The devil lurking in restructuring
The standing proponent of the renewed restructuring advocacy, Atiku Abubakar, is hell bent on selling the new-found or re-awakened political theory to every Jack and Jill that cares about the political game of Nigerian state. Deductions from his recent public talks reveal his political dedication to using the theory as his new political ideology and […]
The standing proponent of the renewed restructuring advocacy, Atiku Abubakar, is hell bent on selling the new-found or re-awakened political theory to every Jack and Jill that cares about the political game of Nigerian state. Deductions from his recent public talks reveal his political dedication to using the theory as his new political ideology and launch-pad for bringing persons into his political fold ahead of the 2019 presidential election. It is worthy of note that Atiku’s call for restructuring is within the context of the manifesto of APC.
Luck of goodness may be tilting to his side if we were to use the gradual rise in toll of the people giving the ideology credence as a yardstick. It was General Yakubu Gowon who first spoke in favour of the Atiku-propelled theory of restructuring on the occasion of visit of the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives to him in his home. He was reported to have insisted that as long as restructuring would protect and preserve the unity of Nigeria, it is a call worth answering. What bothers the former head of state is a united Nigeria. The aftermath of the restructuring, if realized, is a non-issue to him. Other elitist statesmen added their voices including Edwin Clark and Balarabe Musa of Delta and Kaduna states respectively.
Atiku’s argument on restructuring is one that seeks fewer burdens on the shoulders of the central government and one that would be more demanding on dedication to production of goods and services from the states to manage their own affairs. It also seeks neutralization of agitation for resource control from constituent units.
From a wider view, the south-south and the south-eastern geo-political zones appear to have a more sonorous and a more reverberating voice in welcoming the call for restructuring. The Igbo is in the forefront in this welcome. It is of assumption that regional incorporation which restructuring advocates would serve as a stepping-stone for actualization of sovereign state of Biafra. This attitude, apparently driven by the belief that the two geo-political zones would hardly be short-changed in the end, is poorly conceived and exhibited.
Taking a keen look at the concept restructuring, the meaning derivable would be more of a scarecrow to whoever has tasted the excruciating hardship Buhari’s second coming had unleashed on the populace through policy of heavy taxation, increased export tariff and declaration of certain commodities citizens have been trading with as contraband. The concept preaches constitutional devolution and decentralization of power to the lower tiers of governance where states, geo-political zones or regions enjoy constitutional power to harness, refine and market the available resources in their jurisdiction. The duty of the government at the centre would be reduced to that of taxation of the constituent units. This is exactitude of the federalism that obtains in the United States of America and it is same that Atiku is seeking to introduce in Nigeria.
Unless the proponent of this advocacy is using it merely to attract attention and canvass political support to himself as is the custom among seasoned politicians, his associates should egg him on to have a rethink about this unrealistic ideology while it is still at advocacy stage, before the advent of the repercussion of its passage into the execution stage. What we are going through now would only pass for the tip of the iceberg in comparison.
Almost all Nigerian states are too feeble economically to stand single-handedly. These include those that would readily beat their chests out of pride for the natural resources within their states. They are all soundly dependent on petrodollar from federation account as subvention. It would mean a new beginning to them all to start earning revenue by themselves and independent of the central government. Those that have arable land for agriculture only, will suffer most, for the present neglect of the sector.
Oil-producing states for instance, would be handed the task of crude pumping-out, refining and marketing. With all of its military and political mien and might, the central government itself has not been able to fulfill all of its obligations in the Niger Delta, let alone a constituent state or geo-political that would still be finding feet with and scrambling for the way out in addressing and fixing the myriads of official challenges that would engulf it as an entirely new state. Militancy and bunkering will remain alive and more active since the state as a federating unit would still be under the control of the federal soldiers. Except state police is endorsed to complement the federal security personnel.
Niger state which houses almost four dams – the fourth one being under construction – that generate hydro-electricity for other states and foreign countries would have to grapple with the problem mitigating the smooth operation of the dams and the distributing units which the almighty central government has apparently failed to fix for the scores of years they have been constructed.
Commercial states like Lagos and Kano would be compelled to employ heavy taxation strategy in order to remain functional after relegation of constitutional power to them which might most probably require constitutional incorporation of many states that could become geo-political zones. This could force many businesses to insolvency and the ones that strive to remain alive and active would be compelled to effect increase in the prices of commodities as a result of heavy taxation. The pile-up of the hardship will then be heaped on the head of the poor consumer masses.
The proposed restructuring, if given a soul, would most probably require merger of the states with little economic advantages within a region. If this happens, the new government will have to lay off many civil servants to avoid redundancy. This can also lead to taking the local government farther away from the grassroots people. There would be monetary constraint, economic hardship that would blossom more criminals. Our dense population would make human management difficult.
A phase by phase approach to restructuring will be more realistic. From practical perspective, Nigeria remains unripe for restructuring. We are still lagging behind in many areas of the economy and the political sphere as a result of cumulative cheating and wickedness of our leaders.
Let Atiku’s associates enjoin and prevail over him to discard his restructuring ideology if it is in his sincere intention to upgrade Nigerian economy and pull the poor masses out of the excruciating poverty.
Umar wrote this piece from Abuja