Nigeria 2069: The Art of Restructuring
Continuing with this 3rd article in our Nigeria 2069 series on a promising future for Nigeria in 50 years. It all begins in 2019 as we all vote and participate in the oncoming elections.
You can read other articles in this series: Part 1, and Part 2.
This piece is all about Restructuring.
A controversial but necessary topic for Nigeria. It outlines its history, aspects and how Restructuring can address majority of the issues in Nigeria, and why it should it is a deciding factor in the 2019 General election.
Keywords: Restructuring, Constitution, Nigeria’s History, Federalism, and Unitary System.
Let us all leave now — we all go back if we cannot form a confederation”.
Gowon replied: What is that word you mentioned”?
Nathan said “Confederation”, to which Gowon retorted: “What does that mean”?
As Nathan proceeded to explain, Lt. Malami Nassarawa said “I have an encyclopedia”.
DS Abubakar explains “They brought an encyclopedia and Gowon saw the meaning of confederation in it. He was about to buy the idea — thank GOD the British High Commissioner and some of the permanent secretaries advised against it.”
DS Abubakar says ‘the British High Commissioner said: “If you dare do this kind of thing — confederation — that is the end of you”. So that is why we came back to federalism.’
Nigeria’s democracy collapsed in January 1966 with a coup d’état which put Major General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi, an Igbo easterner in power. In the coup, the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a northerner, was killed along with Chief Samuel Akintola, the leader of Western Nigeria, giving many Nigerians a sense that this was an Igbo (Eastern) coup.
General Ironsi suspended the 1963 constitution and issued Decree Number 34.
A grave error.
This decree created a unitary system of government, thereby ending the ‘arrangement’ of federalism. The Northern region of Nigeria, feared they would lose their autonomy and be marginalized.
6 months later a counter coup ensued. Col. (later General) Yakubu Gowon of the North emerged as the new head of state. The northern region wished to leave the union, suddenly oil was discovered in the East. Then came civil war.
A BRIEF HISTORY
In the beginning, there was no Nigeria. There were Urhobos, Ijaws, Igbos, Itsekiris, Yorubas, Hausas, Fulanis, Nupes, Kanuris, Ogonis, Gwaris, Katafs, Jukars, Edos, Ibibios, Efiks, Idomas, Tivs, Junkuns, Biroms, Agnas, Ogojas and so on.
There were Kingdoms like Benin, Oyo, Lagos, Calabar, Brass, Itsekiri, Tiv, Borno, Sokoto Caliphate, Bonny, and Opobo. Prior to the British conquest of the different nations which make up the present day Nigeria, these were independent nation states.
To govern this vast territory of different nations required a fundamental set of principles or laws known as a constitution.
1861 Lagos, Nigeria.
1. 1861: Lagos is bombarded and annexed. A legislative and executive council is formed
2. 1862: Lagos, Gold Coast (Ghana), Sierra Leone and Gambia are placed under a Governor General based in Sierra Leone.
3. 1874: Lagos and the Gold Coast are formed into a separate colony
4. 1886: Lagos becomes a separate political entity with its own Governor, executive and legislative councils
5. 1906: The protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the colony Lagos were joined together
6. 1914: Southern and Northern Protectorate are merged together
CONSTITUTIONS
Nigeria’s constitutional development can be divided into two: pre-independence, and post-independence.
Pre-independence: 1914, 1922, 1946, 1951, 1954 and 1960
Post-independence: 1963, 1979 and 1999
1914 Constitution
The 1914 Constitution created a Legislative council, which made laws for Lagos while the Governor-General made laws for the rest of the country with an advisory body called the Nigerian council.
1922 (Clifford Constitution)
This introduced the ‘franchise’ for Lagos and Calabar to elect their own representatives to the Legislative council, but elections were limited to those that annually earned a minimum of 100 pounds.
A legislative council was introduced to legislate for the South, while the governor legislated for the North. The Governor to come after Hugh Clifford was Bernard Bourdillion. He divided Nigeria into East, West, and North for administrative purposes.
1946 (Richard/Milverton Constitution)
This was the post WWII era which saw the release of the freedom charter of United Nations. Nigerian combatants returning from the war, wanted the same freedoms enjoyed by other citizens of the world, and began to clamor for a new constitution that gave them control.
This influenced the formation of the National Council for Nigerian and Cameroon party and increased political participation of ethnic unions such as the Ibibio State Union, Igbo State Union, and Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà. It was the Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà (now Afenifere) that formed the Action Group party.
The Richard constitution was the first to introduce a legislative council for the whole country and regional houses of assembly. It also reduced the franchise required to vote or be voted for from 100 pounds to 50 pounds.
Instead of achieving its aim of promoting Nigerian unity, it intensified tribal nationalism. It largely failed because it did not gain the consensus of the people.
1951 (Macpherson Constitution)
After a series of lengthy conferences and consultations, from the villages and district meetings through the provincial and regional conferences, Sir John Macpherson introduced a new constitution in 1951.
