O. Jason Osai argues for the restructuring of the federation
The founding fathers of this nation built a strong foundation on which they erected three floors. Given the economic enablement of that substructure, the nation thrived and achieved landmarks that included putting France behind us in television broadcasting and we were the reference point for African development. Nigeria’s prospects were such that, at independence, the colonial masters adjudged us as one of the developing economies the world should watch; they rated Nigeria at par with India and Brazil in terms of development capacities and prospects of emerging as a major player in the global amphitheater. Then the founding fathers put one more floor and it was okay because the foundation had the load-bearing capacity to carry such superstructure.
In 1966, a group of young men in uniform took over the reins of state and, in response to centrifugal sociopolitical forces, they extended the floors to 12 and, rather unfortunately, they dealt the nation a mortal blow by weakening the foundation. That singular act added the concepts of “commonwealth” and “national cake” to the lexicon of Nigerian politics and heralded the slide down a slippery economic slope. Thus, Nigeria degenerated into the current “baaabiyalla” (beggarly) federation where subnational governments virtually do nothing other than wait for monthly allocation from the federation account. Consequently, heightened disintegrative nationalism took the center-stage of national discourse all in the quest for a greater share of the national cake and, in response to this, we further increased the superstructure bit-by-bit to 36 floors and a penthouse on the same faulty foundation. At a point, we even toyed with the idea of furthering the floors to 54. This is a product of having idiots and tribesmen instead of citizens (in the Greek sense of these words) at the helm of affairs.
Departing from engineering metaphor, Nigerians were systemically and systematically dispossessed of their land through a string of ill-conceived land use acts. Having been so dispossessed and economically incapacitated, the people streamed into government, which became the highest employer of labour and the only thriving subsector of the national economy. Resultantly, the private sector became comatose and the nation degenerated into a government-driven economy. It was only a matter of time before we displaced India in world poverty classification and acquired the ignominious moniker of poverty capital of the world.
Now that the youths who are the major stakeholders in Nigeria’s future have woken up from their slumber and docility, it is time to review the constitution of this nation. Therefore, decisive progressive steps must be taken to burrow beneath the foundation and strengthen it such that it is able to carry the humongous superstructure hoisted on it as a result of disarticulated and narrow-minded leadership that yielded to unremitting disintegrative nationalism. The current effort at revisiting the constitution should not be a charade; it should do the needful. To live in denial of the unstable state of affairs in Nigeria and do otherwise would be deluded; it is tantamount to playing the delusory game of the ostrich.
As a Niger Deltan, I feel excruciatingly pained by the double standards of vesting the rights to the gold in Zamfara State in the State while the oil in the Niger Delta is vested in the federal government; this is an insult and assault on the collective psyche of the oil-bearing communities of the Niger Delta. However, as a citizen of Nigeria, I think that that is a step in the right direction though it stopped short of hitting the necessary target; it is, therefore, a half measure.
Unbridled kleptomania and squandermania coupled with government’s obvious inability to punish culprits indicates that vesting the resources in the state (federal, state or local government) is modus vivendi; it would simply move the point of profligate pilfering from the national treasury to subnational treasuries. The French economist, Frederic Bastiat (l801-1850), averred thus: “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time, they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it”. This statement is a very apt assessment of contemporary Nigeria; malfeasance and maladministration are entrenched in every sector and segment of our national life: nepotism. cronyism, and the resultant mediocrity have become the order of the day: the new norm.
Government should give back to the people their land, which it stole through dispossession laws. The people of Zamfara State should be empowered to mine their gold; the people of Igbeti should harness their marble; the people of the Niger Delta should extract their oil and the peoples of various communities in this prodigiously endowed nation should be allowed to harness their resources and pay tax to the various levels of government, which should concentrate on its traditional regulatory role. Given this, government will become lean and unattractive for bounty hunters while attracting only citizens–those who desire to serve their community and the nation; do-or-die politics will abate and the political firmament will become cool. Granted that this thesis has the propensity of creating systemic imbalances and socioeconomic disparities, these can be effectively ameliorated through instituting a discriminatory tax regime such that the agricultural sector pays minimally while the other sectors pay carefully calibrated and demonstrably determined percentages.
Nigeria is so amazingly gifted it can be, for Blacks, what London and Rome are for Caucasians, what Mecca and Medina are for Moslems, what Jerusalem is for the Jews and much more. Nigeria has abundance of natural and human resources to lead Black Africa if only it had citizens at the helm of its affairs. In his 1776 economic classic, Adam Smith offered that the wealth of nations lies in building the capacities of the people and positively engaging them in economic activities. This is the kernel of this thesis; it holds the promise of unleashing the productive capacities of millions of Nigerians and springing the nation out of poverty.
• Osai wrote from Rivers State University, Port Harcourt
