By Omoniyi Salaudeen
NOTWITHSTANDING the disposition of President Muhammadu Buhari to the 2014 national confab report, the National Assembly has been given the nod by eminent Nigerians to incorporate the key recommendations contained in the document into the amendment of the 1999 constitution.
Respected leaders of thought who spoke in favour of the National Assembly resolution included Chief Ayo Adebanjo, a chieftain of the Afenifere, Dr Pius Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a former governor of the old Anambra State, Senator Femi Okurounmu, Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on the 2014 National Conference, and Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Second Republic civilian governor of the old Kaduna State. In their separate opinions, they held the view that inclusion of the recommendations in the amended constitution would go a long way to deal with the renewed separatist agitations by different ethnic nationalities through a restructured federal system. Balarabe, however, slightly differed in his argument, saying a strong centre would be needed to accelerate progressive development across the states of the federation.
The conference was convened at the twilight of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan to proffer solution to some critical national questions threatening the corporate existence of the country. During the handover ceremony, Jonathan had pleaded with Buhari for the implementation of the report which came in three volumes as part of the unfinished assignment of his administration. But in a published interview on May 29, Buhari categorically declared that he was not going to implement the report which he regarded as a museum piece only good for the archive.
He said: “I advised against the issue of National Conference. You would recall that ASUU was on strike then for almost nine months. The teachers in the tertiary institutions were on strike for more than a year. Yet, that government had about N9billion to organise that meeting (National Conference) and some (members) were complaining that they hadn’t even been paid. I never liked the priority of that government on that particular issue because it meant that what the National Assembly could have handled was handed to the Conference, while the more important job of keeping our children in schools was abandoned. That is why I haven’t even bothered to read it or ask for a briefing on it, and I want it to go into the so-called archives.”
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, recently re-echoed the president’s earlier position and dismissed the national dialogue as ‘job for the boys’, a statement that has elicited furious criticisms from prominent delegates to the conference.
Apparently worried by the loud agitation for a restructuring of the country, members of the National Assembly faulted President Buhari’s position on the report, insisting that parts of the report would be used for the amendment of the 1999 constitution. While the House of Representatives had already circulated copies of the report to the members for scrutiny and useful recommendations, there are strong indications that the senate would also adopt the same when it reconvenes this week. Sunday Sun findings showed that the lawmakers have collectively resolved to overrule the president on this matter to nip the rising wave of agitation in the bud. With this resolve, the National Assembly may well be on the warpath with the president, as his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, insisted that the Federal Government was not considering a change of mind from its earlier position.
But Ezeife, in his positive response to the resolution of the lawmakers, while speaking with Sunday Sun, said the move would not only ease the tension in the country, but also rescue the nation from the brink. “Adopting the recommendations of the confab is the only thing the National Assembly can do for us. If they don’t do it for us, they are just waiting for Nigeria to die.”
Some major aspects of the recommendations most delegates considered to be very critical for a balanced federal system as against the present lopsided arrangement include: power devolution, autonomy of the federating units, public finance, revenue allocation, state police, abolition of state/local government joint account, modified presidential system, power sharing and rotation, immunity clause, anti-corruption and regionalism, among others.
According to Ezeife, the most important aspect of the confab report that is needed to keep Nigeria united is power devolution. “Let them (lawmakers) go ahead to adopt the recommendations. But the bottom-line is that Nigeria must survive. And the only way it can survive is by having fewer federating units. We should go back to regional units. Now is the time to adopt the zones as federating units and have regional government. That is what the 8th National Assembly can do for us. If they don’t do it for us, they are just waiting for Nigeria to die. The most important aspect is devolution of power. That is, reducing the powers of the federal government and increasing the powers of the federating units,” he stated.
Okurounmu lending credence to Ezeife’s submission, said: “The most important aspects that need to be considered are ones dealing with restructuring. These are devolution of power, reducing the powers of the federal government and giving more powers to the federating units, allowing more federating units to be more autonomous. In fact, we recommend that each of the federating units should have its own constitution. State police is part of devolution of power.” He stressed that the National Assembly could over ride the president’s veto with a 2/3 majority, if he refuses to assent to the amended constitution when completed.