This introduced the House of Representatives, regional legislature, and a ministerial system of government.
But as inter-regional jealousy and partisan hostility increased, this constitution quickly failed.
The party set up in the country at this time were The N.C.N.C. (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons); the Action Group, and the N.P.C. (Northern Peoples’ Congress).
1954 (Lyttleton Constitution)
This was drawn up after the 1953 constitutional conferences in London and Lagos. This constitution introduced a federal system, with North, East, West and Southern Cameroons with Lagos as the federal capital territory.
The Eastern and Western regions became self-governing in 1957 while the Northern region became self-governing in 1959.
Southern Cameroon chose to leave Nigeria.
1960 (Independence Constitution)
This constitution granted Nigeria political independence and provided for:
1. a parliamentary system of government
2. 3 regions (Northern, Eastern, and Western Regions)
3. A legislative framework at the Federal (Senate and House of Representatives) and Regional levels (House of Assembly and House of Chiefs)
However the Queen was still the head of state and was represented by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe as the Governor-General.
Under this constitution the Privy Council was made the final appellate court, over and above the Nigerian Supreme Court.
1963 (Republic Constitution)
This constitution established Nigeria as a republic under a parliamentary system of government by replacing the Governor-General position with a President elected by Nigeria’s federal legislature.
1. The Federal Supreme Court became the final court
2. The Mid-Western state was created
To settle the agitation for state representation by the minority ethnic groups in the Nigeria, the military government divided the four regions into 12 states, On May 27, 1967.
· Northern Region = North Western, North Eastern, North Central, Benue- Plateau, and Kano State
· Western Region = Western, Lagos, and Kwara State
· Mid-Western Region = Mid-Western State
· Eastern Region = South Eastern, East Central and Rivers State
1997: Map showing 12 Federal States
A key aspect of the 1963 constitution was the revenue sharing formula for extracted minerals such as crude oil, custom duties and export. Below is the sharing formula:
· State of origin: 50%
· The Federal government: 20%
· Distributive Pool( which is shared among the States and Federal government): 30%
This sharing formula enabled states to fund their development such as the universal free education in the Western state
COUP, COUNTER-COUP, and CIVIL WAR
· January 15 1966 military coup d’état
· July 29, 1966 revenge coup
· Civil war (1966–1969) was fought
· July 29 1975 General Gowon is overthrown Brigadier Murtala Muhammed and Brigadier Olusegun Obasanjo
7 additional states are created: Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Imo, Niger, Ogun, and Ondo
North Western State = Niger State + Sokoto State
North Eastern State = Bauchi State + Borno State + Gongola State
Benue- Plateau State= Benue State + Plateau State
Western State = Ogun State, Oyo State, and Ondo State
East Central State = Anambra State, and Imo State
1979 Constitution
· General Olusegun Obasanjo ushers in the 2nd Republic with a new constitution
· Constitution was drafted by a 49-member constitutional drafting committee, and issued by military decree without the contribution of the citizens
· The parliamentary system of government was abandoned for a presidential systems. The president was both head of state and head of government, commander in chief of the armed forces. He was chosen by election
· Change in revenue allocation formula: 100% of the revenue will go into the federating account first
· He managed the transition to civilian rule
. Shehu Shagari (civilian president) takes office on 1 October 1979
ANOTHER COUP
On 31 December 1983, the civilian government of Shehu Shagari was overthrown by General Muhammadu Buhari.
· General Buhari’s government overthrown by General Ibrahim Babangida (1985–1993)
· June 12 1993 election won by Chief MKO Abiola annulled
· General Babangida steps aside for an interim civilian government of Mr. Ernest Shonekan
· Shonekan’s government is toppled by General Sani Abacha (1993–1998)
· General Abacha dies in office
General Abdulsalami Abubakar ushers in the 3rd republic with the 1999 Constitution
1999 Constitution
· The head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar appointed a constitution Debate Committee.
· The Committee recommended the 1979 constitution with minor adjustments
· The citizens were excluded from debating the contents of the proposed constitution.
Revenue sharing formula:
· The Federal government: 52.68%
· States government: 26.72%
· Local government: 20.6%
Federalism: Finance, Judiciary, Local Government, Electoral process
Federalism is the coming together of a group of states to form a union whereby certain powers of sovereignty held are surrendered to a common unit called the Federal Government.
Federalism is commonly mistaken in the Nigerian media for Fiscal federalism which is concerned with revenue and cost allocation but this is only 1 aspect.
Below are some aspects of the latest Nigerian constitution that hurt ‘true’ federalism.
Finance: As earlier mentioned in the resource allocation formula, a federal government that collects all the revenue of the nation, prevents the states from having the required funds for their development. Which is exemplified with constant newsflash of unpaid salaries by state governors.
The problem with the latest constitution is that the federal government has appropriated all the functions of the state government (Health, Primary and Secondary Education, Roads, Electricity) and all the revenue generated within the states. This is why we have governors queuing up at Abuja for ‘handouts’.
