The need for true federalism

You are required to find what form of political association this great country should adopt. You will find to analyze, in the light of Nigerian circumstances, all the arguments for and against all types of various political arrangements. There are however, two things for the present exercise I feel should be ruled out, viz:(A). Complete […]

You are required to find what form of political association this great country should adopt. You will find to analyze, in the light of Nigerian circumstances, all the arguments for and against all types of various political arrangements. There are however, two things for the present exercise I feel should be ruled out, viz:
(A). Complete break-up.
(B). A unitary form of government.
I therefore put before you the following forms of government for consideration:
Federal system with a strong central government.
Federal system with a weak central government
Confederation, or
An entirely new arrangement which will be peculiar to Nigeria and which has not yet found its way into any political dictionary.
The above says it all. General Gowon could have been addressing the current National Assembly Constitution Review Committee. Today, after nearly half a century, we are back to square one, still in search of a sustainable constitutional solution to a clearly fundamental political problem still threatening our corporate existence as a nation.
Nigeria, with its over three hundred ethnic and sub-ethnic units, brought together by the force of British Imperialism to forge a modern nation, is still in the process of nation building, struggling to blend together and harmonize the various very rich but differing traditions, customs and cultures of its peoples.
The recognition of the reality and socio-political significance of ethnicity was clear at the birth of an independent Nigeria in 1960. The larger ethnic units of Hausa/Fulani-Igbo-Yoruba formed the basis of the three Regions North-East-¬West. Ethno-based agitations aimed at asserting the separate identity of the smaller groups, promptly sprouted in the three Regions. These include the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) Movement in the North, the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) State Movement in the East and the Midwest State Movement in the West.
The current concept of six geo-political zones is also ethnically based, with three zones accorded to the larger ethnic groups and, to balance them out, three also to a conglomerate of the smaller ethnic units. The simple lesson from this political structural arrangement is that the ethnic units are recognized and accepted as the veritable building blocks in the on-going construction work and nation building process in Nigeria.
In our socio-political and economic intercourse, all groups (big or small) must be allowed free-play and equitable access to our country’s resources and strategic political command posts, including particularly, the presidency. Sustained imbalance in sharing responsibilities and the ‘national cake’ could conceivably induce in those units aggrieved a rethink of the value to them of our much vaunted national unity. The break-up of ethnically composite countries, some very powerful and prosperous, like the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, took place along ethnic lines. Nearer home, the Republic of Sudan has just split up after decades of murderous ethno-religious conflict. These are unsavory examples that we must strenuously strive to limit in Africa, already politically over-fragmented.
The long prescribed national unity tenet – unity in diversity, aptly coined in 1957 by Prime Minister Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, of blessed memory, a leader nationally acclaimed for his rare gentility and wisdom, and the political stability of our nation are best guaranteed via an equity-oriented constitutional structure and political practice that create and sustain a secure sense of belonging for all Nigerians irrespective of creed or culture.Until we become a truly integrated nation – only time, tolerance and patience will make this possible – it is unrealistic to adopt a constitution which presupposes the existence of an already integrated society.
At Independence in 1960, what our founding fathers settled for was a full-blown Federal Structure, with three Regions, East-North-West as the federating units of our nation. All three regions were constitutionally equal in status. A fourth Region – the Midwest, was created by regular constitutional amendment in 1963. Alongside the subsequent creation of states by abrupt military fiat in 1967 and thereafter, the democratically conceived regional option remained very much alive and soon metamorphosed into the current six geo-political zonal arrangement. This equilibrated political zonal structural adjustment, now serving as the basis for the distribution and rotation of key national political offices, was informed by the glaring need to better accommodate the interests of our nation’s numerous ethnic groups, large or small.
The primacy of regional control over the federal in our country’s power equation was dramatically demonstrated by the choice of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the charismatic and powerful leader of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) to head the government in Kaduna as the regional premier and send his deputy Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to head the Federal Government as Prime Minister in Lagos. Thus, the national master plan adopted by our founding fathers at Independence was true federalism. There was an agreed specific power sharing formula between the Federal and Regional Governments. For our recently recovered democratic dispensation to stabilize and endure, we should not perpetuate the autocratic military deviation from the unambiguous terms and intentions of this zonally based socio-political contract, which brought us together as a modern nation.
For true federalism to be restored in Nigeria, there should be SIX REGIONS corresponding with the present six geo-political zones as the federating units. Each REGION should enjoy the same powers and autonomy as was the case at Independence in 1960. Indeed, the extent of the developmental autonomy enjoyed by the regions at the inception of our union was expressed in the establishment of Agent General’s Offices – a kind of liaison offices strictly commercial in their activities – in London by the three federating regions in order to pursue at their own paces their drive for the economic growth of their various regions.
Ambassador Uwechue, ex-President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, wrote from Africa House, Ogwashiukwu, Delta State.