you like, so one would wonder- if they can build a 1km road while not trusting someone, why can't they 100km while still not trusting them rather than diverting the funds into their personal accounts?? Is there something I'm missing??

As for me, no matter how we flip this dice, only one face comes up- corruption and moral depravity. They are the root cause of the problems we see today and this is exercebated by the sheer ignorance and illiteracy of a huge chunk of our population who roll out drums and turn instant cheerleaders whenever the see the shadows of those criminals.

We might have structural problems, yes, but there are countless examples of states (countries) that flourish under the current system we practice and so also those who do under true federalism- good governance hardly differentiates between the two- morality is the key.

omenka:
@ 1freshdude: I really can't see what "trust" has got to do with anything here quite frankly. Pray tell, what has trust for whoever it is at the center got to do with the respective state governments upholding the and protecting the interest of their people through visible commitment to good governance manifested by infrastructures on ground The meagre advancements we've recorded in some states still took place under the same atmosphere of "mistrust", if you like, so one would wonder- if they can build a 1km road while not trusting someone, why can't they 100km while still not trusting them rather than diverting the funds into their personal accounts?? Is there something I'm missing??

As for me, no matter how we flip this dice, only one face comes up- corruption and moral depravity. They are the root cause of the problems we see today and this is exercebated by the sheer ignorance and illiteracy of a huge chunk of our population who roll out drums and turn instant cheerleaders whenever the see the shadows of those criminals.

We might have structural problems, yes, but there are countless examples of states (countries) that flourish under the current system we practice and so also those who do under true federalism- good governance hardly differentiates between the two- morality is the key.

Trust has everything thing to do with what is on ground. The IPOBS gave GEJ a benefit of doubt even though he did nothing for them, hoping that he would make amends should he win his second term, same way the North only votes for Northerners. And the projects you talk about were carried out in the earlier times when level of trust were not this low or when the military was in power.
Corruption thrives because of hunger and poverty, minimum wage cannot be 18,000k and you expect people to be honest, how will they make ends meet if they are honest? our revenue cannot come cheaply from oil and you expect people to be honest...corruption does not happen in isolation. Running the country on the proceeds from oil makes people lazy and unproductive, every person wants a piece of the rent.

1freshdude:
Trust has everything thing to do with what is on ground. The IPOBS gave GEJ a benefit of doubt even though he did nothing for them, hoping that he would make amends should he win his second term, same way the North only votes for Northerners. And the projects you talk about were carried out in the earlier times when level of trust were not this low or when the military was in power.
Corruption thrives because of hunger and poverty, minimum wage cannot be 18,000k and you expect people to be honest, how will they make ends meet if they are honest? our revenue cannot come cheaply from oil and you expect people to be honest...corruption does not happen in isolation. Running the country on the proceeds from oil makes people lazy and unproductive, every person wants a piece of the rent.

Wow!! Bye...

omenka:
@PassingShot: yet again, you prove your mettle- bravo!!

We've been down this road several times and have flogged the issue to near death.

Make no mistakes, Omenka stands for "true federalism" any day any time especially for one cardinal reason- granting such would expose what lazy, ignorant, unintelligent, and irresponsible bunch of leaders we have in our various states as excuses for non-performance would become almost nonexistent!

I have said it time and again- true federalism isn't in itself our major problem as espoused in your article, political and moral corruption is. Our current crop of leaders possess neither the political will or the moral fortitude to wean us off the current system of eternal breastfeeding. Grant an autonomous status to the states of some of these governors screaming "true federalism" at every mic that has the opportunity to come before their face and watch them whittle away like gmelina tree in the Sahara desert.

Those who have the will to make changes in their respective domains are doing so and would do so under any system- and those who aren't might fare even worse regardless of the strength of their state purses.

please mention ones state in nigeria that is doing well or making changes...when i say changes i am not talking about fine fine houses built by political thieves ,i mean changes in the lives of its immediate citizens...jobs, social infrastructures, constant electricity, well tarred roads, hospitals, etc..please mention just one state... ....

even angels who reside in heaven would misbehave and kill each other if they operate on the skewed and fraudulent system nigeria operates on...our system is the major problem with nigeria...the system begot the corrupt individuals we have today...so the system first...

not at all but the issue is that we were never meant to be one country from beginning.

great job bro. Ur doing good job here!