With the conclusion of Parties Primaries and the emergence of Candidates for the various elective positions across the political spectrum of our country, we have finally entered into the home stretch of the 2019 election cycle. It is sincerely hoped that all of our electioneering activities will now be issues centred away from just personalities. It is time we all begin to ask serious questions about the future of our country. All of the dirty talking lies and deceit should now cease.
One of the most pressing questions before us all today which is considered very central to our growth and developmental aspiration and the march toward nationhood is that of Restructuring. The best shorts at this subject of Restructuring was the recent exchange between the Former Vice President and now the Presidential Candidate of the PDP H.E. Atiku Abubakar and the incumbent Vice President H.E Yemi Osinbajo of the ruling APC where the incumbent VP posited that instead of the clamour for Restructuring, we should focus on the issue of securing Good Governance with a full commitment to the eradication of corruption. In his words “Good governance involves, inter alia, transparency and prudence in public finance. It involves social justice, investing in the poor, and jobs for young people….’
To the former VP Atiku Restructuring would be about the following;
- Devolution of powers and resources to the states.
- Matching grants from the federal government to the states to help them grow their internally generated revenue position.
- The privatisation of unviable federal Government-owned assets.
- A truly free market economy driven by the laws of demand and supply.
- Replacing state of origin with state of residence, and
- Passing the PIGD so that our oil and gas sector will run as a business with minimal governmental interference.’
The foregoing would appear to be the overall outlook to the question of Restructuring by the APC and the PDP via their two key players in the forth coming elections. There are however a number of other proponents of Restructuring including Elders Chief Emeka Ayanoku and Chief Olu Falae as well as reference by the Afenifere to the position reached at the last 2014 National Conference. At the heart of these is the call to move away from the highly centralised system of Government where power is concentrated at the centre to a more disperse system akin to the framework that was handed over to us by British Colonial Administration at Independence.
It is worth mentioning at this point, that the Independence Constitution is a truly negotiated instrument that involved Nigerians where they all agreed to the birth of a nation. Indeed Nigerians have agreed as a collective to build a nation together and the terms of our relationship where fully established in that Constitution. All of the accidents of Military intervention and the Civil War and such subsequent Constitutional redirection in the 1979 and 1999 Constitutions are some form of Political Restructuring with a view to finding how best to further processes in our march towards nationhood.
The need to escalate the debate on this issue of Restructuring at this juncture is overwhelmingly hinged on the understanding that without this said restructuring, the Nigerian State will continue in this incoherent course at development and may eventually become a failed State from the friction between centrifugal and centripetal forces at play. The handwriting is already on the wall with the intractable Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, Herdsmen and Farmers Clashes with
devastating loss of lives and property, an Economy in distress that is perpetually reliant on earnings from Crude Oil with a barely subdued Niger Delta Militancy coupled with the very high level of unemployment ditto youth unemployment providing for heightened levels of insecurity. Urgent steps are now required that would reverse these ugly trends, and 2019 provides us with a golden opportunity at securing commitments for the establishment of a more harmonious framework that would serve the reversal of the said ugly trends and the unleashing of the potentials of Nigeria to becoming a Great Nation.
One would expect President Muhammadu Buhari and Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to scale up the process of engaging Nigerians in the remaining few months to the elections on what would be the specifics of their government from 2019 when either one of them would be at the helm of affairs. Nigerians would be making their choice of a President this time based on clearly articulated plans and programs. Platitudes and general statement of intents as campaign promises that would be denied when in offices or are practically not implementable should be avoided.
To effect, we would have to look in details the possibilities that are before us. Restructuring is a continuum that is either implicit or explicit and as indicate by Mr Femi Falana SAN restructuring is not an end in itself and completely meaningless if it does not deliver social justice and equity being the key planks for the achievement of Unity and Political Stability and thus growth and development for our country.
As the mentioned Political Restructuring were going on with both our Military and Civilian Governments, these Governments were also delivering Economic Restructuring in our various National Development Plans, Vision 2020 and the Rolling Plans to the current Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of this APC Government. A principal economic restructuring that is the underlining foundation of our economy today is the President Ibrahim Babangida Structural Adjustment Programme SAP.
Both the Political and Economic restructuring have all produced social –economic outcomes that are today lagging abysmally behind the yearnings and aspiration of Nigerians and those of our founding fathers and so the call for Restructuring has continued unabated. It cannot just be wished away by its substitution with the pursuit of Good Governance and Anti-Corruption measures as indicated by the Vice President Osinbajo – would have loved to see this pursued with the kind of vigour that was of the War Against Indiscipline WAI of the General Buhari Era; nor Devolution of Power to States as indicated by Former VP Abubakar is all that is require to make good Restructuring. We certainly need both position and there is no reason why we cannot have a framework that delivers for Nigerians on both front within the next 4 years. In fact we demand that this is delivered to Nigeria without excuses this time around and our responsibility is to choose leaders in this 2019 election cycle that are ready to follow through with specific deliverables in this regard.
