Is the call for restructuring the country being fueled by the vocal segments of the political elite who have lost or are losing out in the political power game?
This is the thinking of the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, when he summed that it would appear that more often than not, the call for political restructuring is loudest when the strong, vocal segments of the political elite have lost or are losing out in the political power game.
The vocal Kaduna senator quickly added that what he said should not in any way be construed to mean that he endorsed the present socio-economic and politico-legal framework underpinnings the management of the public space in the country.
This is contained in a lecture he delivered at the weekend on the “Imperatives of Sustaining One Nigeria” at the 5th Annual Parliamentary Lecture of the National Association of Oyo Students.
Sani, who is Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts and Vice Chairman, Senate committee on Foreign Affairs, traced the clamour from a section of the populace in South East calling for the creation of the sovereign state of Biafra, the call by the South-South, especially the oil producing region of the Niger Delta, for greater resource control, fiscal federalism and a northern group, which, after arrogating to themselves the powers and privileges of Landlords, issued a quit notice to the Nigerian citizens from another ethnic group.
He also recalled that from some top political elite, former top brass of the military and others came strident calls for a restructuring of the country and declared that it would appear that the indissolubility as well as the sovereignty of the State over the entity and political contraption called Nigeria is being questioned and challenged by some of its own citizens.
The development, he said, gives the impression that the state is under siege.
He recognized that strident calls to tinker with the structure of the country will not be the first time that Nigerians are calling for a review of the basis of togetherness in the country.
He recalled that after the amalgamation of 1914, Nigerians continued to clamour for improvements in the overarching socio-political and legal framework on the basis of which pre-colonial governance was predicated.
He listed the 1922 Clifford Constitution, the Arthur Richards Constitution of 1946, the John McPherson Constitution of 1951 and the Lyttelton Constitution of 1954 and the Independence and Republican Constitutions of 1960 and 1963 respectfully.
Clearly, he said, political independence was not accompanied by political and administrative machineries capable of dealing with the diverse concerns of the over 300 ethnic nationalities in the country.
The Nigerian Civil War, he added, signposted not just inter-ethnic intransigencies but the structural dysfunctions of the socio-economic system.
Sani noted that from General Yakubu Gowon’s post-Civil War effort of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (the 3 Rs) to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s 2014 National Conference there have been several efforts at addressing the discontents within the Nigerian polity.
On “Imperatives of Sustaining One Nigeria” he noted that without any doubt the agitations across the country is overheating the polity and threatening the basis of the corporate existence of the country as constituted under the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He posited that the agitations, particularly the recent calls for restructuring, must be placed in proper context and addressed in a manner that strips the narrative of both primordial sentiments as well as the self-serving interests of the political elite.
The lawmaker argued that “it would appear that more often than not, the call for political restructuring is loudest when the strong, vocal segments of the political elite have lost or are losing out in the political power game.”
To underscore his position, Sani added “What I have just said should not in any way be construed to mean that I endorse the present socio-economic and politico-legal framework underpinnings the management of the public space. “
The hue and cry over marginalization, he maintained, “ is both real and deserving of urgent national attention. “
But who really are the marginalized, he posed
“In this auditorium over 90 percent of those here present are the youths. According to the recent census figures this category of our populace is over 70 percent of this nation of over 170 million people. Both economically and politically this massive segment of the population has been marginalised, impoverished and alienated.
“And rather than a concerted national effort to redress this very debilitating reality, the narrative and contestation over the notion of marginalisation have tended to focus on regional/ethnic preoccupations with power sharing and resource control arrangements.
The calibre of restructuring that I advocate for shies away from an excessive preoccupation with this arrangement because as our history has shown it has not helped the trickling down of the commonwealth to the masses.
Sani is not convinced that “the recalibration of the national revenue allocation formula, tinkering with the principle of federal character, etc would necessarily improve the lots of our teaming vibrant, energetic, visionary, industrious young people who are able and ready to take on the critical task of moving our society forward.
“I advocate for Nigeria’ conspicuous youth bulge to be placed up and centre in our national discuss, and in our pursuit of national growth and development.”
