The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Confronting multiple loyalties in Nigerian politics

    Loyalty is an important quality of character for a politician to demonstrate. Loyalty is faithfulness to an obligation that is voluntarily assumed. To be loyal, therefore, is to be dependable. In its simplest understanding, loyalty in politics is the bond that secures the players in the field of politics in mutual expectations. For the politician, he or she is secure in the belief that if he or she plays by the rule and does not betray the trust of the people that elected him or her into office, their loyalty is assured. For the electorate, a politician’s fidelity to campaign promises is the test of loyalty.

    Loyalty is the bedrock of any relationship, more so, political relationship. Having the back of a politician gives him or her the courage to fight for a cause that supporters invest in. And for supporters to know that a politician has their back is also reassuring as they give their all to the cause. It is a game of mutual reassurance. From recent history, we also know that electorates will forgive a politician’s indiscretions and moral failings if they appreciate his or her loyalty to a cause they espouse and invest in.

    For many politicians, however, the matter of loyalty is not a simple one because they have several objects of loyalty. For instance, sometimes loyalty to constituents may end up as disloyalty to a party when pursuit of a local cause conflicts with the core of a party’s ideology. To have a good handle on the discussion, therefore, we need to come to terms with the many objects of loyalty. As I will argue, while there may be genuine and understandable conflicts, some of such conflicts grow out of clearly indefensible objects of a politician’s loyalty. There are legitimate and illegitimate objects of loyalty in politics.

    One immediate concern is whether political loyalty is or ought to be to individuals or to a cause, a party, or to the institutions that define the nation. To the extent that a political or government leader demonstrates fidelity to the common political cause that unites them, he or she deserves the loyalty of associates or followers. What is indefensible is the demand of blind loyalty even when it is obvious that the leader is morally bankrupt and clearly averse to the ideals of democratic citizenship.

    The first of the legitimate objects of loyalty, therefore, is ideology, the belief system regarding the objective of and rationale for politics. Politics is an institution whose purpose is the development of humanity in a particular nation-state. Ideology answers the question “what is worth fighting for?” in a simple catchphrase that is understandable to the people. Even when the catchphrase is as highfaluting as Democratic Socialism, Action Group broke it down for local consumption as “Freedom for All, Life More Abundant” or Afenifere. And with that ideological formulation, it rallied the troop to action.

    If ideology is a legitimate object of loyalty, the political party, the organized group that promotes it deserves the loyalty of the politician who subscribes to the ideology. It is commonsensical. Indeed, to behave otherwise is self-destructive. Again, Awolowo’s position on the supremacy of the party is unassailable. Voters embrace a political party based on the ideological product it sells to them. Therefore, those politicians that the party presents to the voters as its candidates have an obligation of loyalty to its ideals and programs.

    Third is the politician’s constituents whether they voted for or against her but whose interests he promised to advance through her party’s ideology. While many of the constituents may believe in a different ideology, the fact that the politician wins the race demands loyalty to his promise to all of them. Normally, then, there should be no conflict in the discharge of the politician’s obligation to all three objects of loyalty, namely ideology, political party, and constituency. The party reinforces the ideology and the constituency stands to benefit from the realization of the promise of the ideology.

    But there are other objects of loyalty that may not fit neatly into the political chessboard. For, the politician, like other human beings, is a creature of many parts. He or she is a member of a family, an ethnic nation, and a religious organization. Each of these may have no input into the ideological orientation of the political party. However, primordial and spiritual loyalties, attributed to human nature, sometimes trump ideological beliefs. Thus, to the disappointment of the party and its leaders who must defend its beliefs and promises, one or more of their own members may be compromised in an essential requirement of commitment to its ideology.

    As annoying as it may appear, the kind of conflicting loyalties that a politician may experience in such situations cannot be written off or dismissed as outcomes of an irrational distraction from the single goal of achieving ideological purity. In a multi-national and multi-religious polity, where politicians are products of particular ethnic and religious upbringing, it is a challenge for them to see beyond the confines of ethnic and religious identities. It is more so, where, in our own case, the seed of mistrust represented by colonial divide and rule strategy germinated into a giant tree of political cynicism about anything national.

    As politicians face the challenge, the challenge for political leaders is to keep the focus of their associates on the prize of national greatness. It is a challenge, but it is not one that committed national leadership cannot overcome. Requirements for success include open and verifiable fairness, demonstrable commitment to the tenets of democratic governance and the practice of true federalism, and a formidable credential in forging alliances across the major divides of ethnic and religious loyalties. Unfortunately for Nigeria, a leadership with a preponderance of these qualities has yet to emerge.

    The point of the above is this. Politicians are required to demonstrate loyalty to an ideology to which they subscribe, and which successfully attracts the electorate, and to the political party that initiates and promotes it. On the other hand, politicians also have primordial connections, including their ethnic nationality, religious affiliation, and family connections which also demand their loyalty. Loyalty to all is bound to conflict because of their different and opposing interests. Where that is the case, leadership intervention is essential to smoothen the edges of conflict. But leadership also has to be above board.

    There is one loyalty, however, that is questionable. Loyalty to self-interest is the culprit. Here, however, we also have to pay attention to nuances. Self-interest, as such, is not bad. In fact, the true self-interest of a politician should lead him or her in the way of doing the right thing.

    It is in the self-interest of a politician to have the trust of the electorate. if he or she wants to continue to serve as their public servant. But where the politician hasn’t demonstrated loyalty to the ideology that the electorates embrace, or to the party that they trust to promote it, then he or she risks losing their support. Therefore, if a politician sticks to his or her true self-interest, the appearance of a conflict may just be that, an appearance.

    On the other hand, greed, which we often confuse with self-interest, is the undoing of many politicians. Greed is the absence of self-control in the pursuit of selfish ends in public service and it evidences disloyalty to ideology, party, and constituency. An ethnic nationality or a religious organization is ill-served by a politician’s loyalty to greed.

    When a politician turns the coffers of the state to his personal use, not minding the hunger and disease ravaging his or her constituency, it is the height of disloyalty. A conscience that justifies that practice is dead. If political leaders bear any blame, it is that they should have known not to place such politicians in positions of responsibility. But that may be asking too much of humans that they are.

    In the matter of political loyalty, therefore, everyone has to wear their crown of glory or carry their cross of shame.

  • To where from Here?

     ”…And beware of a calamity that may afflict not only the transgressors amongst you to the exclusion of others and know that Allah’s retribution can be severe”.                 Q. 8:25  

    Preamble

    Writing a drama is like conceiving a pregnancy. For the drama to be practically actable, the writer must take into consideration not only the theme, the setting, the characters and the complications that may build up spirally to the climax in such a drama. He must also think of the anti-climax of the drama as well as its possible denouement.

    A playright’s ingenuity

    Nothing shows the ingenuousness of a playwright as vividly as the crew of actors who put into action the script that gives birth to the drama in question. It is like delivering a pregnant woman of her pregnancy. If the delivery process is not carefully handled, the deliverer may end up becoming an undertaker. And that is when a drama is said to be tragic.

    The world as a paradox

    The entire world today is a paradoxical theatre in which over seven billion human beings including Nigerians are watching a drama. Whether for ecstasy or dismay the viewers may randomly roar into controversies as the drama progresses. But the main concern of each viewer is what may become of his favourite character.

    In the current global drama against which we had been admonished in the Qur’an as quoted above, the concern of this columnist is the ‘colony’ called Nigeria. This is not just because the colony is my immediate constituency, it is also because Nigeria is the heart of Africa. And if anything negative happens to her the whole of Africa will cease to be at rest.

    Hidden agenda

    A clandestine script was unveiled in respect of Nigeria in 1995. Its contents revealed that this heart of Africa called Nigeria was heading for a break up by year 2015. The designers of this devilish agenda had set a timeframe of 20 years for its execution without suggesting any solution. And to portray their dream as a realisable one they kept hammering the probability of the success of that obnoxious project using some hazardous occurrences in the land as evidence.

    For students of International Relations, such a prediction could not have been strange. It was part of the strategies often used by the imperialists either to re-colonise some old colonies psychologically or to scoop on and dominate their economies in a typical capitalist manner. They had done it successfully in some other countries none of which is now firmly on her feet. Vietnam, Korea, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine and lately the entire Arab nations all of which have had their bitter tests.  It is a modern day equivalence of the 1884/1885 partition of Africa carried out in Berlin, Germany, by the European imperialists, which led to the colonisation of African continent. If any of the above countries had resisted the evil project and stood their ground, perhaps the world would have been spared of the throat-cutting threat posed today by the United States and her allies against what they perceive as lesser nations.

    The cult of capitalism

    Incidentally, the US which now champions the imperialists’ cult had also been a victim of this same imperialists’ guillotine especially in the hands of Britain. Yet, the cult of capitalism which has become their common bound would not allow the duo of US and Britain which had been mutually antagonistic to dwell differently today because it is only in such connivance that the gains of their common interest can be accomplished. Unfortunately, Nigeria doesn’t seem to have learned any lesson from countries that had toed the imperialists’ path .

    Rather than looking inwards for solution to our domestic problems as the US did before the two World Wars, our governments do not only look up to ‘Uncle Sam’ for solution even to a minor problem but also cry out to the President of America for help in minor hitches. It is just like the situation of a baby who has so much adapted to being spoon-fed that he would hold the ladle in his mouth even while asleep.