As indicated by Bishop Kuka, the Nigerian President is extremely powerful with a lot of capacity to be greatly irresponsible. Nigerians are required therefore to elect a President who from 2019 would need to work on the following specific deliverables which are not electoral promises that are whimsical. This election is a covenant with a President of Nigeria in 2019 that would responsibly and seriously work using the great powers made available to him by our Constitution to effect a Restructuring that delivers social justice and equity.
To effectively break this down, we will be looking at Restructuring from the three components of Administrative, Economic and Political Restructuring as subheadings borrowed from the PDP Presidential Candidate H.E Atiku Abubakar as tools of analysis. By the levers of Power available to the Office of the President, Administrative and Economic Restructuring would be considered as Implicit Restructuring while Political Restructuring is Explicit Restructuring based on the obvious constitutional challenges that would require the amendment of our Grund-norm – the Constitution.
ADMINISTRATIVE RESTRUCTURING
It is quite clear that H.E Yemi Osinbajo Good Governance template can easily be seen and achieve through the implementation of an Administrative Restructuring framework. It is an obvious fact that there is no Transparency and Prudence in Public Finance. The critical issue of corruption is at the centre of our poor national planning and budgeting process. There is an overarching need to bring up a framework that would entrench value for money in public expenditure as is the case with private enterprise in Nigeria. The Public Procurement System for goods and services in Government across the various tiers is criminally corrupt. The pace of growth and development can be greatly enhanced if Nigeria can quickly put in place an effective National Public Procurement Framework that would ensure the cost of goods and services purchased by Government – be it Local, State and Federal levels are nearest to economic value of such goods and services and comparable to what is paid for similar goods and services by the private sector.
As a guide Nigeria must begin to officially download from the Former Governor Peter Obi and now Vice Presidential Candidate, the Public Finance template he implemented in Anambra State in conjuncture with the enactment of the Public Procurement Bill as enunciated by Dr Yusuf Datti Baba- Ahmed [one of the presidential aspirant of the PDP in the just concluded primaries] that limits the value index for what can be paid by Government for goods and services with criminal sanctions for breaches.
The foregoing which when codified into the budgeting process would overnight increase return on overall government expenditure by a minimum factor of 5 in the first year of implementation and would increase to about 8 over the next 3 to 4 years based on the an increase in efficiency factor.
This exercise as explained by Former Governor Peter Obi in a number of his public speaking outings can be carried out without delay as it only requires the executive will to do the needful. This process can then be institutionalised by an appropriate enactment as proposed by Dr Datti-Ahmed (in his campaign as a PDP Presidential aspirant) that would codify this framework into our budgetary process.
One of the sins of our First Republic Politicians and Bureaucrats was that they were openly on 10 percent-ers kick-back but their counterparts today pride themselves with budget padding and 200 percent-ers at the least on Government Contracts. In a high number of cases, monies are collected and contracts are not even executed. We urgently need to reverse this trend and our President in 2019 must exercise the executive power of the office to ensure full implementation of Administrative Restructuring of Nigeria that would hence forth deliver value for money on Government Expenditure.
One may argue that there already exists a Public Procurement Act 2007 with the Due Process framework put in place during the Obasanjo Administration. The new impetus required would be the criminalization of breaches and the streamlining of government expenditure as a public trust with prudential guideline established. The referenced persons of Dr Peter Obi, Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed and H.E Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and many more such resource persons are able to deliver for the nation an effective Administrative Restructuring Framework for our President in 2019.
The use of Executive Orders by Mr President relying on existing enactments could put this in motion right from day one while necessary legal instruments for institutional framework are being work out in an executive bill to the National Assembly.
Furthermore, it is certainly in the hands of the President to end this shameful government involvement in the trade of petroleum products – a trade that is very profitable for private organisations but a great pot of corrupt losses inflicted on our Public Purse with wasteful
consequences. The administration of Obasanjo had almost concluded this with the deregulation of the price of sale for Diesel and the Sale of the Refineries in 2007. The ill advised reversal of the Sale of Refineries and the resistance of the poorly executed deregulation of Petroleum Products and the slush fund generated in continued subsidy payment is today a great embarrassment to Nigeria the 7th crude oil producer on earth.