China, he said, is reputed to graduate over 4 million youths annually from its tertiary institutions and to have in place domestic and foreign policies that backstop these graduates both at home and abroad and across diverse sectors.
“Today China is an indisputable economic, political, military and industrial power. It is correctly adjudged to be the world’s workshop, pulling millions and millions of its citizens up and above the poverty line every year.
“I think that we should focus on our youths because the almost 60 year old narrative of the elite is too dysfunctionally fixated on political power and raw material resource sharing. We live in a knowledge driven world where cutting edge Information and Communication Technology is being used to blaze the path to a future that promises to be even more globally competitive than it is now.
“How can we be talking of a vision 20 2020 (i.e. being among the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020 – just 3 years away) when all the national energies of our political elites have, in recent years, focused almost solely on amassing rent from raw materials and primary commodities and corruptly gorging themselves with the commonwealth.
“Again, I submit that youth development and empowerment is the key to resolving Nigeria’s socio-political, economic and legal malaise. Their energies, vision and industry, properly harnessed, is the antidote to the centrifugal forces currently threatening the corporate existence of the country,” he said.
Following from the above, Sani believed that sustaining a one Nigeria dictates that the mandate of government – at all levels and across all tiers, Executive, Legislative and Judiciary – must be refocused on human capital development and productivity.
The Executive, he insisted, must declare a National Education Emergency aimed at revamping and repositioning our educational and research institutions.
“We must, as a matter of critical urgency, deploy the needed human, material and infrastructure support that would help our tertiary institutions make the prestigious list of the league of globally ranked institutions,” he said
The critical mass of quality manpower that would be produced, he said, must however be complemented by continuous commitment to Research and Development ((R&D) as well as other fiscal and monetary policies to facilitate innovations and entrepreneurship while “the management of almost every facet of our economy is in the hands of the youth. Yet onerous obstacles lie on their paths, effectively excluding their active participation in politics beyond the civic duty to vote.”
Sani said that all provisions in the annals of our laws and in our body polity must therefore be critically interrogated and progressively revised in favour of youth development and empowerment provisions.
He highlighted the urgent need for a creative re-engineering of the political space, including an active and progressive de-monetisation of the electoral process through the introduction of such practices as Independent Candidacy in electoral contests.
He added, ‘Over the past 60 years Nigeria has witnessed a lot of social and cultural integration. Many of our youths are the products of mixed marriages. Many more have been born in metropolitan centres far removed from the states of origin of their parents. It is politically delimiting to make any demand on these youths which borders on the requirements of states of origin. As in the right to vote, the right to contest and be voted for, as well as the right to public resources among other things, should all be predicated on residency requirements only.”
He called on “all the youths to be actively involved and to resist any attempt at either the balkanization of Nigeria or succumbing to a brand of political restructuring which completely sidelines the critical question of equity, justice and dignity for the Nigerian people irrespective of their ethnic, religious or political affiliations.
Poverty and marginalization, he postulated is not necessarily a north or south issue.
“To illustrate this point, may I draw your attention to the fact that people of northern extraction have been in power far more than any other sections of this country. Yet the most debilitating forms of poverty, illiteracy, disease and hopeless continue to stalk millions of the populace. Of what use has the tenacious grip on power by the northern oligarchs and political aristocrats been to the millions of poverty stricken households of the north,” he asked.
The activist politician challenged the youths here gathered to refuse to be hoodwinked by the political elite. They (the elite) form alliances among themselves and have a common interest in the plundering of the Nigerian commonwealth. You, also, form your own alliances, build bridges and network of friendships from Port Harcourt to Sokoto, Abakaliki to Maiduguri, Lagos to Asaba through to Kano. Believe in One Nigeria!
“I can see already a very vibrant parliament in this school. So much so that I think you can rightly be called the “Shadow Parliament”. Members of the National Assembly therefore better sit up if they want to keep their jobs come 2019. The government as a whole better begin to think creatively about how to keep Nigeria working well for all Nigerians.”