    Today’s Nigerians

    Today, Nigerians can hardly think on anything without reference to America. Whereas some progressive countries like Japan, China, India, Brazil and even the United States in their days of search for growth and development shut their doors to the world and made do with whatever they could produce internally which was why their sudden zoom into the limelight came to the world as a surprise. This has never taught Nigeria any lesson. Rather, all that matters here is empty and monotonous noise about becoming one of the biggest economies in year 2020 even when there is no concret plan for such. No truly progressive country has ever indulged in such a senseless propaganda with success. What would have ordinarily justified such propaganda is a surprising zooming into the global economic stage as the listed countries had done. But Nigeria’s endemic corruption that has become a culture would not allow such a progressive leap.

    Propaganda

    It can only take a shameless country like Nigeria  with so much wealth but lacking to embark on such a hopeless propaganda. Now, how our previous  government spent about $16 billion allegedly budgeted for revamping our electricity remains a question which many generations of Nigerians may not be able to answer. Yet, the focus of some evil agitatus is to ensure the continuity of corruption for personal and ephemeral benefits. Even as of today, patriotic Nigerians have not been shown any blueprint that could qualify them for such empty slogan being echoed about year 2020 without our input or mandate.

     In retrospect

    In the 1980s, under the self-styled military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the slogan was ‘Housing for all or education for all or jobs for all in year 2000’. And the foremost megaphone at that time was  Prof Jerry Gana of MAMSA fame. That propaganda ended up in sheer deception. And in the 1990s, under the maximum despot called General Sani Abacha, the slogan was changed to ‘VISION 2010’. It also ended up in sheer fiasco after spending billions of naira.

    Then came a former military Head of State, Chief Mathew Aremu Okikiola Olusegun Obasanjo who claimed to have become a democrat without any tutelage. He started his democracy with a slot of the presidency and fooled Nigerians for eight years that became a wasted period in the history of Nigeria. It was on this man that Nigeria’s premium was hopefully placed albeit aimlessly because of his military antecedent and prison experience. His own invented slogan was that of hitting the top echelon of global economy in 2020. And the slogan was continually re-echoed until his exit from government in 2007 a few years away from the target mark. As at the time of his exit, Nigeria, like now, was without electricity, drinkable water, pliable roads, national airline, functional refineries and standard education programme that could propel any possible hope in the deceptive slogan. The pilots of that hopeless odyssey included northerners and southerners as well as Muslims and Christians. But the result, as usual, was an absolute failure. Thus, today, as an OPEC member nation, Nigeria remains the only country that exports crude oil and imports refined fuel for domestic consumption. Where are we going from here? In all OPEC countries, Petrochemical industries are a major point of hope for the citizenry. In petrochemical  industries, thousands of trained youths are employed and economic growth is vivid. But this has no place in the economic dream of Nigeria even as the noisy slogan for hopeless dream sounds louder.

    Rather, what our successive governments often  perceived as the problem was the backlash of their ineptitude which paved way for misrule. But none has ever thought of a possible solution.

    Implications           

    By relying on imperialist countries such as the US and Israel to help resolve the problem of insecurity  Nigerian government headed by former Goodluck Jonathan did not only admit its incompetence to protect the citizenry, it  also surrendered its authority to those countries and thereby compound the existing problems. After all, those invited countries were the manufacturers of the instruments of insecurity in our land. Security of a country is like the heart in human body. Handing it over to someone else is like paving way for one’s own death. No serious government will ever trivialise the existence of its nation to that extent. We all know that whoever pays the piper must surely dictate the tune. And in diplomacy, there is neither permanent friend nor permanent enemy.

    A government is said to be of essence and in control of affairs only if it is believed to be capable of protecting its citizenry and defending the territorial integrity of its nation. Any government that is incapable of doing this and would rather decide to throw the gates of its nation open to foreigners for whatever reason is unfit to be called a government. That was the prevailing situation for many years before the current government came on board. But despite all efforts by the current well intentioned regime to rectify the situation, the forces of evil are bent on the continuity of their evil machinations facilitated by indemnified corruption. Where are going from here?

    Partners in crime

    Globally, the tripod of the US, Britain and Israel are known for their unprovoked belligerence and implacable transgression against nations that refuse to comply with their imperialist policies. And it is probably in reference to such imperialist powers that Allah had warned mankind over a millennium and a half ago that: “…When imperialists encroach on a territory they audaciously pillage and brutally destroy it even as they subjugate the juggernauts therein to the level of servitude”. Q. 12: 22.

    Nigeria’s vintage position

    The real problem that Nigeria constitutes in Africa is that of serving as a regional incubator of corruption and yet connives with the engineers of Africa’s problems for unrealizable solution. In a logical poetic stanza many centuries ago, an Arab poet once opined thus:

    “We all blame our time for our misdemeanour; when the misdemeanour blamed on our time is actually in us; We smear time with all types of iniquities and yet expect time to cleans us of any blame; Were time endowed with mouth to comment on us, it would have blamed us for generating all crimes; Certainly no hyena eats a fellow hyena; as some of us humans openly eat our fellow human beings”.

     The truth of the matter

    The truth of the matter is that the roots of the multi-dimensional problems staring Nigeria on the face today are traceable mostly to the corridors of our government. Of all the vices that constitute seemingly insuperable problems for Nigeria today particularly corruption, none originated from a source other than that of the government. Even where such corruption happens in the private sector, it will be discovered to be a derivative of the public sector either through obnoxious policies or deliberate nepotism or religious irredentism. How, on earth, can we classify the case of a notorious so-called frontline cleric who was contracted by the government to smuggle arms and ammunition into the country from South Africa in the name of political patronage in a multi ethnic and multi religious society like Nigeria? Yet, the government wanted Nigerians to accept that fraudulent act as a normal business.

    Immunity clause

    The absurdity of immunity clause in Nigerian constitution is obviously an  authorisation of corruption for  some  rogues who are claiming to be political or religious leaders in the country. What justification will such rogues have in prosecuting or preaching the known thieves thereafter? Those who injected immunity clause in our constitution as well as those who are in position to remove it but rather chose to retain it are together accomplices in the entrenchment and spread of corruption in the land. Such people will have no logical reason to talk of fighting corruption because they are its creator and sustainers.

    Another evidence of audacious governmental corruption in Nigeria is manifest in the position of the so-called FIRST LADY. Here is a position which has no provision in the country’s constitution but which is given such prominence that classifies the occupier over and above the elected Vice-President at the federal level and Deputy Governor at the State level. This illegal position has no official budget but it is flamboyantly provided with such paraphernalia of office that compete almost favourably with that of the President or the Governor at the expense of the public. With this kind of illegal operation how can any Nigerian President or Governor morally question any corruption in which any public officer is involved? This is one of several areas in which President Muhammadu Buari deserves commendation even if evil politicians are blind to it. And now, the judiciary which is generally acknowledged as the last bastion of ordinary people’s hope has joined the bandwagon of monumental corruption in Nigeria. Where are we going from here?

     We are our own problem

    We are our own problem. We know the sources of what we call problems. But we inadvertently incubate such problems. And we know how to proffer solution to them. But, like ‘lotus eaters’ in ‘Odipuxs Rex’, we are so much drunk with illegality that it has become so difficult if not impossible for us to part with it. Thus, like the pot that calls the kettle black we continue to deceive ourselves by mischievously passing the bulk anytime the die is cast.

    Admonition

    Allah’s words will never look for relevance. They are foever the reference points for those who are rightly guided. Through such words, Allah warns in Qur’an 13:11 thus: “Surely, Allah does not change the situation of a nation or community until they themselves have resolved to change it through their attitude”. Acting the imperialists’ evil script as often done will do no one any good in Nigeria.

  • Hate speech and the liberal state

    Hate speech and the liberal state

    The perennial question of how a liberal state ought to deal with speech it considers inimical to its interest, including its unity and progress, has been a challenge from the inception of liberalism as a governing philosophy. There does not appear to be a consensus on the solution, not for lack of trying, but for the fact that many self-described liberal political systems feature conflicting interests which yield different emphasis.

    Some states, reeling from past atrocities in the exercise of freedom, choose the legal route to preserve the unity and dignity of the state and prevent a repeat of history. This is the case of Germany and its clampdown on seditious and defamatory speech. Others, not minding a fallout from hurtful expressions, choose fidelity to the liberal ideal which protects free speech even if it is at the expense of national unity. The United States is a leading example.

    Writing for four Justices in the Matal versus Tam case in June, Justice Alito of the U. S. Supreme Court observed that ‘the idea that the government may restrict speech expressing ideas that offend…strikes at the heart of the First Amendment. Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful, but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express “the thought that we hate.”’

    For many, the opinion is too liberal. However, a state that gives no credence to freedom of expression but chooses the weapon of the law to regulate all speech is by no means an exemplar of liberalism. That is the road to totalitarianism, which is now generally discredited as a legitimate political practice even by those who exemplify it.

    The question may be raised “what is so unique about liberalism that its principles which prioritize individual freedom must trump competing ones which prioritize state or national interest?” There is no better answer to this question than the one provided by its foremost apostle, John Stuart Mill.

    For us to appreciate the thinking behind the prioritization of individual freedom, we must come to terms with the conceptual understanding that instructs it. And in doing so, we may also come to appreciate the gulf between that understanding and the reality of our own society.

    For Mill, individuality is to be appreciated, valued, and respected because individual human beings are endowed with great potentials for outstanding moral choices. When society enables those potentials to be freely realized, the consequence is a community of great human beings who care for one another and for the community. On the other hand, when those potentials are wrecked by an overbearing social control, whether in the form of public opinion or legal imposition, the consequence for society is social dysfunction, including alienation and anomie.