It is also in the hands of the President to provide a way out for our Energy Needs. The helplessness that is the case with the provision of Electricity in Nigeria to drive our economy after so much expense is not only a clog in the will of our economic development but is disgraceful. Our President in 2019 should put an end to this shame. It was done with NITEL. It seems the ghost of NEPA is defying all efforts. We need the Powers of the President in this area urgently and certainly this can be done speedily.
Government should immediately take hands off all such aspects of life that are best left in the hands of the private sector. This principle has been on the table since SAP with the twin principle programs of Privatisation and Deregulation. It is time this is speedily concluded.
ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING
The diversification of the Nigerian Economy has been in every plan since Independence. The First Republic enjoyed this framework and a lot of strides were attained. All policies of Government since the era of Petro-Dollar have been largely ineffective. Our President in 2019 must work outside the box this time and move away from the rhetoric to concrete institutional efforts that would put this into effect at the earliest. All of the resources required are available for mobilization for an early result.
One of such outside the box effort proposed is to begin to see the 6 Geo-political Zones as economic zones too. Economic Development Institutions for these zones are urgently required to begin to harness the various untapped resources in these zones. An extensive resource mapping has been done by the Raw Material Research Authority that was established by the Babangida Administration. The various Zones Economic Development Corporations would develop Public Private Template that would enable the viable economic exploitation of these resources that would immediately and speedily broaden the Nigerian Economic base from just Oil to include other natural resource endowments. There is no zone of this country that is not blessed with considerable amount of resources.
An annual budgetary provision of seed funds that would be matched with commercial capital is the way to go for all projects that must be duly processed via the commercial route where they must pass the viability test. Stakeholders from these zones including State Governments and High Net worth Individual are to be solicited to participate with the intention of Government recovery of seed funds via the capital market for further investment in further expansion projects within those zones.
The Economic Development Corporations can be structured within existing legal instruments or via the National Assembly. The ultimate outcome is that industry will be unleashed across Nigeria to provide employment for our needing citizenry. Annual competition should exist between these Zonal Corporations with substantial financial reward for target setting and achievements in the areas of number of projects implemented, employment generation in numbers, and profitability. This will be the engine room for the Industrial growth of Nigeria as Nigeria Incorporated with our future multinationals birthed under this framework with the Private Sector driving this program within the Economic Zones.
All Investment Promotion Agencies of Government such as Investment and Export Promotion Institutions; Small and Medium Scale Business Support Programs would require redirection for results with measurable outcomes indicated and required of them on an annual basis.
All of the activities in the Exclusive list that hold commercial value can therefore be released for exploitation to these Economic Development Corporations and open to States and Citizens with necessary resources to exploit them for our economic benefit.
In all of these projects, Government must take the back seat and let the private sector drive processes as is the case with the Joint Venture framework that is in operation in the Oil Industry. Capital mobilization should be to both local and foreign sources. The beauty of this framework is that a lot can be done off the balance sheet of our country.
POLITICAL RESTRUCTURING
The Political Restructuring assignment for our President in 2019 is the most critical of them all. It is the central activity of the next 4 years that would set Nigeria up for a new direction. Our current arrangement is just too expensive for the size of our economy. Dr. Peter Obi has been on the public speaking circuit explaining how wasteful running of Government is in Nigeria.
Sometime one is tempted to see the Political Class in Nigeria as an Occupation force presiding over the plundering of a conquered territory. The reason for the posturing of our Politician in this manner is not farfetched. At the advent of the British Colonial Authorities, they signed Treaties with our indigenous rulership in the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs of the various Kingdoms, Fiefdoms, and Administrations in the 19th century and these territories related equally with the British Government in their rights as States. An extensive data of these Nigerian Traditional States can be found at http://archive.li/GHsSI. This was all before a name was found for this Territory now known as Nigeria. A look at the copy of the Treaties signed in 1894 as the one with the ‘People of Effurun in Sobo [Urhobo] Country…’ the relationship was to facilitate trade between two equal partners – The British Government on one part and the Kingdom of Effurun on the other.
In the course of transition from trading partners to Colonial Authority, the indigenous administrations were subverted in place of the Colonial Administration. The ‘peoples’ government were to be diminished in exchange for this alien government with superior military power to crush dissent. The Great Oba Ovonramwen of Benin was exiled; King Jaja of Opobo and Ovie Erumagborie of Uvwie suffered all forms of indignities. Principles of ‘Indirect Rule’ and ‘Divide and Rule’ were the administrative strategies of the colonial administration that diminished our natural self governing, independent and time tested indigenous administrative systems. A self regulating system that enables the Oyomesi presents the calabash to the Oba who has gone beyond his rulership mandate. In its place is this occupation administration that did well to create some new layer of local interface of leadership that became the fulcrum of our Political Elites to whom Power was transferred at the end of the colonial administration. The tragedy in this arrangement is that while the colonial administration was answerable to the home government, the new indigenous administration was answerable to no one. They move into the GRAs and the Offices of the Colonial Masters and became the new Masters and continued with the exploitative practices of the colonial master and appropriated the commonwealth unto themselves. This is the narrative of the core constitution of our Politicians be they Military or Civilian.
