Federal structure major problem
By Bode Olagoke
Abuja
Former Vice President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has asked Nigerians not to be timid in demanding good governance from their leaders.
He also reiterated that the structure of the country “as it is now is a major problem dragging the nation backward.”
Atiku, who has been consistently calling for renegotiation of Nigeria as a nation, believe “there is nothing wrong in people agitating for what they see as a better federal system.”
Speaking yesterday as guest speaker at the annual Professor Ademola Popoola Public Lecture, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, the Turakin Adamawa, also emphasised that the perennial debates and agitations by federating units for improved position within a federal structure “is the hallmark of a living.”
“Our challenges are multi-faceted and the structure of the federation is only one of them, albeit a critical one. Restructuring itself will not automatically guarantee good governance. As a people we still have to demand good governance and accountability from our leaders,” he said.
According to him, a trained, educated and entrepreneurial workforce in a restructured Nigeria that empowers her federating units to look to their strengths, emphasises production and internally generated revenues, and competes with one another to attract investments will truly transform us into a respectable people.
“It will help grow our economy rapidly, ensure needed employment for our young people, improve security, stabilise our politics and promote peace. The restructuring that I have been calling for involves changes to the allocation of powers, responsibilities and resources among the states or zones and between them and the federal government.
“I do not see local governments as federating units and, therefore, they should not derive their powers from the constitution. Likewise, ethnic nationalities are not federating units and any attempt to restructure the country along those lines will be unworkable. Some of our roughly 300 ethnic nationalities are big enough to constitute independent countries while some are too small to even constitute local government areas.
“We have a unique opportunity now, with all the agitation and clamour for restructuring, to have a conversation that would lead to changes in the structure of our federation in order to make it stronger, enhance our unity and promote peace, security and better and more accountable governance.
“Ours should be a federal system that delegates to the federal government only powers and responsibilities for tho se matters that are better handled by a central government such as defence, foreign affairs, inter-governmental affairs, setting overall national economic policy and standards.
“Other powers and responsibilities should reside with the states, which will include the power to create and fund local governments as they deem fit. It is a myth to say that we do not need restructuring, that all we need is good leadership.
“While leadership is critical, leaders also operate within structural and institutional constraints, which may impede or enhance their performance. Thus, if you have a federal
structure that encourages dependency while discouraging hard work, innovation, productivity and competition, your development as a nation will be less than optimal.”