For example instead of the 50% derivation formula (for mineral and export products) for the state of origin adopted in 1963, it is now 13% in the 1999 constitutions.
This means that most of the revenue derived from the production of say crude oil goes to the federal government, and state governments do not have the finances to run their affairs and provide services that actually touch the Nigerian citizen.
Judiciary: In the 1963 constitution, the federal government controlled the Supreme Court. Then we had no Court of appeal, or Federal High Court. Each region controlled its own regional high court.
To help the reconciliation of federal revenue, a federal revenue court was started in 1972–73. This has become the Federal high court we have now, with the federal government now regulating judges of the entire country.
Once again this concentrates all the judicial powers in the center (Federal Capital Territory) at the expense of the states.
Local Government: Gen Murtala Muhammad introduced local government as a national function instead of a state function.
This has been retained in Section 7 and 8 of the 1999 constitution. The current inclusion of local government as a 3rd tier of government means they are accounted for in the revenue allocation of Nigeria.
This means that states with more local government receive more revenue.
Secondly in the case of state boundary disputes, boundaries of local governments should be determined by GPS coordinates and not by a federal government (that is usually far away from boundary disputes) as defined by the ‘boundary adjustment’ principle of section 8.
Electoral Process: the electoral process currently encourages the election of political parties instead of individuals and most of these parties have no clear manifesto or agenda.
National assembly representative are selected based on the party instead of by the preference of the constituents.
Land Use decree: Nigeria’s Land Use Act from 1978 abolished all existing freehold systems, and vested all urban lands in a State, with the State Government, and all non-urban land in the local governments in which they are found. Lands occupied by federal agencies and departments are designated as federal land and are excluded from the control of state and local governments.
The state governor and local government authorities are empowered by the Act to grant statutory rights of occupancy (Certificate of Occupancy CoO) on a leasehold basis for a maximum 99 years.
Unfortunately, this decree was retained in the 1999 constitution.
The implication of this, is that Government can seize one’s land without adequate compensation, the price of land has increased significantly, and the process of obtaining a CoO has become difficult.
This decree needs to be replaced immediately to open up more land for housing development, and agriculture.
How to Restructure Nigeria
The task of restructuring Nigeria is to create economically viable States (Regions or Zones) that can be easily administrated over, while maintaining a balance of power with other states and the federal government. To achieve restructuring, we must first consider the following questions:
1. Who owns the Nigerian State?
2. What is the purpose of the Nigerian State?
I believe we should restructure Nigeria based on either ther:
1. 1963 Constitution with 12 states and a Federal Capital Territory
2. 1963 Constitution with 7 zones — (South South, South West, South East, Federal Capital Territory, Middle belt, North West, North East)
I prefer the first option as it reduces the chances of marginalization of one ethnic group. Both approaches can work with the existing 36 states retained as developmental zones.
Summary
In summary, Nigeria cannot aim to achieve out-performance through the current unitary government structure.
This structure has facilitated the economic unviability of 30 out of the 36 states in Nigeria. Many a times, crucial infrastructure projects cannot be done because it is ‘Federal road’, ‘Federal transmission line.’
Too much power and revenue is concentrated in the central Federal government at the detriment of the state government who need to pursue services such as Education, Agriculture and Health.
This structure has also created a ‘bloated’ administration bureaucracy at all levels of government. We are currently spending 80% of our revenue on recurrent expenses therefore making very little revenue AVAILABLE capital projects.
We need to return to federalism, which is the only structure that can work in a multilingual, multi-ethnical society. This has been demonstrated in Canada and the United States of America. We can learn from them.
Despite the benefits of federalism, there needs to be ‘checks and balances’. So with more financial resources and State Police, what prevents a State Governor from abusing this power?
A confederation on the other hand is a union of sovereign state united for a common purpose such as defense, foreign relations and internal trade. A confederation is different from federalism in that the central government is relative weak and it involves different nations. Examples are European Union.
It may not work in the case of Nigeria because different state immigration and customs system will hamper the flow of people and trade.
So as you vote in the 2019 Nigeria General elections ask yourself:
Does my candidate support Restructuring?
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UPDATE
You can read other articles on Nigeria and Africa: Nigeria EndSars Protest, Solar Energy Nigeria Series, Nigeria YouWin Scheme, and Africa.
Sources
- 1963, 1979,1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
- 1979 Constitution Distorted Our Federalism
- NIGERIA: Federalism, the Constitution and Resource Control by Itse Sagay
- 57 years after the unresolved issues
- Nigeria at 57: Still in search of an identity
- Anyaoku: We’ve never been this divided
- Constitutionalism and The Re-Invention of the Nigerian State,by Femi Falana
- Issues in Restructuring Corporate Nigeria, by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
- Nigeria’s constitutional road to Independence by Kalu Ezera
- Constitutional Developments in Nigeria: An Analytical Study of Nigeria’s Constitution-Making Developments and the Historical and Political Factors that Affected Constitutional Change by Kalu Ezerea
