ABUJA—FORMER Vice chancellor of the
Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has picked holes in comments of
some leaders that Nigeria as a country is indivisble and warned that the unity
of the nation should not be taken for granted.
Speaking at the 90th birthday ceremony of elder stateman,
Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark in Abuja, yesterday, he queried the position of
those who hold the view that the nation must remain as an entity despite
evident discontents in many parts of the country.
Professor Abdullahi said opposed the implementation of the
2014 National Conference, which he described as illegal, said: “I will like to
convey the apparent concern over what I have had from people I have known for
decades now about the future of the country. At some point, I got angry and
sometime I repeat this when the chairman (of the occasion, Gen Ike Nwachukwu)
said that this country is indivisible, indissoluble and so on.
“I ask them, who said so? People who sat down and wrote
the constitution, who told you that countries are not dissoluble? So many
countries that started as one have been dissolved. Example is India, which
started as one in 1948 and by the following year it was India and
Pakistan. By the next three years, it became Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Only recently, the so called oldest democracy in the world, Britain, had a
referendum from Scotland where Scotland wanted to opt out.
“I come from Kaduna State, the population according to the
2006 census puts us at 6.3 million. And if you look at the resources that come
from the so called federation account to Kaduna, it is one quarter of what
Delta gets. So, what do we expect in terms of resource allocation and
collection? You expect four times the kind of development that should happen in
Kaduna in the Delta.
“If you check the recent budget that has been approved by the
various state governments in the country, I did an exercise on this recently
and found that the budgets of the states in the Niger Delta is equal to the
entire 19 Northern states put together. And this is a fact you cannot take
away, so where is the money, who has it?”
Indeed, Professor Abdullahi’s comments came on a day that
clamour for restructuring of Nigeria re-vibrated at the National Discourse held
in honour of Chief Clark. Prominent Nigerians at the event insisted that
restructuring ad true federalism were the surest path to the unity and
development of the country.
Most of the speakers were resolute that Nigeria would remain
as an indissoluble entity but with federating states controlling their
resources.
The discourse was themed: “Restructuring, true Federalism and
Resource Control, Panacea for enduring peace and sustainable development in
Nigeria.”
Unless states control resources, govs won’t work – Attah
Former governor of Alwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah opened
discussions, maintaining that restructuring the country was the only way the
country could move forward.
Attah said that for any structure to endure or make any claim
to permanence, it must be set on a solid foundation, adding that Nigeria was
set on a very solid foundation by the founding fathers and has every reason to
claim endurance and permanence provided no one interferes with or damages the
foundation.
“If we must be honest, we must accept the fact that our
current problem stems from only one thing, the sad fact that we had abandoned
our industry, our entrepreneurial spirit, our agriculture, everything and
drowned ourselves in the false belief that oil and oil alone could sustain us
and develop the entire country.
“There is no governor today that will lift a finger or put
himself out to diversify when every month he can come to Abuja to collect his
share of the booty. The only reason he would diversify is if he knows that the
survival of his state depends on it.
“A governor who knows that the only means of survival for his
state is if oil and gas continue to flow through those pipelines will take
every possible measure to protect them. But he can only do that with his state
police.
“In a true federalism, a governor would gladly invest in the
potentials of another state to generate income for his state and this indeed
used to happen. We must now go back to all the things that we used to do in the
past that kept us alive, vibrant and prosperous; all the things that made for
competitive and rapid development of the country.”
Let’s implement 2014 confab —Ike Nwachukwu
On his part, Chairman of the occasion and a former Minister
of External Affairs, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, said that the recommendations of
the 2014 National Conference addressed most of the problems facing the country
that would foster peace and unity of the country, which included restructuring
and true federalism.
He said that the founding fathers of the country opted for
true federalism but that his generation had cost the country all the pains and
disorder.
He said the nation’s economy was in comatose and that the
country had suffered in recent times which has affected her economic growth,
adding that the country has not been honest with her population.
“Looking at the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference,
one cannot but recommend the implementation of the 2014 National Conference
report to our people and the government of Nigeria. It is therefore,
abundantly evident that Nigeria has natural and human resources to become one
of the most developed countries in the world.”
Nigeria is a failed state —Nwodo
President- General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, in
his remarks, said that the future of Nigeria remained bleak “unless Nigerians
come to the table to discuss Nigeria truthfully.”
He said: “Almost every Nigerian agreed that Nigeria is not
working but there is no clear consensus on why or on what to do about it. Some
say that it is merely a problem of leadership and once that is fixed all other
things will fall in place. Others say that it is a problem of corruption, once
you tackle that, everything will be fine. Others have said that our problem is
one of law and order, some say it is more fundamental and has to do with
control of resources, structure of the federation and thus requires more equitable
sharing of revenue and the devolution of powers.
“Our political system is jaundiced, unfair, exploitative and
unsustainable. Since attainment of independence, the civilians have not been
able to agree on a political structure. Our present constitution and the
previous 1979 constitution were impositions of the military – an
unrepresentative and dictatorial corps whose decrees were seriously influenced
by the lop-sidedness of their composition.
