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The National Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Amb. Godknows Igali, has called for the restoration of true federalism and fiscal federalism, saying Nigeria’s over-centralised system has weakened productivity, security and accountability.
Igali also criticised governors for failing to turn regional cooperation into concrete economic development, saying their meetings had largely become “jamboree”.
Speaking at the Conference on Restructuring Nigeria, organised by Citizens Rebirth and Awareness Initiative (C-RAIN), in Abuja, he said the restructuring debate was not about breaking up Nigeria but strengthening the federation.
“From the outset, let me state clearly, we from PANDEF are gathered here today not to divide Nigeria, but to save her. We are gathered not to weaken the centre, but to strengthen the federation,” he said.
Igali said Nigeria’s founding fathers deliberately negotiated a federal system that allowed the regions to develop according to their resources and priorities.
He recalled that the Western Region developed free primary education and Cocoa House, while the Eastern Region built industries and the Northern Region developed its agricultural base and educational institutions.
“And it worked,” he said, stressing that the regions achieved these without waiting for monthly allocations from the centre.
“That was the dream: a federation of strong, productive units paying dues to a limited but effective centre.”
According to him, the military intervention of 1966 and subsequent decrees weakened that arrangement by concentrating powers and resources at the centre.
“We kept the name ‘Federal Republic’ but we buried the federal structure. We replaced production with allocation. We replaced responsibility with dependency,” he said.
Igali said the present Federation Account system had also made governors more focused on sharing allocations than creating wealth.
“FAAC has made governors CEOs of ‘allocation sharing’. Decree 43 made us lazy and dependent on oil. Fiscal federalism will make them CEOs of production,” he said.
He urged governors to deepen economic cooperation across geopolitical zones instead of limiting regional activities to meetings and ceremonies.
“Why can’t they operate as a region to invest in the central? Not just going off eating, wearing the same clothes and all the other things,” he said.
Igali further said states should collaborate on infrastructure, power, security and other economic projects, citing the South-West, South-South and South-East as examples of regions that could develop stronger economic partnerships.
He also advocated state police, saying Nigeria’s security challenges required local intelligence and local responses.
“Banditry in the Northwest, kidnapping in the Southeast, farmer-herder clashes in the Northcentral — all require local intelligence and local response. You cannot do that from Abuja,” he said.
Citing the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and India, Igali said Nigeria could remain united while devolving powers to its component parts.
“If any country proves that size and diversity are not an excuse for centralization, it is India,” he said.
He called for constitutional amendments to devolve powers, strengthen fiscal federalism, restore greater resource control, guarantee local government autonomy and encourage regional cooperation.
However, he stressed that restructuring should not be equated with disintegration.
“Let us not separate ourselves under ethnicity, let us not separate ourselves under religion, let us not separate ourselves under those lines. Those lines should be basis for discussion,” he said.
He also insisted that Nigerians must remain part of the conversation on the country’s future.
“The people must talk. National Assembly can be that way, but the people must talk,” he said.
Igali said Nigeria remained worth preserving for future generations, adding: “Some of us, by choice, don’t have our own country, and this is the country we have. It’s the country of our parents, it’s the country of our children, and we will continue to work hard for the future of this country.”
