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Panel discussing
Restructuring Nigeria – ARISE TV
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The Group of Southern
Leaders of Thought, an association of elder statesmen, have said a negotiated
restructuring, implemented through a new Constitution, is the best assurance
for the realization of one Nigeria.
PREMIUM
TIMES report continues:
At
a press conference in Lagos, Thursday, the group, led by Professor of Law, Ben
Nwabueze, said although a majority of Nigerians are committed to the
indivisibility of the country, they need to be given an opportunity to
negotiate the conditions.
“In
our circumstances as a country, with a vast expanse of territory, comprising a
great diversity of ethnic nationalities, with divergent interests and outlooks,
it seems generally agreed that a federal system, truly so-called, is the system
appropriate to our situation,” the group said in a joint statement at the end
of their meeting.
“We
therefore conceive restructuring as requiring, modified as necessary, the restoration
or re-establishment of the kind of federalism that existed under our 1960/1963
Constitutions. That is the central object or purpose of restructuring.
‘In
more explicit words, the essential purpose of restructuring is to enable the
component ethnic nationalities, grouped together by affinity of
culture/language or territorial contiguity, to govern themselves in matters of
internal concern, leaving matters of common concern, not overwhelmingly
extensive in their range, to be managed under a central government constituted
in such manner as to ensure that it is not dominated by any one group or a
combination of them.
“And
above all, to ensure justice, fairness and equity to all in the management of
matters of common concern. It assures an optimal measure of self-determination
or self-government consistent with the territorial sovereignty of the country.”
Members
of the group include Emeka Anyaoku; Ayo Adebayo; Kimse
Okooko; Alani Akinrinade; Ndubuisi Kanu; Ike Nwachukwu;
and Donald Duke.
Others
are Victor Attah; Gbenga Daniel; Solomon Asemota; Kalu
Idika Kalu and Pat Utomi.
On
the issue of self-determination, the group noted that it does not connote
independent government, but the right of each group, within the
territorial sovereignty of the country as one state, to govern itself in matters
that concern it alone.
“As,
for example, local government matters which is an example par excellence of a
matter of local concern (local government in a village in Hausa land should not
be the business of an Igbo man); the election of elective public functionaries
in a Region or Zone – governors and members of legislative assemblies and local
government councils; etc.
“The
term ‘self-government’ expresses the essence of restructuring in our
understanding of it. To reiterate, self-government requires that the
ethnic nationalities, grouped together by reference to culture/language and
geographical contiguity, should be enabled to govern themselves in matters that
concern them alone, within the sovereignty of a central government common to
all, with powers appropriately circumscribed.”
The
group stated that among the factors that impair the objective of true
federalism in Nigeria, the most crushing is the over-concentration of political
power and financial resources in the federal government “far far beyond what
they were under the 1960/63 Constitutions.”
“The
result of the accretions of power to the centre, either by direct grant by the
constitution or by perverse interpretation of its provisions, is to alter the
power relations between it (the centre) and the states so significantly as to
change the character of the system quite substantially from a federal to a
unitary system,” the group continued.
“The
system remains federal largely in name. Re-visiting the Exclusive and
Concurrent Legislative Lists under the 1963 Constitution, we think that the
powers of the federal government thereunder should be further reduced in the
several respects, indicated in our Position Paper.
“The
over-concentration of financial resources and relations in the federal
government affronts true federalism in no less a grievous degree.
“An
arrangement whereby every month officials of the state governments, including
quite often the state governor himself, go, cap-in-hand, as it were, to Abuja
for their share of the money in the federation account disbursed or paid out to
them by officials of the federal government as paymaster is a negation of true
federalism; it simply caricatures true federalism.”
The
group maintained that restructuring cannot be implemented by constitution
amendment, noting that a new constitution should be adopted by the people at a
referendum to be led by the president or an elected leader.
“It
is sad that, while a clamour for restructuring is reaching a crescendo and is
sweeping across the country, the National Assembly is still regaling us with
talks about constitution amendment, and is buttressing its position by the
erroneous assertion that the 1999 Constitution can only be amended or altered
(sections 8 and 9), but cannot be abolished and replaced by a new constitution.
“By
taking this untenable position, the National Assembly makes itself a big
obstacle in the way of restructuring.
“The
view that the 1999 Constitution can only be amended or altered but cannot be
completely abolished and replaced by a new constitution is erroneous because it
fails to take account of the fact that the 1999 Constitution is only a Schedule
to a Decree, Decree 24 of 1999.
“That
Decree is an existing law under Section 315 of the 1999 Constitution and, like
all existing laws within federal competence, can be repealed by the National
Assembly. Upon the repeal of the Decree, the 1999 Constitution completely
disappears from existence.”
The rest of the members of the group are Elliot Ugochukwu-Ukoh; Tony Killa; Harry Akande; Promise Adewusi; Sola Ehindero; Akin Oyebode; Adewale Adeoye; Chigozie Ubani; and Olawale Okunniyi.
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