    Thus, beside his view that individual freedom is an end in itself, Mill offered its promotion as instrumental to the end of social cohesion and social progress. This was why he decried the “likings and dislikings of society” as the determinants of the rules that individuals are supposed to follow. For, such likings and dislikings could be idiosyncratic at best, or at worst, inimical to social progress. Case in point: social dress codes. Mill offers a “very simple principle”:

    “The sole principle for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection…the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” Mill specifically ruled out the personal good of individuals as a legitimate reason for subjecting them to social control.

    We may rightly respond: but this is not the point of the regulation of speech, which may well conform with Mill’s principle because unregulated speech can harm other individuals as well as an entire society. Therefore, regulation of speech is not anti-liberal. A clear example is the case of declaring a false fire alarm in a crowded movie theater. Certainly, that kind of speech is subject to control because of its potential for catastrophe.

    The liberal contention, as stipulated by Mill, is that the example we just cited is an isolated one and not all opinions that have been subjected to social control belong to that category. What is decried is the coercion of opinion based on “the likings and dislikings” of society. Silencing the opinion expressed by individuals, no matter how noxious it is, is an illiberal device. “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”

    Based on the belief that the clash of opinions in the market-place of ideas promotes the truth, liberals oppose regulation of speech which could negate the benefits of such exchange. Still, doesn’t it depend on the content of the opinions? If you insist that the world is round and I insist that it is flat, we have a clash of opinions. With an open public debate, backed up with evidence on both sides, the truth will come out. No harm is done to society by the free exchange.

    What about hate speech, of which there are several variants, including political campaign jabs at individuals, ethnic stereotypes, religious diatribe, clannish rhetoric within the same ethnic nation, etc.? At the expense of analytical clarity, we could group all together and pronounce an edict of prohibition on them. But it may do more harm than good. While some expressions in these various groups may be considered hateful, not all are.

    Indeed, many such expressions are considered as merely funny expressions even by the parties presumably targeted. Consider the following: Oyo dobale inu e loso (An Oyo man prostrates, but really his innermost part is standing erect). This is a remark about the alleged duplicity of an Oyo indigene, which covers the entire old Oyo province. This has become such a common parlance that presumably no Oyo man would reasonably consider it necessary to take offence. It is in the same category as Ibadan le mo e o mo layipo, which refers to the potential of an Ibadan indigene as a skillful social dribbler.

    What then is the major target of the government’s offensive against hate speech, which in the words of the Vice President is identical with terrorism?

    Minister Lai Mohammed combined hate speech, disinformation, and fake news in his well-publicized remarks on the matter, on the ground that they all have the same motive of causing disaffection among the populace and discrediting the government. If we abstract from the hard to fathom potential motivation, however, there appears to be a difference. Disinformation and fake news are easily debunked as the Minister did on several occasions that he referenced in his Jos address.

    Further, while purveyors of disinformation may have no motive of hate or disaffection because they may genuinely believe that what they convey is true; hate speech is, by definition, an expression of hate with a view to incite a group or groups to violence. If you pronounce that a group or an individual is nothing more than vermin or maggot, you are declaring that they are fitting creatures for elimination from the human race to which you do not believe they belong.

    George Lakoff, a Cognitive Scientist and Linguist at the University of Berkeley has argued that language can change brains for the better and the worse. “Hate speech changes the brains of those hated for the worse, creating toxic stress, fear and distrust—all physical.” He also observed that this internal harm can even be more “severe than an attack with a fist.”

    Hate speech is speech-act, fighting words, which directly harm their targets. As such, consistent with Mill’s principle of liberty, they are subject to public control. Therefore, the provisions of our legal system which criminalize such speech-acts are defensible by appeal to Mill’s liberal principle.

     

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  • When tomorrow comes

    Preamble

    This is not just an article. It is rather a letter of appeal coming to Nigerian politicians from the pulpit of ‘The Message’ column. Similar letters were written in this column some years ago to the same group of people. Letters of this type seldom come to the arena of politics where conscience is banished and everything in life is based on whim even as self aggrandizement is considered to be the ultimate goal. Coming up at this precarious period of political labyrinth in Nigeria, this letter is necessitated by the current frightening political tension that is fast becoming a bubble which may bust anytime from now unless the Almighty Allah decides to save our country by His special Grace. If you politicians think that you can escape any calamitous as a consequence of your ongoing political machination which you are tendentiously weaving around Nigeria you may be day-dreaming. Those who engaged in similar machinations before yours in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s had ended up in a forlorn.

    Functions of Conscience

    Conscience”, according to Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio, “is an open wound which only the truth can heal”. But one can talk of healing a wounded conscience only where and when it has not become cancerous.

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once gave a vivid description of the signs by which hypocrites can be identified.

    He said “hypocrites are known by three signs: When they talk they lie; when they promise they renege and when they are trusted they betray”. In other words, conscience is not an costume in which hypocrites can clad.

    Most of you (Nigerian politicians) so much typify this situation that one wonders if the Prophet had Nigerians in mind when he was expressing that axiomatic Hadith.

    Deceptive Motive

    It will be recalled that when most of you started agitating for a return to democracy in the late 1990s while a despotic military demagogue held sway, your seeming focus was on liberation of the Nigerian citizenry from the crushing claw of military despotism. And you did that in the name of freedom fighters or human rights advocates. But hardly had you succeeded in leading the masses to drive away the military boys than some of you began to agitate for your selfish interest by claiming to want ‘to serve your people’.

    Thus, based on that claim, your godfathers or godmothers warmly embraced you not minding your hidden agenda especially when such agenda did not contradict theirs. That claim, which was the bait with which you deceptively lured ordinary Nigerians into the struggle that ended up in raising your own political pedestal to the height upon which you stand today was a covenant. And that covenant was not just between you and the people you claimed to want to serve but also between you and the Almighty Allah who knows every manifest and hidden agenda. And He will surely hold you accountable for it.

    To you, it does not matter whether you were genuinely elected or surreptitiously smuggled through the back door by depriving others, who were more qualified than you, of their legitimate rights.

    Your original claim before you were smuggled into whatever position you occupy today will be weighed against your action or inaction in that position or after you might have left the stage. And you will be judged accordingly.

    Just as you will call on God for justice if you were in the shoes of the deprived ones so they will take your case to God’s court in quest of justice. And the prayer of a cheated person, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), never suffers a divine denial.

    Remember

    As some of you once shamelessly graded figure 16 higher than figure 19 sometime ago and audaciously classified theft as a lesser crime than corruption all in the name of politics, you must remember that God’s justice can neither be manipulated nor subverted. And no matter how long it may take, Allah’s justice will take its courae perhaps when you least expect in life. When some of your colleagues were made to face the music of their criminal acts recently, you were expected to learn a lesson from their disgraceful plights. But since a dog that will die in perdition can never heed the warning whistle of a hunter it is not surprising that you are still arrogating the nation’s leadership to yourselves without thinking of the lessons that the younger ones can learn from your conduct on their way to the top. You have evidently demonstrated that you are not on antway qualified to bequeath any sensible legacy to the future generations.

    If anything, your thoughtless public utterances, your shameless public actions and counter actions as well as your devilish body language are more destructive to Nigeria’s future than ever imagined. In fact, you can be called anything but patriotic gentlemen of honour which you call yourselves and as such you are unprecedentedly a disgrace not only to Nigeria as a country. But since you seem to have permanently enlisted immorality as a vital instrument of politics without thinking of its consequences and thus behaving like intoxicated horses gallivanting around without reins.

    Life without Justice

    In Islam, two issues are fundamentally sacrosanct both of which Allah does not take lightly. These are sacredness of life and dispensation of justice. It is a great iniquity for any human being, especially Muslims, to engage in murder and injustice under any guise. Thus, anybody who kills fellow human beings extra-judicially in the name of religion or politics is nothing but an unbeliever of a sadistic nature. In Islam, killing a fellow human being deliberately under whatever guise, without passing through a due process of law, is such a grievous sacrilege that cannot and should not be perpetrated without commensurate penalty, if not here on earth, definitely in the hereafter.

    Allah’s Wrawth

    Besides paganism, nothing draws the wrath of Allah as fast as these two crimes which Satan may continue to ask you to ignore at your own peril. Murder is physical termination of the life of a fellow human being. Injustice is killing a person mentally, psychologically, politically or spiritually by denying him his legitimate right. Now, which of these has not occurred officially and severally in the course of your political sojourn? How will you explain it to Allah?

    Legislative Duty

    In Islam, rule of law is the foundation of justice but legislation is the material with which that foundation is built. Those of you who voluntarily chose to legislate for the rest of us hardly see yourselves as the foundation layers of justice who should not betray the course of justice. As legislators, you are looked upon by most Nigerians as honourable leaders neither because you are more qualified intellectually than those for whom you are legislating nor because you are wiser and more experienced than them. What makes most of you legislators in the lower or upper chambers of the legislative arm of government is sheer expediency arising from queer inadequacies sadly fostered by our so-called political system which gives room for gerrymandering and manipulation. If such opportunity comes your way illegally, let it not be mistaken for good luck. It may rather be a calamity waiting to strike in future.

    And when it strikes, no one except Allah can tell the extent of its effect. At least you can see how the consequences of the heartless annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election have become a draconian spectre chasing the ghost of every Nigerian even after almost two decades of licking our political wound.

    Subversion

    Due to lack of conscience, most of you may have forgotten, but you need to be reminded that shortly after you took oath of office either in 1999 or 2003 or 2007 or 2011 or 2015, you started subverting the covenant into which you voluntarily entered with the people who elected or nominated you directly or indirectly. That covenant is to serve them (the people). And those who serve are nothing but servants. But no sooner had you been sworn into office than you started calling yourselves leaders and not servants again. By implication, you have so dangerously promoted desperation and impunity to the front burner of Nigerian politics that whoever thinks of serving the country, today, through any public office is seen as a devil that must be kept at an arm’s length. From your public conduct, any right-thinking person can vividly see the types of families you are breeding for the nation.