“On the global Terrorism Index, Nigeria ranks 3rd after Iraq
and Afghanistan and ahead of Pakistan and Syria. The World Economic Forum
ranks Nigeria 127 out of 138 on the Global Competitiveness Index. The UNESCO
ranks Nigeria with Chad, Pakistan and Ethiopia as the worst educational system
in the world. Nigeria, according to the report, has the highest number of
children out of school and one of the world’s worst education systems due to a
combination of corruption, conflict and lack of investment.
“In the Human Development Index of the United Nations
Development Program, Nigeria ranks 152 out of 188 countries and is the lowest
among OPEC countries. The data points to a bleak future as we march to post-oil
world without a coherent plan to reduce conflict and build a new national
consensus.
“On the positive side, there is a global consensus that
Nigeria is highly potentiated. With a population of about 182 million people,
by current estimates; and with our vast mineral and material resources; a
well-organized Nigeria should be a land of plenty that supports its people and
a leader in the comity of nations. Sadly, this is not the case.”
Those opposing restructuring want to reap what they didn’t
sow – Odumakin
Also speaking, spokesperson, Afenifere, Mr Yinka
Odumakin, took a swipe at those opposing the calls for restructuring of
the country, saying that those against the moves were only interested in
reaping from where they did not sow.
He also took a swipe at Professor Ango Abdullahi saying that
he had no moral justification to dismiss the 2014 National Conference as
illegal.
“Elders have the duty to tell the truth at all time. Prof
Abdullahi said he attended the 2005 conference convoked by Obasanjo and
we know that delegates to that conference were not elected,in fact the
composition of that conference was not in anywhere representative as the 2014
conference as the delegates were picked by only Obasanjo and the governors.”
Making a case for restructuring, he lamented that “if
nationhood has not eluded us, our conversation would have moved beyond these
issues to fundamental discourse about our advancement in the global community
with competitive edge that would have flown from our endowment, the way
individuals among us have gone ahead to beat the rest of the world in different
areas of human endeavour.’’
Reaping without sowing
Odumakin continued: “I am of the full persuasion that
resource ownership is a key ingredient of federalism. The reason why it is
opposed in Nigeria and we are locked in this perpetual feud over the oil of
Niger Delta and the VAT of Lagos is the culture of reaping without sowing.
“Prof Abdullahi said that Delta collects more money than many
states in the North and his shock absorbers were falling off when last he drove
to the state because of bad roads. We will do audit with Delta but we need to ask
how much those who collect lesser than Delta are bringing to the sharing table.
The data of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of some states and what they
shared from the Federation Account between June 2015 and May 2016 may be
useful here:
STATE
IGR.
FAAC
ALLOCATION
Yobe.
N2.2b.
N57b
Zamfara.
N2.7b.
N56b
Kebbi.
N3.5b.
N64.8b
Borno.
N3.5b.
N78.7b
Nassarawa.
N4.4b.
N50.5b
Gombe.
N4.7b.
N49.8b
Jigawa.
N5b.
N73b
“Most of the IGR are also taxes collected from salaries paid
from Abuja allocations. This is the best these states can have because they
have refused to see the better possibilities under a restructured polity with
every section of the country engaged in productive activities if we freed Solid
Minerals from the Exclusive List.
“I have also heard arguments promoted by people like Alahaji
Tanko Yakassai, that those who advocate restructuring want to deny the North
two advantages they are using to harvest revenue in Abuja, population. So there
is no better use for land ,a critical factor of production than using it to
hustle for funds in Abuja? The land mass of Netherlands is lesser than that of
Niger State but it is the second largest exporter of agriculture after the USA.
“China is the most populous country in the world and they are
working with millions spread across the world making money with their skills.
There is no credible census in Nigeria but let us agree you are more populous,
why don’t you train your population productivity and let them earn money
instead of using it as advantage to reap where you did not sow?
“We are fighting bitterly for “our power” at every
election over oil gas revenue without realizing that it cannot make us
prosperous because it is just too small. The culture of indolence has blocked
good economic sense. A country like Ireland has a population of 4.6m with
a GDP of $23b while Nigeria with 200m people has a GDP of $481b.Ireland has no
oil and gas.
“Between June 2015 and July 2016, Nigeria received $3.4b on
oil and gas while Disneyland made $13.8b in the corresponding period .New York
Fire Service Department is spending $1.9b in the year 2017. Yet we have an
untapped annual N50trn annual economy we are not tapping because of command and
control for hegemonic domination.
“There is Silver and Wolfamite in Kano,Kaduna,Bauchi
and Niger. Manganese in Bauchi, Katsina;Talc in Yobe and Kaduna; Silica in
Jigawa and Kano; Diatomite in Yobe and Phosphate in Sokoto among others. The South
West, South East and South are blessed with diverse resources that are untapped
because Abuja is a drag.
“What restructuring means is that we should become a
productive country with prosperity spread all over our entity .It is only those
who think they can prosper only in inequity that will continue to oppose this.”
Also, former Minister of Science and Technology, Prof Turner
Isoun, flayed Ango for saying that the issue should be about resource
management and not resource control.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that
if Nigeria as a country must get it and improve on the welfare of the people,
Nigeria as a country must restructure its federal structure.
He spoke Wednesday night at the 90th Birthday Gala Night in
honour of Chief Clark in Abuja.
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