A foremost human rights lawyer and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, has reiterated the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to consider a proposal on regional autonomy and devolution of powers to stabilize the country.
In a letter to the President, Agbakoba advocated that the process of regional autonomy and powers devolution can be achieved by altering the Regional Autonomy and Devolution of Powers Bill.
He regretted that Nigeria lacks national fundamentals, saying it has robbed the nation of expected cohesiveness and ability to work together politically, economically, culturally, in religious and social affairs.
He said, “Nigeria, on the other hand, has no National Fundamentals. Diverse religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds severely impair our ability to work together.”
While harping further, Agbakoba said the common ideals which are usually taken for granted, remain central to effective governance and development of any Nation.
Citing the case of Norway, Agbakoba quoted Norwegian Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, as attributing Norway’s success to its political homogeneity.
“Norwegians have common national identity that drives their political and economic stability. China, India, Taiwan and Singapore also have common fundamentals. China is significantly Han so is Singapore and Taiwan.
“According to a guest lecturer at a seminar on regional autonomy, the UK provides a perfect example of managing unity in diversity. The UK is made up of at least 4 ethnic nationalities, the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish. But by managed devolution, the UK has grappled with the challenge of their missing fundamentals.
“Even with hard work, it still grapples with discontent as the Scots want out of the kingdom!! But by staying with a policy choice of recognizing their sub-national ethnicity, the British accommodate.
“The challenge is to resolve our diversity in harmony. This needs deliberate policy choices to create unity in diversity. This was the central theme of our old national anthem. Unfortunately, our policy choices have resulted in very divisive dialogue. We cannot agree on a mode of a federal political system. We continue to raise issues around our differences.”
Agbakoba regretted that the founding fathers understood the need to manage unity in diversity as against the current central authority model which according to him has proved unsuccessful.
“We are still stuck with a highly centralized Federation owing to military rule in 1966, which has caused the unification and centralization of our political processes,” he added.
While proffering the way forward, Agbakoba implored the ruling government to return to the notion of devolution of powers and regional autonomy in order to resolve the country’s diversity challenge.