    Executive Duty 

    As members of the Executive arm, when you travel abroad officially, at people’s expense, you are never alarmed by the way the systems work in those countries. You never bother to ask questions about the effective functions of electricity, the smoothness of roads, the flow of portable water and the excellent of educational system that promotes probity and decorum in those countries. Rather, your primary concerns are the personal ephemeral gains accruable to you at the expense of the present and the future. For the past 16 years of Nigeria’s fourth republic you have been at the saddle of government without being able to show in concrete terms what value has that length of time added to the lives of ordinary Nigerians. Your emphasis is power rather than governance and you often go about it in such a manner that gives the impression that government is much more about destruction than construction.

     Nigeria as OPEC Member

    As so-called political leaders, you do not even feel ashamed that Nigeria is the only OPEC country that imports refined petroleum products for domestic consumption simply because you are beneficiaries of the corrupt device which you deliberately put in place in the name of subsidy. Even if Nigeria never had electricity before now and wanted to start one to boost her economy, is a period of 18 years not enough to provide a functional one especially given the enormous amount of wealth with which she is endowed? In modern time, no technological device provides as much opportunity for jobs and economic growth as electricity. Yet, it is that major device that you deliberately hold down to deprive the populace of the wherewithal to rise mentally and intellectually so that you can turn them into perpetual slaves to be ruled forever. In such a situation, why wouldn’t corruption be unconscientiously legislated into legitimacy? And now, Nigeria is held to a standstill because every one of you must personally have a chip of any juicy future now without caring about what may become of your own children in future.

    As fathers and mothers, most of you will want your children to grow up as responsible men and women, yet, you have nothing in you that can serve as good examples for those children. You tell lies with relish. Yet you want your children to be truthful. From where do you expect them to inherit truthfulness? You steal public funds with unbridled audacity. Yet you do not want your children to be called thieves. What other names should the children of thieves bear other than thieves?

    Sermon

    The Message hereby implores you Nigerian politicians to search your conscience and fear God. Remember that some people had governed this country in the past. Among them were those who tried to combine the roles of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary together, in the name of military rule, made possible by coup d’état. Where are they today?

    Governance has its tenure. Four years may look endless, but for the wise, it is not more than a flash of lightening  which only a fool will rely upon to walk his way through the darkness of the night. You are in government today. But remember that you will soon become former this or former that just like those before you.

    Duties of public Servants

    Ordinarily, the duty of Civil Servants as government officials, whether in the executive, legislative or judicial wing, is to serve your country in such a way that you can create a historical window for yourselves through which the future generations can retrospectively peep into your lives with reverence. But since everything in Nigeria has been peculiarly monetized (courtesy of Obasanjo regime), it has become a rule that those who hold sway in government, in whatever capacity, must take the lion’s share of our national cake through our lean annual budget. That is why you randomly but embarrassingly throw some damaging pebbles into our political brook to cause unnecessary ripples in the serenity of that brook to the total disadvantage of today and tomorrow.

    Observation

    Some of you think or talk of impeachment only when your salaries, allowances or extra budgetary largess suffers a reduction or delay. It does not matter to you whether or not the entire workforce in Nigeria remains unpaid for years. Once you are able to amass whatever comes your way legally or illegally the rest of the populace can go on hunger strike forever. It is rather shameful and disappointing that even some of you who claim to be Muslims are participating in such an evil charade despite your proclamation of Islam.

    Conscience, though invisible, has a mirror which only a few people know of. That mirror is shame. A person without shame is a person without conscience. And that is the main distinction between a genuine Muslim and a nominal one.

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) admonished the Muslims thus in respect of shame: “once you are bereft of shame, you can go ahead to do whatever you like”. This means that without shame you are a nonentity who can even strip naked in the market place in readiness for a brawl. We can all see the example of this in a former President of this country who is now menstruating through his mouth at any public place.

    Admonition

    Dear Nigerian politicians, let it be kept permanently in your brain that the only thing which keeps people alive in history even long after their demise is service to humanity. Prophets Isa (Jesus), and Muhammad (SAW), had neither bank accounts nor estates to bequeath to anybody. Their heritage is more than any material wealth for the entire world today. That heritage is service to humanity. What is your own planned heritage if only for posterity? That is a big question which only people with conscience can answer. And, as Muslims or Christians, you should be able to answer it if you truly follow the right guidance of those noble men of impeccable character.

    Remember that you are in a ship already voyaging on the high sea towards the shore. And at that shore are fierce customs officers waiting to check the contents of your cargo. Be always at alert. Remember that if you cultivate friendship with Satan he will favour your wish. But if he grants you one favour, he will take ten from you in return. Be Muslims by name, conduct and mannerism. Whatever you do as Muslims will affect the image of Islam in one way or the other. I hope you will return home as Muslims that you claim to be and not as renegades. Remember all this and adjust now that you may be able to raise your head aloft when tomorrow comes.

  • The challenge of restructuring (2)

    The challenge of restructuring (2)

    At the end of this column last week, I submitted that, for the sake of its credibility and the well-being of Nigerians, which the party promised to promote, the least that APC can do now is fulfill its campaign promise to devolve power to the states. I also suggested that while the simplest form of restructuring is devolution of power from the center to the states, more complicated approaches had been proposed.

    Today, I will discuss two other proposals on restructuring, both of which start with a regional structure in which the current six geo-political zones serve as the federating units, differing only in the extent to which the regions are to control their resources. The first prescribes full resource control for regions and it requires them to pay taxes and royalties to the federal government. While the other proposal does not require full resource control, it demands an acceptable revenue allocation formula, which includes 50% for derivation. Thus, with the federation account still in place and 50% allocation to derivation, regions are encouraged to explore resources for their development agenda.

    In addition to these structural proposals, there have been suggestions for a change in the mode of governance from presidential to parliamentary system of government for reason of its simplicity of operation and modesty of financial expenses.

    I will start with the proposal for regional structure and an acceptable revenue allocation that favors derivation. What recommends it?

    Many are justifiably nostalgic about the exploits of regions in the first republic. This nostalgia, often passionately espoused, is sometimes couched in naturalistic idiom. As I once interpreted it: “We are regional beings. We were born regional. We matured regional. Regional development was the source of national development before the reverse gear was engaged and national development, slow and unpredictable as it was, became the driver of (negative) regional development. But even as we prioritized national development and focus on regional development took a retreat, we were still thinking regional.

    “From 1966 till 1979 at the height of national unity discourse and practice, regionalism as a habit of the mind never retreated. Military Governors as representatives of the Commander-in-Chief from Gowon to Obasanjo and from Buhari to Abacha were not immune to the sentiment behind regionalism. Even when they came from different regions or states, they lived among regionalists. They had regionalists in their cabinets. And more importantly, they were under pressure to improve the conditions of life in their areas of jurisdiction.”

    However, the foremost reason for the championing of regional structure now is that states, with their constitutional mandate, have not been up to the task with regards to the development and welfare of their various constituencies. The sorry state of the financial condition of most states and their inability to pay workers’ salaries, is just indicative of a last straw. The constitution prioritizes states as political and administrative units of the federation, but they are severely handicapped because they are practically unequal in their relationship with the Federal Government which controls a disproportionate amount of resources.

    It is undeniable that regions contributed to national development in the 50s and 60s. Groundnut pyramids and cotton sacks in the North, cocoa stores in the west, palm oil barrels in the east, and the various Marketing Boards were the foremost foreign exchange earners even well into the early 70s. Development plans in each region benefitted from these sources of regional wealth as was the case in the West which saw a boom in infrastructural development and social welfare programs.

    While the legal reality of states is recognized, thinking out of the box of statism requires the acknowledgement of the present ugly reality which makes it impossible for states to extract a sustainable development from the meager resources accruable to them internally, without running cap in hand to the Federal Government.

    There is, however, a powerful force against regionalism and it is more widespread than the power of the force in its favor: “We have been there, done that; and we aren’t going back there.” This sentiment is common to all the zones in the belief that states have brought even development to the remote areas of the old regions than any of them experienced in the era of the regions. This explains the demand for the creation of more states.

    Even in the south, the voices in support of regionalization are those of the political and intellectual elites whose justification is the economy of scale that regions enjoy. The issue, however, should not be determined by the number in support but by the effectiveness of the prescription for the nation’s ailment. Due to their size and limited resources, states lack the wherewithal to serve as development agents. Combining the human and material resources of states in regions can usher in a new era of development and progress for citizens.

    A formal regional arrangement is better wired for success in the matter of resource generation and integrated development. The present structure does not support regional coordination of development in many areas, including transportation, internal security, health delivery, and education. Where regions are viable federating units, the federal government has no business in education, including higher education. University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) was doing very well before its take-over by the Federal Government. Now there are many state universities that are no more than glorified secondary schools, and are not ashamed of producing unemployable graduates.

    But what becomes of states? One proposal is to make them provinces, albeit with more powers that assure residents of even development across the regions. A regional structure with regional parliament and executive could focus on developmental agenda such as transportation networks, tertiary education and research, mineral development, and health. As provinces, states can focus on basic education from Kindergarten to High School, agriculture and rural development.

    The proposal for regionalism with full resource control, with payment of tax and royalty to the federal government by the regions, is unquestionably the most controversial and least acceptable to core unitarists who prefer a strong center. What recommends it?