What is required now is to design and deliver a Political System that is effectively owned by our peoples. It is said in Warri parlance…‘the quickest way to have a swollen stomach is to steal community money’ as you become accursed. In Nigeria it is the other way around – you are accursed if you do not steal from government as a Politician or Government Official. The description of our Political System by one of the Presidential Candidate Rev. Chris Okotie of the Fresh Democratic Party in his letter to the Chairmen of PDP and APC is apt. In his word.. “Nigeria is in dire need of restructuring. Our federalism is simply terminological inexactitude. It is a realistic piece of fakery. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is obsolete, retrogressive and subversive
to the Nigerian cause. It can no longer subsist as a legal protocol to guarantee the peaceful coexistence of autonomous ethnicities. No extant or subsisting government can right these aberrations, for obvious reasons of parochial party considerations and entrenched partisan rivalries within the polity,”… His proposed solution is a concept he termed ‘Aboriginal Democracy’ where the Judiciary is made the legislative arm of government.
Since the term Aboriginal Democracy is still subject to further interpretation, a variant of this concept that takes into view a political structure that is rooted and derived from our communities as its building blocks is hereby unveiled. In this sense, the largest electioneering footprint for any political actor should be the Senatorial District. All those who are born and/or resident within a Senatorial District are entitled to vote and be voted for within that space. The access and entrance to Political Authority and thus Public Service by Political Actors will be determined by electoral representation from within the Local Government Area for the Local Government Authority; representation on behalf of a local government area for The State Government and the Senatorial District for Federal Government. There should be no election for Governors or Presidents. The Chairman of the Local Government Council can be elected directly by the people of the area. The leader of the Party with the highest number of seats based on local government representation becomes Governor of that State; same for the leader of the Party with the highest number of Senatorial Seats for the President. The reference which should remain as 2/3 of total seats is the required mandate number. The cabinet should be draw from within the elected representatives in the Local, State and Federal Assemblies.
The above is the Parliamentary System handed to us by the British Colonial Authority model after the Westminster System currently in place as the British Government. It is replicated around the world and has sustained the largest Democracy in the world as the Nation of India. The further indigenization of the system and linking it with the primary locus of power met by the colonial authorities in Nigeria would require the re-establishment of the House of Chiefs as with the House of Lords with one representative per local government for the State House of Chiefs and one per State for the Federal House of Chiefs who are the natural custodian of the aspiration of the people to provide a layer of moderation for both the legislative and executive functions of government. The whole lot of House of Representatives would be eliminated completely. Moreover the members of the House of Chiefs are already on the payroll of government – Let them do more work for their pay.
The clear benefit of this Political System is its Narrowed Electioneering Footprint. By this framework, the recruitment of the best men as our representatives and public servants becomes more effective and efficient. The next benefit is the Cost Reduction of both electioneering and the size of government. Another benefit is the close connection with the people via the House of Chiefs which will deliver a faster medium for national mobilization for agenda setting of our national goals and aspirations. And by no means as the last benefit is that this system is less disruptive as it is in the main a local affair as candidates and eventual political officials are largely first amongst equals.
The foregoing would presuppose that all of the current aspirants to public office would have equal chance of being elected into office with their different foothold in their various communities through local government areas and senatorial districts. They likely will all become public servants either in government or in opposition which will eliminate the fierce competition as there is room for everyone once you secure the nod of your people.
A good place to start would be to consider the report of the National Conference of 2014 where a considerable number of consensuses were achieved most especially on the devolution of powers question. The issue of State Creation was also considered and a number of recommendations with an attempt made at balancing the number of Federating units for the country. The issue of another State from what use to be known as Midwestern Region is long overdue. The viability question of States does not arise in a Federal System of Government. Even after the creation of the
recommended 18 States none would be as small as the Gambia, Liechtenstein, Singapore, Vanuatu and many other small countries that currently hold seats in the United Nations. Once we answer the questions of individual viability of Citizens, State of whatever size becomes viable as they are suppose to survive from the taxes that are derived from the productivity of its citizens.
Our Dear President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2019, these are the assignments we require you to work and deliver on. You could do more, but these are the minimum we expect from that Office…. Anyone of the Candidates who is not prepared to deliver these minimums for Nigeria within the next 4 years should kindly in the words of Military President Ibrahim Babangida… ‘Step aside’.
Written by Prince Randolph H ErumaGborie.