Adebanjo, who accused President Buhari of pursuing the Northern agenda, also urged the National Assembly to do the needful by incorporating the recommendations bordering on the state police, power devolution, and autonomy of regions in the new constitution amendment in the interest of peace and unity of the country. He said: “As members of the National Assembly, they should know the problem of this country and those aspects of the recommendations that really affect the question of unity among the various ethnic nationalities. If they want to keep us together in unity, they should look into all of these recommendations on the state police, devolution of power and autonomy for the regions. With those ones, the problem of Niger Delta and the question of minority have been taken care of.”
He further lamented the imbalance in the existing federal structure which, according to him, gives a host of advantages to the North than the South put together. “The present federal arrangement makes the North bigger than the South put together. Under the present arrangement, there are more local governments in the North than the south. And since the federal allocation is based on the number of local governments, they get more money than the South. If they adopt the recommendation, that will go,” he assured.
Adebanjo blamed the president’s disdain for the confab report on the defect of the existing constitution which gives overwhelming power to the president. This, he said, accounted for Buhari’s dictatorial tendency. “Nigeria’s President is the most powerful president in the world. The man is behaving like the President of Katsina. By his background, he is conservative in nature, by training, he is a dictator. If the National Assembly adopts the confab report, he knows that all advantages given to the North will be removed. He also knows that the power he enjoys will be removed. So, he will not want it,” he pointed out.
He challenged the lawmakers to put the interest of Nigeria above any other primordial consideration. “Eminent citizens of this country did that recommendation. If the elected members adopt it, how can the president reject it? Let them come up with their own recommendations and then see whether the president will say no. It will only require his assent. If he doesn’t do it, you and I will know that we have a dictator as president. Once the National Assembly adopts the report, the president is obliged to assent to it. If he refuses, then it means he is not a listening president. He is a dictator,” Adebanjo added.
On his own part, Balarabe advocated a strong centre, and the same time suggested a return to the regional arrangement with each region serving as federating units and having the power to create as many states and local governments as they can cope with. His words: “The centre must not be made to be weaker than it is at present. The centre must be strong enough to unite the country and bring about progressive development throughout the country. A return to the regional arrangement with each region being federating units and each region can create as many states and local government as they can cope with is okay for devolution.
In what appears to be a dramatic turn, however, he posited that adopting the recommendation would give a false impression that what the confab did was worthwhile. According to him, “The confab was a complete waste of time. The few things that came out of it could have been done without the dialogue. It was an exercise in futility; a waste of time.”
The 2014 confab was the third attempt in the recent past to do a restructuring of the existing lopsided federal arrangement. In 1994, the late maximum ruler, Gen Sani Abacha, had organized a similar Constitutional Conference, which was also followed by the National Political Reform Conference (NPRC) convoked by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004.
About 492 eminent delegates participated in the 2014 confab which had a former Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Nigeria as Chairman, Idris Kutigi, Bolaji Akinyemi, a former foreign affairs minister as deputy chairman, Valerie-Janette Azinge (Secretary), Akilu Ndabawa (Assistant Secretary, Conference Proceedings), Mahmood Yakubu (Assistant Secretary, Administration and Finance), and Akpandem James (Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications).
The key recommendations at a glance:
Resource Control/Derivation Principle/ Fiscal Federalism
The conference advised the government to set up a Technical Committee to determine the appropriate percentage on the above three issues.
Public Finance/Revenue Allocation
Recommends sharing of the funds to the Federation Account among the three tiers of government in the following manner: Federal Government – 42.5%, State Governments – 35% and Local Governments 22.5%
Forms of Government
Recommends a Modified Presidential System, a home-made model of government that effectively combines the presidential and parliamentary systems of government. Under the arrangement, the president shall pick the vice president from the Legislature.
Legislature
Suggests Bi-cameral legislature, where all elected members of the legislative arms of all the tiers of government would serve on a part-time basis.
Power Sharing/Rotation
Recommends power rotation between the North and the South and among the six geo-political zones, while the governorship will rotate among the three senatorial districts in a state.
Local Government
It removes local governments from the constitution as the third tier of government. States can now create as many local governments as they want. It also recommends abolition of the Joint State/Local Government Account. It suggests three-year tenure for elected council chairmen as well as the scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECs).
Immunity Clause
It recommends the removal immunity clause for the president and governors, if the offences attract criminal charges to encourage accountability by those managing the economy.
Anti-corruption
A Special Courts to handle corruption cases should be established in the light of undue prolongation in the trials and prosecution of corruption cases in the regular courts.