    One idea behind the demand for regionalism with full resource control is the principle of federalism which makes federating units equal partners in the federal project. As such, each is expected to voluntarily grant some of its original powers to the center. However, along with the granting of powers is the granting of resources to discharge those responsibilities. Thus, if the external security of the nation is the responsibility of the center, the federating units must contribute resources for the center to carry out its security responsibilities. Regional control of resources does not inhibit this central responsibility provided that each region pays taxes on the resources it controls.

    Such an arrangement preserves the autonomy of the federating units and allows them to use their resources for the development of their region and its peoples. It also encourages healthy competition and collaboration among the regions.

    The drawback, which opponents have not failed to notice, is that regionalism with full resource control weakens the central government vis-à-vis the regions. And for those who are genuinely averse to national disintegration, it is a cause for worry. If every region is equally endowed in terms of resources, the fear may be misplaced. Where regional endowment is unequal as it appears to be the case now, and there is a consensus for resource control, there is a precondition that the federal government and the regions can agree upon.

    For both regionalism with full resource control and regionalism with derivation, there will be an agreeable implementation delay period. During this period, a percentage of funds from the federation account will be set aside for the exploration and development of resources in the various regions. Provided there is an even resource development across the regions in the end, either partial or regional resource control may be implemented with the federal government receiving taxes and royalties from the regions for its responsibilities.

    If the political will exists, the difficulty of any of these approaches should not make them inaccessible. Of course, that “if” is significant.

  • Nigeria: Islamisation or Christianisation?

    Preamble

    Two monotous and meaningless words are frequently used mischievously in Nigeria. One is Islamization. The other is maginalization. The one is used religiously while the other is used politically.  None of the two words can be found in any English dictionary because they are  coinages of some Nigerian mischievr makers who find religion and politics as tools for their game of mischieve. Thus, the two words are sometimes interchangeably used as missiles either as a way of disarming their perceived opponents or as a form of psychological intimidatton against them. Invariably, the two ridiculously monotonous words often used as hate speech are from the same source. Were the users of those words well informed, they would have known that such monotony is like an old song with a sour taste  that is unfitting to a civilized society and its continuity is clear evidence of blatant ignorance on the part of those who still cling to it.

     

    MUSWEN’s Reaction

    In a reaction to the use of the word Islamization by the Chritian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in reference to Nigerian secondary school curriculum recently,   the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) issued a press statement to put the record sreaight. Excerpts from the statement are as followa:

     

    Blackmail

    “The allegation of Islamis zation of the country is not a novelty. Whenever the Christian leaders find it difficult to constructively engage with an issue that relates to Muslims in the country, they readily resort to the false allegation of Islamization as blackmail. Unfounded claims of Islamization have now assumed such a ridiculous that it is now a laughing matter in the comity of nations.

     

    CAN’s belligerence

    We have watched with calmness how the leaderships of both the CAN and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) have, in recent times, taken such a combative posture in their seeming hatred for Islam and the Muslims that the once pwaceful coexistence between the adherents of Islam and Christianity in Nigeria have become mutually suspicious on any issue. Most worrisome is the recent pronouncement by the National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF) which paraded a number of retired Christian Generals including the hitherto  respected elder statesman, General Theophilus Danjuma.

    In a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, 13th July, 2017, which was reported in several newspapers (eg The Punch, July 14, 2017; Page 14), NCEF referred to what it regarded as “stealth/civilization Jihad” (whatever that was supposed to mean) and “violent Jihad”. The body accused those it called “Islamists” of plotting to impose what it described as “Sharia ideology” on the country. Furthermore, their understanding of the term “taqiyyah” to which they made reference was, to say the least, misinformed and an indication of their wrong perception of    Islam as a religion and a way of life.

    It was obviously mischievous for Nigerian Christian elders to ignore the fact that Boko Haram group chose a predominantly Muslim region as its theatre of war and devastated  its economy as much as it killed its people. At least, an overwhelming majority of those attacked were Muslims, and most of the places bombed were Mosques. What further evidence does anyone need to be convinced that the agenda of the Boko Haram group is largely targeted at mainstream Islam?

     

    Christian Generals

    MUSWEN is very disappointed that most of the news reports on the meeting of the NCEF highlighted the presence of retired Christian Generals at the meeting. Was this a deliberate act of intimidation? And what signals were those retired Christian Generals sending to the entire world?

     

    The Curriculum Issue

    The allegation, reportedly made by the National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF) at the same meeting, that the introduction of Religion and National Values as part of the revised curriculum for Basic Education “denigrates Christianity and promotes Islam” cannot be credited with evidence.

    In the same vein, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria’s (PFN) claim made at its meeting held in Benin City on 29th June, 2017, that the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) was used as an instrument of religious indoctrination in favour of Islam (See: The Punch, Friday, July 14, 2017; Page 9) is false and highly misplaced.

    We are, however, delighted by the statement credited to the Senate President, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, when a delegation of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) visited him on Wednesday, 12th July, 2017. Senator Saraki was reported to have said to the delegation:

    “You will remember that in 2010, the past administration came up with reforms on how to reduce the number of subjects at the basic education level… There were about 20 subjects at that time, and subsequently they were reduced to 12… In the process of implementing those reforms, we have this problem. Why I am saying this is so we don’t leave here and believe that it was done to favour one religion over the other… Now the reform is clearly not working. So our responsibility is to look into that reform and make it work.” (See:http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/236774- saraki-speakscrk-irk-curriculum-controversy.html)

    When religious leaders can no longer address issues dispassionately without resorting to blackmail, blatant lies and falsification of facts to promote hatred against others, then the very foundation of the moral values of such leaders is largely questionable. “If gold should rust, what will then become of iron?”

    In Retrospect

    It should be recalled for posterity sake that the revised curriculum in question was approved in 2014 during the time of the former President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian. It is also instructive to note that the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) at the time was Prof Godswill Obioma, a Christian. (See: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/166030-nigeria-revises-basic-educationcurriculum.html). What more, the Minister of State for Education, who superintended over Basic Education matters at the time, was no other person than Barrister Nyesom Wike, the current Governor of Rivers State who is a Christian! The question then is: why are the Christian leaders making a mountain out of a mole hill now that we have a Muslim President? If there is a need for policy change why can’t they say so without resorting to name-calling?

     

    The Misinformed CAN President 

    The CAN President, Rev. Samson Ayotunde, during his visit to the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo was reported to have referred to the Arabic language in the curriculum as “Islamic Arabic Studies”. (See: http://staging.thenationonlineng.net/can-visitsosinbajo-demands-five-point-agenda/). For CAN President’s information and others like him, there is no such subject as “Islamic Arabic studies in Nigeria’s curriculum of education. Arabic is a language, like English, French or German, and not a religion as mischievously claimed by CAN’s President.

    Arabic is not only spoken by over 700 million native and non-native speakers across the world including many Christians and it is also one of the six major languages used for the conduct of official bussiness of many international organizations including the United Nations (UN).

     

    Sultan speaks

    In a recent pronouncement, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of  Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa‘ad Abubakar, vehemently refuted the claim of ‘Islamization’ of Nigerian polity saying that Muslim leaders had been in the forefront of the demand that the study of religion should be made compulsory in public schools. In fact, Muslims have always insisted that every child should be taught the religion of his or her parents in line with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria. (See Section 38 (1), (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution). We stand by this.

    It is, therefore, a welcome relief that the Federal Government has announced that both Islamic Studies and Christian Religious Studies should now be taught as stand-alone subjects throughout the country. We hope this will finally lay to rest all the avoidable insinuations, blackmails and falsehood being disseminated to Nigerians by CAN and its agents through the media.

     

    Christianisation Rather than not Islamization

    It is ironic that those who inherited and perpetrated the imposition of a colonial Euro-Christian educational system on Nigeria are the ones now mischievously alleging Islamization of education in Nigeria. It is a fact of history that for more than a century, particularly in Yorubaland, educational system was the potent instrument employed to “catch them (Muslim children) young” by Christian evangelical teachers who subject those Muslim school pupils to Christian indoctrination and force them to drop their Islamic identities for those of Christianity. Thus, ‘Christianization through education’ agenda was been consistently pursued with vigour for decades even though virtually all the schools were grant-aided by governments. Virtually every Muslim family in Yorubaland has a story to tell about the historical subjection of Muslim pupils and students to a crude but brutal Christianization agenda through education.

    Even today, many Christian teachers and school administrators still deny Muslim pupils  their religious rights as Ministries of Education in many States refuse to employ teachers of Islamic Studies apparently as a way of forcing those pupils to take Christian Religious Studies .

     

    CAN’s hypocrisy

    CAN’s bellicose objection to anything Muslim, such as the provision of access to interest-free financial services, is held with shock and amazement. Ironically, the governors of some predominantly Christian-populated states in the country have either secretly obtained or applied for interest-free loans from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), an institution which they  often publicly condemn or derogate. It was a onetime Christian President, Chirf Olusegun Obasanjo who facilitated the country’s membership of the Islamic Development Bank to the immeasurable benefit of all Nigerians irrespective of their religions and most of the beneficiaries of that facility are Christians. Yet, the irritating noise of Islamization of Nigeria continues to sound loud.

     

    Conclusion

    The challenges facing our nation today call for a profound spiritual and moral overhauling of the polity. Giving a child education without the fear of God amounts to making him or her a clever devil. The immoral practice of subjecting a child to instruction or participation in a religion other than that of his or  her parent’s is criminal and should be stopped forthwith. This is the only way to have a truly pluralist society and a peaceful nation. God save Nigeria!?

