ON RESTRUCTURING: ANOTHER VIEW (II)

Still on Restructuring (which is now the pastime, ‘new national frustration’ and 2019 campaign angle of some politicians), we continue from last week when we suggested ways forward to bring lasting structural changes to the Nigerian nation-state – beginning with the country’s national image (especially our perception abroad); national resources; national punishments; national assembly; and […]

Still on Restructuring (which is now the pastime, ‘new national frustration’ and 2019 campaign angle of some politicians), we continue from last week when we suggested ways forward to bring lasting structural changes to the Nigerian nation-state – beginning with the country’s national image (especially our perception abroad); national resources; national punishments; national assembly; and national judiciary. This week, we conclude the ‘items’ for Restructuring, beginning with the nation’s Geographical Structure and ending with the Presidency, the crux of the matter causing all these ‘bad blood’. And finally, we suggest how to achieve all these changes, so simply.
RESTRUCTURE OUR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY: It is hereby suggested that states and Local Governments should be abrogated, and the six GEO-POLITICAL ZONES shall constitute the new Federating Units. Zonal Capitals shall be situated at a present state capital which approximates the geographical centre of the Zone (for example, Gusau is perfect for the North West, as Gombe is for the North East). Then, let every two million chunk of the population, to the nearest two millions, constitute a PROVINCE within these Zones. Therefore, while the present Nasarawa and Bayelsa states may become just Provinces automatically, the present Lagos and Kano states, with almost ten millions each (rfrom the still extant 2006 National Census), may have more than five provinces each, and then they could negotiate away (or in) their extras. Geo-political zones shall have Premiership Councils and Zonal Assemblies (one representative, say, per 500,000 people, cf. National Assembly with one representative per million) with significantly lower salaries than those at the National Level. Provinces shall also have Provincial Councils and Provincial Assemblies (one representative per 200,000 people, say), with still lower pays. Because of fractions, there may more than the 70 Provinces our 2006 Census’ 140 million population will allow, but that can also be negotiated. All political office holders shall be, and must be, honourable people. Tested and trusted. And there shall be no immunity impunity. And, very importantly, let there be border adjustment. Whichever group feels unhappy with their present geographical location, let them negotiate away and join others. (For example, it’s likely Southern Kaduna may opt out from a future North West Zone, as Auchi may wish to depart South South and Kabba to depart North Central). And let there be permanent grazing settlements for the Fulani for us to enjoy peace, meat, milk, cow-tail, cow-leg, ganda/ponmo.
RESTRUCTURE THE NATIONAL PRESIDENCY: And the biggest restructure of them all – the one which has created this mighty agitation which, incidentally, only springs up when one of ours is at the helm, not when one of theirs is: Let there be no more a single President; let there be a Presidential Council of six really distinguished, honourable people, one from each Geo-Political Zone. Each Member of the Presidential Council shall be elected from within the Zone and sent to the National Capital for a single six-year term. The members’ qualifications shall be a degree higher (no, not MSc) than a member of The National Assembly, and at least 50 years old. Chairmanship of this Council (earning, therefore, the title His Excellency, the President) shall be in rotation alphabetically by Zone (NC, SE, NE, SS, NW, SW) and by region (North, South) for a period of a single twelve-month term. Should a Member of this exalted Council become otherwise incapacitated, or dies, a bye-election shall be held for replacement in the particular Zone. And if by that time the Zone is Mr. President, it will go to the next Zone and return to the bye-electee at the end of the tenure, to conclude their Zonal term. The Villa should be restructured to accommodate all six of them. All other conditions shall remain as obtained in The National Assembly, except that the pay shall be equivalent to that of a Federal Permanent Secretary, plus an Abuja Weighting Allowance, or perk. And all Villa cutleries shall be ‘Made in Nigeria’. Plus the toothpicks.
RESTRUCTURE THE NATIONAL DECISION-MAKING: Finally, how do we achieve all these changes to our super structure? When Britain was debating whether to leave the European Union, it didn’t leave the decision to its elected representatives in Parliament. No, they asked the people themselves to decide in a referendum, and a simple majority won the argument, though it could have gone either way. In many countries of the world, citizens and citizen groups do not leave important and weighty decisions to the government, or parliament. People are allowed to take decisions themselves, by way of referendum. That’s the way to go. Two former Nigerian presidents, Obasanjo and Jonathan, convened a National Conference which were adjudged to be for parochial interests. Hundreds of millions (if not billions) of Naira were wasted on these ‘jamborees’. When Obasanjo realised his Third Term Agenda had hit the rocks, he abandoned the Conference and jettisoned its Report. Similarly, the Jonathan National Conference Report, with all its sinister plans intended to deal with ‘us’, was held on by the president, waiting for an opportune time. It was our Goodluck that the Report only became ready just before the 2015 elections. It was actually in fear of the would-have-been-foreseen electoral consequences that the Report was not implemented late 2014 and early 2015. The fear was the danger of losing the votes of a large chunk of the ‘us’ votes. And as ‘wa makaru wa makaral Lah’ always prevails, Jonathan lost the election, and lost the will to start implementing parts of the report. It is, therefore, the opinion of this Column that the way forward for PMB, who could arguably be relatively more trusted than Obasanjo and Jonathan combined, is to convene, not another National Conference, but a new trustworthy and really nationalistic Constitutional Drafting Committee, a la Ben Nwabueze’s long-held idea. (But exclude Nwabueze from it). Let this Committee use the Obasanjo and Jonathan Reports, as well as even Abacha’s Vision 20-20 Blueprint (all of which include many useful things), plus other Submissions and Memos (including this and last week’s Columns), to design for us a new Constitution in, say, three months. And then the clincher – the President should subject the document to a National Referendum. It is that important. The National Assembly should not be a part of it whatsoever, for they are one of the major losing parties.
You think these ideas are preposterous? It can’t be worse than our present so-called democratic experiment where, when the majority elects their leader, some minority nonentity forcefully disturbs the national peace and denies the majority their mandate that democracy gives them. And if all fails, better divorce than an unhappy marriage. And may Allah make it easy for the President and all of us.
“Oh God of creation, direct our noble cause…!”