By Polycarp Onwubiko
President Tinubu's claim to be reforming and retooling the economy is baseless and fallacious while retaining the Centralist Constitution
Pragmatic, strategic and
plausible solutions for bringing the comatose and descript economy is by
decentralization of the economy which is only possible by immediate
Restructuring of the lopsided Federation.
It amounts to daydreaming to
believe that with the Centralized political structure president Tinubu with his
party loyalists, 'yes men' in the cabinet will re-engineer the political
economy. Federations the world over naturally go with decentralization of the
economy.
By the term
"Decentralization of the economy", just like it was in the First
Republic, the Regional Governments as Federating Units, mange and leverage on
their vast natural and mineral resources within their jurisdiction to create
massive employments which leads to wealth creation, prosperity and jumpstart
the country's GDP for the collective interest of the entire country.
A situation where, out of
self-centered calculations, the country solely depends on oil and gas found in
the southern part of the country while leaving agriculture which was the main
economic mainstay in the First Republic, is a flagrant exhibition of myopic
mindset at the detriment of the corporate existence of Nigeria. In other words,
Diversification of the economy is inextricably intertwined with realistic
principles of federal system of government as obtained in the First Republic.
The pith and marrow of the
argument or prodding for immediate Restructuring of the lopsided Federation is
to revert to the style of governance in the First Republic where the Regional
approach were happily progressing socially and economically while the masses
were happy in both the public and private sectors and earning lives without
complaining or evidence of of hunger and malnutrition.
For instance, the western
region with a progresslly minded premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, managed the
economy of the region so well that his Government was the first among equals to
declare free education which built formidable human capacity and great institutions
of higher learning in the region. It was after this progressive innovation and
the exhilarating outcome that other regions started free education.
In this present Nigeria, state governments cannot float free education
to the higher level of education with the Centralist Constitution where the
federal government has bloated functions in the Exclusive legislative list
while the states go to Abuja at the end of the month with begging bowls in the
name of collecting revenue allocations.
Meanwhile, the fallouts of
Centralist Constitution with its humongous imperfections, created a situation
where some state governments in the northern part of the country explored and
are exploiting mineral resources within their jurisdiction allegedly in cahoots
with foreigners and sharing the proceeds among themselves while the proceeds
from the exploration of oil and gas in the southern part of the country are
being ware-housed into the Federation Account for distribution to the tiers of
government. All the age long protestations to stop the exploration and
exploitation of the mineral resources in the North, failed on deaf ears, a slap
on the face of those clamouring for the immediate Restructuring of the country
for equity, fairness, justice and fair play. President Tinubu should bear in
mind that until he believes that diversification of the economy is Integral to
immediate restructuring of the lopsided Federation, the clearer his vision
would be in his supposedly "Renewed Hope Initiative" to reinvent
Nigeria.
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