  • The challenge of restructuring

    The challenge of restructuring

    There are two opposing sides to the debate over the need for the political restructuring of Nigeria. On one side are the proponents of restructuring. These are concerned patriots who have thoughtfully reflected on our journey as a nation since independence and have concluded that we need to do something radical about the structure of the country which has impeded its growth and progressive development and undermined the welfare of citizens. Knowing that they are right about their diagnosis of what the country needs, it is frustrating having to keep repeating themselves and not being heard right, or worse, being misunderstood as charlatans and opportunists. What else can they do?

    On the other side are the opponents of restructuring who feel that those advocates have a burden of explanation which they have failed to discharge adequately or to their satisfaction. While they may be accused of second-guessing and name-calling, these opponents are not necessarily being difficult. They may be genuinely interested in a dialogue on the path of progress for the nation that we all love.

    For instance, the common refrain from opponents of restructuring is that they are not even sure what its advocates mean by restructuring. Former President Obasanjo repeated this claim just a few days ago. Since there has been more than one interpretation of restructuring by its advocates, opponents have a point. Therefore, until we reach a common ground, advocates must not relent. It is for this reason that I am making this attempt at conceptual clarification.

    Now, of course, it stands to reason that if you do not understand something, you seek clarification and you just do not dismiss it offhand or reject it out of ignorance. But it is no use bringing this up. The one who seeks explanation seeks understanding. Advocates have a duty to provide that explanation for as long as it is needed.

    -But first, why restructuring and why now? The answer is not far-fetched. If we are all true to our conscience, we cannot deny that we have gone through series of restructurings since independence. Nigeria was constitutionally founded on a federal structure. In January 1966, it was restructured as a unitary system by the military. We seem not to think too much of it now as restructuring. But it was, albeit by military fiat. We did not have any say in the matter. Why did the military do it? They misdiagnosed the disease that afflicted the First Republic. The federal system of governance with its emphasis on derivation as the principle of revenue allocation was not the culprit. Rather, it was the imbalance in the relationship between the regions that stressed the system.

    A more effective remedy would have been the creation of more regions so that no one region was able to impose its will on the rest. General Yakubu Gowon did just this in 1967 but he retained the unitary structure of governance. For the past 50 years, it is what Nigeria has been saddled with. The various constitutional conferences and amendments have only just validated and replicated the military fiat of 1966. That was the case with the 1979 and 1999 constitutions. For those who question the need for restructuring now, the question they should answer is this: has the country been better off with the present unitary structure? And if not, is there a more auspicious time?

    That the country is not better off is visible to the blind. In 1963, no regional government ran to the federal government for bailout funds to pay its regional employees. Every regional government depended on the resources available to it because the revenue allocation formula encouraged regions to develop the natural resources available to them which they then used to promote the welfare of their citizens. On the other hand, the unitarization of the country with the revenue allocation in favor of the center has not encouraged states to explore resources available to them. Instead they depend on allocation from the center, which also dictates how much they pay to their state employees.

    From the foregoing, it seems clear that opponents of restructuring now mock reason when they suggest that advocates are a bunch of “unelectable” political opportunists and elites looking for jobs. Or that advocates are ethnic jingoists looking to destabilize the country. That an elder statesman could suggest that restructuring means secession is beyond the pale. Do you demand restructuring if you want secession? Obviously no. You demand disintegration! Let me assume, however, that not all opponents of restructuring are reason mockers. With those who are genuinely interested in a rational discourse on what restructuring means and why it is necessary now, we can come together in the hall of reason.

    From the various positions that have been presented on this matter, I would like to suggest that we understand political restructuring in three senses, ranging from the simplest to the complex. Once we come to an understanding of what each involves, it might be possible to reach a consensus on the advisability of starting with the simplest of the proposals.  If the simplest sense works by correcting the errors of the extant structure, so much the better. After all, the advocacy of restructuring starts from the premise of the reality of the malfunctioning of the present structure. I will discuss the simplest today.

    The most daring restructuring idea is regionalization plus full fiscal autonomy. This means that the six zones will serve as federating units with full control over their regional resources while they only pay royalty and taxes to the federal government.

    A less daring idea of restructuring points the present 36-state-structure as incongruous as the foundation of a true federal system. In the First Republic, the regions were economically viable due to the economy of scale that each enjoyed. With the proliferation of states, the advantages that accrued to the former regions based on their territorial scope are lost. Therefore, the proposal is that the present six zones be the federating units and the states be provinces or development areas. A revenue formula which prioritizes regions will be put in place. I will take these two up next week.

    In its simplest form, however, restructuring is devolution of power from the center to the component units. In a federation, the component units are the states or the regions. This assumes that the center is saddled with too many responsibilities that it cannot possibly discharge as effectively as the component units. Therefore, it needs to shed some responsibilities and transfer resources for the states to take on those responsibilities.

    The rationale for this cannot be clearer. The federal government takes on matters which states are more capable of discharging effectively to their residents. These include education, health, and agriculture. The usual response to this observation is that states are not even now able to pay their workers. What is not acknowledged is that the resources that the federal government corners for itself now would have to be released to the states when they take on these responsibilities.

    Along with the foregoing reasoning is that when revenue allocation was based on 50% derivation, regions scamper to exploit the resources available to them whether in agriculture or mineral deposits. Nobody has provided the justification for the shift in revenue allocation in favor of the federal government, which did not even occur during the civil war years. Why did the federal government reduce the percentage of revenue allocated to derivation from 50% to 45% in 1975 and continued to crash it to 1.5% and 3% until it was moved to 13% in the Fourth Republic? We behave as if this is normal but the advocacy for a return to status quo ante is not! Yet, clearly, this is the reason that states have not fared well and their citizens are wallowing in abject poverty.

    I hazard a guess that APC Campaign Manifesto promises devolution of power because it sees it as the least radical. I hope that the party will get on with it for the sake of its credibility and the well-being of Nigerians.

     

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    @SegunGbadeg2002

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  • Reflections on Buhari’s address

    Reflections on Buhari’s address

    President Buhari is back from medical vacation and Nigerians are rightly thrilled about his return after more than one hundred days. With the understanding that the President would not have ventured back without his doctors’ clearance, many are relieved that he has been declared medically fit for resumption of duty. They also understand that he needs to take it easy. Therefore, nothing much can be read into the news of the cancelation of the Wednesday meeting of the Federal Executive Council. The President certainly has the best wishes of his fellow Nigerians for a full recovery.

    Back to the welcoming hands and voices of jubilant admirers and grateful citizens, the President wasted no time in signaling his readiness to deal with some of the major issues that have roiled the nation in his absence. To be fair, many of the challenges that he was distressed about abroad did not sneak in after he left the shores of the country. Acting President Osinbajo did not drop the ball on the challenges in the President’s absence. Rather, these issues had been slowly but surely creeping into the body politic. Nnamdi Kanu was in detention. Boko Haram was degraded but still vicious. Kidnappers were on the loose. Militants were determined to ruin the economy in pursuit of resource control agenda.

    It is true that bad news gets exaggerated in their escape to other lands and the president may have been subjected to a barrage of social media fake news. Now, he will have a first-hand information to place matters in proper perspective.

    The foregoing observation notwithstanding, the President is right to take seriously the challenges that he referenced in his speech and it appears that many Nigerians agreed with the content and tone of his address. The injunctions from the bully pulpit were well-received. As one distinguished senator observed, the lion king has roared from the throne and his obedient subjects are in awe of the majesty of his utterances.

    Except that the President himself is the first to acknowledge the incongruity of the metaphor. We do him no favor when we adorn him in the unflattering robe of a ferocious king of the jungle roaring down orders. It denies him the legitimacy of a hard-fought and well- won democratic race, which must always be present to our thinking and action. The reality of our democratic dispensation presents some important takeaways from the President’s address.

    First, the president was distressed that some social media commentators “crossed our national red lines by daring to question our collective existence as a nation.” He thinks it is a step too far. There are a couple of points for reflection on this concern of Mr. President. One is that agitation of any kind is the oxygen of democracy which a well-ordered state does not have to worry about because its institutions can hold their own.

    A few weeks ago, this column discussed this issue under the title, “Understanding secessionist struggles.” After examining the secessionist attempts of Scotland and California and the responses of their various governments, I ended with the crisis generated by the detention of Kanu for his secessionist struggle. I asked rhetorically if the crisis can be effectively resolved through the legal system or through a thoughtful process which takes account of the political context in which the crime is committed and addresses the fundamental issues it raises.

    I reminded readers that Great Britain tried to deal with the Scottish independence movement with devolution before the English ventured again into Brexit crisis but that the California and Texas movements were largely ignored by the U.S. government because those movements had no oxygen to sustain them. I referred to the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) which had restated one more time the grievances that caused the agitation for secession. The group identified the perceived injustice of “oppressive census figures”, “asphyxiation through state and local government creation, and “opposition of the Nigerian government to peaceful restructuring. I then suggested that from the ECA’s perspective, once these grievances are addressed, the agitation will cease.

    Furthermore, on the same point of red lines and questions about our collective existence, we should see any such questioning, not as an occasion for call to arms, but as an opportunity for self-examination and soul searching. A child does not cheerfully question his or her family identity and there is no smoke without some fire causing it. Therefore, when citizens cross a national red line, it is the responsibility of leaders to look inward and seek reconciliation.

    Second, President Buhari insisted that “every Nigerian has the right to live and pursue his business anywhere in Nigeria without let or hindrance.” This is to the point and the President has risen to the occasion. Yet it is a sad reflection on the state of the union that the President needed to remind us about this fundamental principle of a state which craves the loyalty and love of every citizen. The expression of an interest to secede on the part of a group is a notice to the government which it can handle appropriately. It is not a notice to other groups within the state. Therefore, other groups cannot morally or legitimately take upon themselves the duty of the state. In this wise, the Northern youths and the elders that supported them erred.

