Maduekwe Canvasses Zonal Govt Structure
Says 36 states no longer serve national unity
From Paul Ibe in Abuja
Presidential Adviser, Legal and Constitutional Matters, Chief Ojo Maduekwe has advocated a constitutional and political re-engineering that will see the country governed along a six-zone structure.
He also said the current 36 states structure no longer "serve the ends of national unity and national integration nor has it satisfactorily cured the fever of self-determination."
Delivering the anniversary lecture as part of activities marking the 44th Independence Anniversary in Abuja yesterday, Maduekwe contended that the envisaged zonal structure is necessitated by the failings of the states as effective units of federating powers.
He observed that economic reforms such as the one being undertaken by the Obasanjo administration would be dead on arrival without supporting it political reforms with its attendant constitutional implications.
He said the canvassed six-zonal structure would have the "viability of the old four regions as centers of federal power that not only receives revenue but possesses the economies of scale advantage to produce wealth and run governments that meet with federal requirements of truly autonomous units that in solidarity with Federal Government mobilizes for national greatness."
He added that the zonal government should have a parliament, preferably bi-cameral as in the center, an executive arm and a judiciary.
He said that the envisaged legislature at the zonal government will consist of a "Lower House that will initiate and promulgate laws for good governance in accordance with new schedules of Legislative List in the National Constitution, and an Upper House in which all the ethnic groups in the zone will enjoy equality of representation and appropriate roles designed to enable them give expression to the legitimate aspirations of all the ethno-linguistic nationalities within the zone in order to foster unity and sense of belonging."
In the 38-page lecture titled "Lest We Forget" at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) secretariat, Maduekwe who was former Minister of Culture and Tourism later, Transport, pointed out that the "proliferation of states has led to the decentralization of both corruption and poverty."
He noted that the "costs of governance" are now "far in excess of the goods of governance" since according to him "many state governments are nothing more than glorified salary payments centers."
He said the post-Civil War proliferation of states had neither "rhyme nor rhythm," and that what was officially described to be a Federal Military Government response to the "legitimate quest for self determination by various ethno-linguistic groups, was perceived by not a few, especially on the other side of the conflict as a weapon of war."
"By the time the genie had left the bottle and states creation moved from the wartime figure of 12 to post-conflict number of 19 and then 21, and then 30 before we reached 36, the thing had progressed from being a weapon to neutralize your opponents to an advantage for yourself," he added.
The Presidential Adviser said the history of state creation in the country, with the exception of the former Mid-Western Region, has not been "distinguished by objective criteria of political and economic imperatives of constitutional federalism."
He argued that if the process of states creation was flawed, then the products were equally bound to have problems such as is currently being experienced.
He said the states have in some cases, become breeding grounds for rabid ethno-nationalism and that Nigeria enjoyed better harmony and integration in the days of the so-called powerful regions because "they were powerful enough to exercise federating responsibilities."
"The effect of this unsystematic proliferation of states is that it was at the expense of regional autonomy since the disposition of the Federal Government to donate states to sundry interest groups was matched by its appetite to take over those functions which the now weakened federating units could no longer perform.
"What emerged in this unique Nigerian experience was revenue-dependency units of federalism, rather than revenue-generating, fiscally responsible units. With diminished capacity to perform the responsibilities of fiscal federalism added to the unitarist culture of military rule, it was only a matter of time before the lopsidedness in the federal structure would become the rallying cry of those calling for sovereign national conference, another panic response," he said.
The Independence Anniversary Lecturer lamented that the palpable sense of alienation of the various ethno-linguistic groups notwithstanding the "proliferation of states from 4 to 36 has obviously predisposed the Nigerian state to tendencies of a failing state."
"When added to the recurring problem of the lack of clarity, or perhaps, more accurately, lack of enforcement culture of citizenship rights, the gravity of the problem becomes clearer," he explained.
He noted that a Nigerian citizen should enjoy the same rights of citizenship as it is obtainable elsewhere in the world. settler/indigene controversy. He also pointed out that there should be no "doubt as to whether an Igbo originally from Abia State who elects to settle in Kano can aspire to be Governor of Kano State and vice versa."
According to him, until Nigerians are able to enforce constitutional provisions germane to the issue of setter-indigene relationship Nigeria would "remain stranded between country and nation."
Maduekwe recognized the imperative of constitutional strengthening of the Local Government system to insulate it from the vagaries of the "disturbing stories of what happens to Federal revenue allocations intended for grassroot development."
The Presidential Adviser commended the Federal Government's novel initiative to restore sanity through Fiscal Responsibility as a step in this direction.
He said the envisaged political reforms should be done in conjunction with legal reforms, which would among other things entail a re-appraisal of the 1999 Constitution to "establish if the content of Federalism is adequate for the multi-ethnic character of the Nigerian State against the background of actual substance of the agitation for a restructuring of the Federation."
He called for far reaching electoral reforms, asserting that the survival of the country's democracy depends largely on a credible electoral process that "meets with universally acclaimed norms, as there is always a dangerous crisis of legitimacy erosion if the perception persists that the elections were not free and fair."
He noted that much of the need for political reforms is anchored on the "credibility and viability of the internal democracy that governs party primaries," he said the "...litmus test for democratic arrival is the perception that a ruling party can theoretically preside over its own defeat." "This needs not become a death wish.
It is merely an acceptance that to have helped in nurturing lasting democracy is a far bigger achievement than forming governments," he said.
Also, he said such images as the unresolved riddle of the assassination of former Attorney General, Chief Bola Ige, revenue haemorrhage on coastal waters through stealing of crude and petroleum products, systematic vandalisation of NEPA and NNPC installations, unrefuted allegations of looting of state and local governments treasuries by elected and appointed officials, capital flight, tardiness in foreign investment and MASSOB declaration of 'Biafran Day' suggest that "unless crucial strategic moves both within the polity and economy are undertaken in the months ahead, the nation is at risk of slipping back around 2007 to a failing state or even a failed state status with severe consequences, not only for all our people, but for the whole sub-region."
Present at yesterday's lecture were the Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammadu Lawal Uwais, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette, Minister of Information, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Prof Jerry Gana and former Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Alhaji Maitama Sule.
Others include former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Chibudom Nwuche, Bamanga Tukur, National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Chief Don Etiebet and Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Chief Shuaibu Oyedokun, Secretary of PDP, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Women Leader of the PDP, Mrs. Josephine Anenih, President, National Council of Women's Society, Mrs. Elizabeth Ketebu-Nwokafor, members of the diplomatic corps, service chiefs and chief executive officers of public and private sector organizations.
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