By Segun Tomori
Recently, Southern Nigeria Governors met in Asaba and made some far-reaching resolutions on the state of the nation, which is now famously referred to as the “Asaba Declaration”. The meeting coming on the heels of worsening insecurity in the country, agitation by some ethnic jingoists and the unending menace of murderous herdsmen generated nationwide attention. Indeed, the bi-partisan nature of the meeting and the unanimity displayed by the 17 governors showed they meant serious business. Restructuring within the context of true federalism and the ban on open grazing formed the core of the declaration. Major highlights include the clamour for state police, devolution of powers, review of revenue formula in favour of federating units and the need for a national dialogue to discuss the national question.
While the foot-dragging of the governors on financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary is condemnable and runs contrary to the spirit of true federalism to which they clamour, the bulk of their resolutions are actually a cardinal tenet of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to which Gov. El-Rufai- led committee on True Federalism made far-reaching recommendations. One would have expected the leading lights of APC to take advantage of the bipartisan nature of the Asaba declaration, the overwhelming support of the major opposition party to kick-start the process of addressing the issues. Instead, we saw attempts at playing to the gallery and in some quarters, subtle censure of the governors.
The El-Rufai Committee had recommended devolution of powers, resource control, state police, local government autonomy and review of revenue formula in favour of federating units among others.
President Buhari had since given support for local government, state legislature and judiciary autonomy through backing amendment of the statutes and issuing Executive Order 010.
Given the state of the nation in which security and the economy have posed grave challenges, these twin sectors should receive the utmost attention, concurrently.
Despite the rating of Nigeria as the country with the highest GDP in Africa, we are yet to make sufficient efforts to translate that to improved standards of living for the majority of our citizens. Our annual budget of about $35 billion, for instance, is grossly inadequate to cater to the needs of an estimated 220 million Nigerians. South Africa with about 58 million people had a National budget of almost $75bn in 2019 with her Social Protection Programmes reaching 17m of its population
The efforts of the Buhari administration, though novel and commendable, still represent a drop in an ocean and are not adequate to make the required impact.
This is where devolution of powers and resource control come in. Solid minerals and natural resources have no business staying a day longer in the Exclusive list. Almost all states in the country have commercially viable natural resources that can be exploited to create wealth and generate the needed foreign exchange for the country. The present system where states come cap in hand to Abuja to collect federal allocations in the country breeds indolence, runs contrary to the principle of true federalism. Just as the El-Rufai committee proposed, the revenue formula should be reviewed in favour of states since more responsibilities will be added to them.
On state police, the fears of abuse and envisaged excesses by governors is understandable, but like Richie Norton said “To escape fear, you have to go through it, not around it”. For too long we have gone around fear of abuse of state police, we have tried to turn a blind eye to the obviously overstretched and over-centralised Nigeria Police force that has become not only overly inefficient, but largely a conundrum. Like Vice-President Osinbajo stated some years ago, “State Police is an idea whose time has come”. We have to address our fears and overcome it.
One of the ways that can be done is by enacting a legal instrument for the establishment of the State Police Regulatory Commission (SPRC), alongside constitutional amendments that will permit State Police. It would be similar in functions to the Federal Police Service Commission (PSC) but have wider powers to exercise appointive and regulatory functions.
The ban on open grazing though restated by the governors is not new and forms the fulcrum of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) approved by the National Executive Council (NEC). The International Crisis Group (ICG) touts the NLTP as “Nigeria’s most comprehensive effort to date to overhaul the inefficient and grossly underperforming livestock system. At the core is a strategy to curtail migratory or open grazing and thus lower the risk of conflict between herders and farmers” It, therefore, beggars belief that some myopic, self-acclaimed ethnic champions choose to lampoon the ban on pre-historic, nomadic open grazing.
The federal and state governments should move swiftly to fully implement this novel plan so that we can put the perennial farmers-herders clashes behind us.
The convocation of a National Dialogue, a major demand of the Asaba declaration might not be necessary since there is a report of the 2014 National Conference and recommendations of the Gov. El-Rufai -led APC committee on True Federalism. Both reports made far-reaching recommendations that our elected governors and their legislators in the National Assembly can reach a consensus on, instead of wasting scarce resources on another jamboree.
On the issue of separatist agitations, there should be modalities for convening a referendum spelt out in the constitution. It is almost certain that a vast majority of Nigerians want to live together, our differences, notwithstanding. Doing this will take the sail out of the wind of divisive elements, fanning embers of hate and discord.
The Southern Governors have affirmed their commitment to a United Nigeria on the basis of justice, fairness and equity, so must every patriotic Nigerian. Though we have challenges like every other country, we must “listen to ourselves”, like US President Joe Biden often says.
Tomori resides in Abuja