    Third, the President acknowledges that “ there are legitimate concerns” and that “every group has a grievance.”  This acknowledgment is the beginning of political sagacity, the end of which is providing adequate responses to the concerns. President Buhari appears to get it that such concerns cannot be swept under the carpet of national unity if we do not want them to pollute the environment with dangerous mold.

    Fourth, in what appears to be an unacknowledged Eureka moment, President Buhari praised “the beauty and attraction of a federation” in that “it allows different groups to air their grievances and work out a mode of existence.” This is a big deal. Mr. President appreciates the beauty and attraction of a federation. We have a democracy, which is also beautiful. But the beauty of our democracy is enhanced by the federal system.

    I only have a friendly amendment to Mr. President’s observation here. Two features of a federation are most impressive. It recognizes the fundamental differences between the groups of people that are federating. Second, it allows the different groups to work out a mode of existence that is acceptable to all. If, at some point after this agreement, there are grievances, it allows them to resolve those grievances through the institutions it had set up for the purpose. Therefore, working out an acceptable mode of existence is pivotal to the success of a federation.

    Fifth, the President identifies “the National Assembly (NASS) and the National Council of State (NCS) as the legitimate and appropriate bodies for national discourse.” There could be various interpretations of this, and not all will be agreeable to many people. It does not help that NASS has not endeared itself to many Nigerians who perceive it as a self-serving body.

    What is more to the point, however, is that national discourse cannot be the exclusive preserve of these bodies. While it is true that NASS is responsible for lawmaking and NCS is an advisory body to the President, the two do not have the monopoly of wisdom on matters of national importance. And sometimes they have used their positions to promote self-regarding agendas at the expense of the nation.

    If, as observed above, working out a mode of existence is pivotal to the success of a federation, this is the responsibility of all component groups within the federation. And while it is acknowledged that we now have NASS and NCS as governing institutions, the fundamental issue of working out an acceptable mode of existence should normally precede the establishment of those governing institutions. We have therefore put the cart before the horse. The solution is to demand that these institutions listen to and receive counsel from the different groups concerning the mode of existence acceptable to them.

     

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  • The Prophet’s medicine

    Preamble

    This article is a follow up to that of last Friday in which the bee was described as ‘The Insect that Heals’. Both articles are a deliberate diversion of readers’ attention from the economic and political   madness of this moment in Nigeria.

    Such diversion becomes necessary as a relief from the current overwhelming tension in a country where every news item is sad and every hope turns forlorn. A worthy columnist must know when to bite and when to blow editorially if only to sustain the readership of his/her column. This is the time of mental, physical and psychological trauma in Nigeria for which there must be a soothing medicament.

     

    Appropriate medicament

    Incidentally, the most appropriate medicament for all ailments including trauma is the one prescribed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) about 1,440 years ago which still remains as potent today as it was when it was prophetically prescribed. And it will keep remaining relevant for the rest period of human existence on earth.

    Prophet Muhammad’s prescription was a practical fine-tuning of the coded medicine primordially prescribed by the first human being who bore the name Adam.

    Prophet Adam, the primogenitor of mankind, was hardly one hour old when he started prescribing medicine against ailments. He was commanded by Allah to teach the Angels the names of all things which they (the Angels) had confessed not to know. By teaching the Angels, Adam thus became a teacher to the Angels and this made teaching the very first profession of man. But, those in the information sector could, as well, argue that what Adam did was more of information dissemination than teaching or prescription.

     

    First human profession

    There is tendency that a fierce debate might ensue between teachers and journalists on the one hand and both of them and the medical experts on the other over what can be called the first profession of man on earth. But the truth is that all the three professionals are right. By teaching, a teacher informs. By informing, a journalist teaches. And by medicating, a doctor helps to dispel ignorance. Thus, the three professions are mutually complimentary.

     

    Prophet Adam as a doctor

    By teaching the Angels, what Prophet Adam really did was to cure the worst disease in them as well as in man. That disease is ignorance. Shortly before the creation of Adam, Allah informed the Angels that He was going to create a new living being and put him in charge of the garden to be called the earth. But, feigning knowledge, the Angels kicked against the plan and advised their Lord not to do it. Allah then told them in a tone of finality that “I know what you do not know”. (Q.2:31). It eventually took Adam, by Allah’s command, to heal those Angels of the disease of ignorance in them.

    If Adam had not taught them the names of all things on earth, as revealed in the Qur’an, the Angels would have remained ignorant forever. And, Allah’s messages to mankind, as contained in the divinely Revealed Books, would not have come mankind through them.

     

    Categories of medicine

    In ordinary man’s view, medicine is the substance required to cure an ailment. Such substance may be natural or artificial. It may also be as crude as herbs or as sophisticated as surgery. However, it is generally believed that a person does not need medicine unless he is ill. That is why the Western conventional medicine is rather curative than preventive. Illness resides in the body just as ignorance makes the mind its abode. Today, in most cases, people neither go to the hospitals nor take medicine unless they are sick.

     

    Prophet Muhammad’s prescription

    Though unlettered, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had known the different types of medicine before he diagnosed two basic ailments and prescribed two fundamental medicines for them. The first of these ailments is ignorance. The second is poverty. And poverty in this case is not lack of material wealth alone as many people erroneously believe. It is also lack of many things including health and conscience. Thus, in Islam, ailment is basically of two classes: ignorance and poverty. Many people are victims of one. Many more are victims of both.

     

    Analysis

    A person is said to be poor-sighted when he cannot see well without artificial aid. He is deemed poor in memory when his remembering ability becomes weak. He is also pronounced poor in health when some of his body organs malfunction or when he loses some active enzymes or minerals or vitamins. Thus, man may be poor, not in terms of money or material needs but despite his possession of both.

    As an antidote for ignorance, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) prescribed the Qur’an. And for body ailment, he prescribed honey.

     

    The role of the Qur’an

    Qur’an is the encyclopedia of life which personifies knowledge in all its ramifications. There is nothing about knowledge, whether spiritual or mundane, in this world or the hereafter that is not fully explained in the Qur’an.

    By recommending the Qur’an as medicine for ignorance, therefore, the Prophet simply provided cure for the ailment of the mind. And by prescribing honey for body ailments he encouraged elongation of life expectancy through a boost to human immune system. It is not by accident that a whole chapter in the Qur’an (chapter 16) is named after the insect that produces honey. Verse 68 of that chapter reads thus:

    “And your Lord revealed to the bee (saying): Build your homes in the mountains, in the trees and in the hives which men shall make for you. Feed on every kind of fruit and follow the trodden path of your Lord’. From its belly comes forth a fluid of many hues as healing (drink) for mankind. Surely in this, there is a sign for those who can reason….”

     

    Products of the Bee

    Contrary to general belief, honey is not the only product of the bee. There are six others so far known to man. These are: propolis; pollen; royal jelly; bees wax; bee venom and bee bread. More can be discovered as research continues in line with the Qur’anic challenge. Each of these products has specific functions in maintaining and immunizing the human hormone system.

     

    Characteristics honey

    Honey is one of the products of the bee. It is the most popular of the bee products. It is a special fluid with various hues odours and flavours. For instance there are bitter, white and granulated honeys which most people do not know of. Honey is the foremost known natural product that serves as both food and medicine. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, once reportedly told his patients while prescribing honey for them thus: “let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food”. There is no known nutritional value in terms of vitamins, minerals and enzymes that is not proportionately present in honey.

     

    Composition of honey

    A raw, pure honey contains about 80 different substances that are most important for human nutrition. Besides glucose and fructose, honey contains all of the B-complex minerals like vitamins A, C, D, E and K as well as trace elements such as magnesium, sulphur, phosphorus, iron, calcium, chlorine, potassium, iodine, sodium, copper and manganese. The enzyme content of honey is one of the highest of all existing foods. Honey also contains and antimicrobial and antibacterial factors.

    The composition and nutritional value of honey differ in relation to the floral sources from which honeybees do pick their raw materials. For example, a recent research supports the claim that dark coloured honey has larger amount of antioxidants than brown. The inorganic contents of honey, minerals and other trace elements, play a significant role in human metabolism and nutrition. Owing to its chlorine content, honey is appreciated as an excellent tonic and helps people to overcome suffering from constipation and other enteric problems.

     

    Doses of honey

    Whereas no synthetic medicine can and should be taken by any ill person without doctor’s prescription, honey requires no such prescription for anybody who is not allergic to it because it has no side effect. The suggestion in certain quarters that honey can cause piles is based on ignorance. As a multipurpose natural food and medicine, honey can be taken alone or along with other foods albeit in moderation.

    And as an antiviral and antibiotic substance, honey is the best medicine for the eye and the ear diseases as well as tooth ache, insomnia, staphylococcus, constipation, whitlow, burns and wounds. After many centuries of disputing these facts ignorantly, conventional doctors finally came to realize that no medicine is as effective in sealing up surgical wounds and healing sores as honey. Today, honey is used for these purposes in most public hospitals in various parts of the world including Nigeria.

     

    Products of the Bees

    As mentioned above, the products of the bees are seven. These are: honey, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, beeswax, bee venom and bee bread. Each of these products has a potent value in the life of man. For instance, royal jelly is the secret of the longevity of the Queen of England and even that of her mother called the Queen mother just as pollen was the secret behind the strength of a onetime American President, Ronald Reagan at old age.

     

    Honey

    To produce honey alone, the bees make contact with about 250,000 plants picking and metabolizing their flower nectars. It is possible for them to contact more plants depending on the richness of the vegetation in which they dwell. (Nectar is the main raw material which the bees use to produce honey).

