By Polycarp Onwubiko
"Wonders shall never end," as the saying goes. Read the article captioned "Lawmakers Constituency Projects and Transparency Questions" by Alabi Williams, published in The Guardian on January 15, 2024.
It is foolhardiness to run away
from restructuring the federation to restore realistic principles of the
federal system of government.
Failure to do that, ostensibly
to pander to the inanities and "sense of entitlement" of the
political and traditional chieftains in the northern part of the country, has
thrown up all sorts of disastrous initiatives by the executive and legislative
branches of government that are out of sync with sane and sanitized federations
the world over.
Constituency projects,
mischievously and sweetly garnished in the garb of "legislative
intervention" in the constituencies of federal and state legislators, have
led to mind-boggling and humongous waste of public resources which could have
been channeled to uplifting the lamentable standard of living of the masses
both in the hinterlands and urban areas.
I laughed when bootlickers of
Tinubu's "Emilokan" presidency said that he has shown good governance
by responding to critical observations of the media commentators. There is no
broad-based passionate appeal to Tinubu other than to set the necessary
measures in place aimed at immediately restructuring the country, but his
supposed body language has suggested otherwise. Pitiful indeed.
The article referred to above
is very informative, and if Emilokan is seriously minded to reinvent Nigeria,
he should immediately abolish constituency projects to save a humongous amount
of public funds from the gaping mouth of the legislators. In sane and sanitized
developed countries of the world, initiation and execution of public projects
fall within the remit of the executive arm of government.
Fixing
Japa Syndrome
The Japa Syndrome in Nigeria
will cease when President Tinubu acknowledges the stark reality that
restructuring the dysfunctional governance structure, transforming the six
geopolitical zones into new federating units, will empower these units to
carefully assess their jurisdiction, as well as the natural and mineral
resources within. This approach will facilitate realistic economic planning for
socioeconomic growth and meaningful, sustainable development.
Failure to confront this stark
reality will result in his administration being worse than the eight years of
the Buhari administration's locusts. It is not beneficial to persist with the
fundamentally fraudulent and flawed 1999 constitution, where a section of the
country adeptly exploits other geopolitical zones and ethnic nationalities to
their detriment.
In other words, a national
conference is a categorical imperative if Tinubu's concept of
"Emilokan" is to yield meaningful dividends.
NUGGETS
For Achieving Sustainable Socioeconomic Growth In Nigeria
1. The foundation for effective
and efficient security lies in a decentralized security architecture, an
integral component of restructuring the imbalanced Federation. Without it,
economic development plans become futile. Security universally serves as the
bedrock of development. Centralized security architecture has proven
ineffective and is perceived as a strategy to advance the Islamization agenda
of the northern Muslims. This is why there is vehement opposition to
restructuring the imbalanced Federation with decentralized security
architecture.
2. Implement a drastic
reduction of the 68 items in the Legislative list, termed "devolution of
powers," or undertake governance restructuring.
3. Restructure the imbalanced
Federation with the six geopolitical zones as new Federating units. This
enables them to explore and exploit the vast natural and mineral resources
within their respective jurisdictions, creating immense wealth and generating
substantial employment.
4. Following point 2, many MDAs
should be scrapped, such as the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. This
responsibility should be with State Governments, as the federal government has
no business with such a ministry that state governments can manage effectively.
The establishment of this ministry by the Buhari administration was a response
to corruption.
5. Make local government
councils the sole responsibility of State Governments, aligning with the
structure of the First Republic. A federal system of government should consist
of only two tiers of government.
6. Convert the National
Assembly to a part-time basis to curtail the exorbitant annual budgetary
allocations to it.
Polycarp Onwubiko, Public Policy Analyst
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