     

    Propolis

    Propolis is produced by the bees from the resin of certain specific trees identifiable only by the bees themselves. Through research, propolis has come to be known as the strongest anti-biotic ever discovered by man. This product is used not only to protect the living but also to preserve the remains of the dead as well. At least it is on record that the famous historic Egyptian mammies were embalmed with propolis several millennia ago. This same propolis is the product used by the bees, themselves, to sterilize their bodies against bacteria and secure their hives against viruses brought in by predators. Whenever they sting such predator to death, it is propolis they use to embalm it to prevent its decaying body from polluting the hive.

     

    Pollen

    Pollen is the secret of strength in old age.  It heals almost all the old age diseases like prostate, arthritis, pneumonia and bronchitis. It rejuvenates the nerves and reinvigorates the hormonal glands especially in the aged.

     

    Royal jelly

    Royal jelly is the bee product that prolongs life and solves the problem of infertility in men and women. It is the exclusive food of the queen bee which enables her to lay an average of 2000 eggs per day.

     

    Bee venom

    Bee venom is a natural antibiotic vaccine which strengthens human immunity against all diseases. It works like magic in the human system especially when applied through the natural acupunctural points in the body.

     

    Beeswax

    Bees wax, as distinct from other products, is used to produce non-chemical cosmetics and to coat pharmaceutical and capsules like multivites to protect the potency of the substances used to produce the.

     

    Bee bread

    Bee bread is the lava of the young bees. It is used by the apitherapists to prevent or heal children’s diseases.

    The use of each of these products to heal human ailments depends on the extent of knowledge of apitherapy possessed by the user. (Apitherapy is the use of bee products to prevent or heal human or animal ailments). A specialist in this field is called apitherapist.

    The uniqueness of using these products for healing or prevention of diseases is in the fact that they do not entail any negative side effect because of their natural potency. And that is a major sharp difference between them and the synthetic drugs manufactured chemically by the conventional pharmacists.

     

    Summary

    If most people were knowledgeable about the efficacy of the bee products in preventing and healing diseases, hospitals would have been less congested and substantial percentage of their incomes would have been saved to enhance the quality of their lives. The world of bees is a wonderful world. It takes only those who know it to appreciate it and benefit from its healing miracle.

    Through divine instinct, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had known this almost one and a half millennia ago and he had recommended it to mankind for their survival. The case of the bee and honey is like that of the hen and the egg. No one can tell with precision which of them first came into existence. The fact that honey is still a subject of scientific research today is a further confirmation that the prophecy of the unlettered Arabian man called Muhammad (SAW) is truly divine.

     

    Conclusion

    Without the bee there can be no honey. And without honey, the bees cannot exist since honey is the food upon which they depend for survival.

    The story of the insect called bee is inexhaustible despite centuries of research on it. It is therefore impossible to tell it all in a one page column of this type. That Prophet Muhammad (SAW) knew this much even as an unlettered person at a time when the world was assailed by blatant ignorance and primitivism is a further confirmation of Michael Hart’s classification of him as the greatest human being that ever lived.

     

    Information

    Four Muslim brothers across three Universities successfully delivered their inaugural lectures recently. They are Professor Lai Olurode of the Socology Department, University of Lagos; Professors Ishaq Lakin Akintola and Lateef Adetona of Religious Studies Department, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria and Professor Fehintola of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The Message Column joins many well wishers in congratulating them all and in wishing them further higher pedestals in their respective academic careers. Amin.

  • Self-governing status for Western Region: 60 years after

    Self-governing status for Western Region: 60 years after

    The British government granted self-governing status to the old Western Region on August 8, 1957.  Prior to that day, with the election of 1951, the Action Group, under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo had taken over the control of the Western Region government, with Chief Awolowo as Leader of Government Business. Between 1952 and 1957, the Action Group government had dramatically changed the fortunes of the region, with one landmark policy and action after another.

    With a laser beam focus on human development, education became a priority and the driving force of development for the new administration. It initiated a huge investment in Universal Free Primary Education, with adequate planning for its success, including the training of teachers, and subsequent avenues for the further education of the products of its products. The introduction of free primary education, with the implication that both rich and poor had a right to it, and the success of the plan for post-primary institutions to absorb its products, led to a phenomenal expansion of educational opportunities that ultimately paid off to the advantage of the region.

    The regional government took seriously the formal planning of the economy with an emphasis on agriculture and rural development and agriculture-based industries. From 1952 to 1957 when it attained self-governing status, the region had witnessed great returns on its meticulous planning, efficient bureaucracy, and effective leadership. Three years later, on the eve of Nigerian independence in 1960, Western Region had recorded enviable growth scoring a “First in Africa” record in some critical indices of social development.

    In sports, the region had completed the Liberty Stadium, an Olympic standard sports facility. In information and entertainment, it had established WNTV television station. It had championed the promotion of agriculture with the establishment of research farms, farmers’ cooperative societies, and farm settlements for young school leavers to practice modernised agriculture. It was obvious that the Western Region was ready for its industrial take-off.

    In a recent paper, (“The Awo Legacy and the Challenges of Political Leadership and governance in Present-Day Nigeria”), Professor Akin Mabogunje gave an insightful account of how the Awolowo government developed its regional cement industry. The Colonial Government controlled the exploitation of mineral resources. However, with the derivation principle of revenue allocation, 50% of the royalty that the federal government received was returned to the region in which minerals were exploited.

    The derivation principle encouraged regional governments to develop interest in the exploitation of minerals in their regions alongside the federal government. However, while the federal government had developed a cement factory in Nkalagu, Eastern Region in 1957, and had plans for another one in the North, it left the Western Region out of calculation. But the Awolowo-led administration took its fate in its hands, and with its own consultants, it soon discovered limestone at Ewekoro, where the region commissioned its cement industry in 1960. That was how true federalism worked.

    Professor Mabogunje compared that Colonial era constitution with the 1979 Second Republic Constitution which vested exclusive control of mineral exploitation in the Federal Government and required that licenses for prospecting be issued only by Federal Government. This requirement adversely affected the effort of the Bola Ige administration to develop Igbetti marbles for the economic benefit of the state.

    The situation has persisted since. Under the 1999 Constitution, Mines and Minerals are on the Exclusive Legislative List. Therefore, the federal government has exclusive powers and jurisdiction over all matters relating to mining and it pockets the taxes and royalties derived from mining with minimal incentives for individual States. What this does is deprive states of the use of minerals under their soil for the benefit of their citizens. In true federal democracies, even individual citizens have control over mineral resources, especially oil and gas under their land and are simply required to pay taxes on the proceed. For this reason, citizens of oil rich states such as Texas do not pay income tax.

    Between 1952 and 1960, Chief Awolowo and his team led the Western region government under a federal constitution which made the federal and regional governments co-equal partners. That constitution favored regions in revenue allocation with 50% of mining rent and royalty from Distributable Pool Account versus 20% to the Federal Government.

    It was that revenue formula, especially the percentage allocated to derivation that made the difference in the rapid development of the regions. Regions with visionary leaders, which was the case with the three regions, took advantage of the favorable revenue allocation formula. The pace of development in Western region between 1952 and 1960 can be attributed to both favorable revenue base and visionary leadership.

    However, contrary to the provision of 50% derivation in 1960, the 1999 Constitution provided that “the principle of derivation shall be constantly reflected in any approved formula as being not less than thirteen per cent (13%) of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from any natural resources.

    The crash of revenue allocated to states on basis of derivation from 50% to 13% is responsible for the state of the states vis-à-vis the center. First, states do not have any incentive to develop the natural resources in their areas because they have no control over them. Second, a greater percentage of revenue from such exploitation now goes to the center. Third, as a result, the states are deprived of funds to cater for the development of their states and for the promotion the welfare of their citizens.

    It should be noted, however, that the reversal of the fortune of states in respect of revenue allocation from the federation account does not come with a reduction in their responsibilities. As successive military administrations from 1966 to 1999 and civil administrations from 1999 to date grabbed more revenue to the center, they also imposed additional fiscal responsibilities on the states. The Udoji Commission of 1974 recommended a unified salary structure for federal and state civil services. The federal government orders the payment of common minimum wage to workers throughout the country with no concern for differences in cost of living.

    The result is that state governments are unwittingly set up to fail, unless they are extraordinarily resourceful or fortunate to have a self-sustaining economy. Visionary leadership played a great role in the success of Chief Awolowo. But so did a true federal structure that ensured that he had the resources to achieve his visionary goals.

    Let us allow our imagination to run as wide as it can. If Chief Awolowo remained in Western region in 1959; if the military coup of 1966 did not take place; if the federal government remained truly federal with a revenue formula that allowed regions to compete healthily for development, where might the Western region be now?

    Of course, any number of events might have occurred that could break the scenario that those hypotheticals assume. More regions might have been created. Different leadership might have emerged for any number of reasons. But if the constitution had remained true to the original federal principle, the states/regions and the entire country would have seen more rapid and progressive development than has been the case. In the race to excel, states/regions would learn from one another for the benefit of their residents. That was certainly the case in the First Republic.

    The moral of the foregoing is simple. Advocates of restructuring are not power-hungry exploiters looking to impose their will on others. They have a sense of history which they witnessed as adults. This country once worked. This nation was once on a trajectory of fast growth and sustainable development. They witnessed peer nations with whom we started at independence zoom past us in the sprint of life. They are now dying to witness a transformation of the nation toward the realization of its full potential.

    True, even in the state of retarded growth to which the nation has been condemned by its present structure, some individuals are making it big. But it is also in their interest that they are not islands of filthy wealth in an ocean of abject poverty.

     

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