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| FEATURE ARTICLE |
| Bertram C. Oparaku | Monday, April 24, 2006 |
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[email protected] Houston, TX, USA 
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IRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES
- TIME TO PART WAYS AND BREAK UP NIGERIA?
olumes have been written defining the problem with the nation Nigeria and how to resolve the same but no one is willing to seek genuine reconciliation of our differences in order to assuade all factions and move forward as one nation. Politicians are not listening. Almost all in power have become deaf to the yearnings of the people. No one is willing to get to the root of the problem by addressing the basic fundamental concerns of ALL NIGERIANS. At this juncture I must add that this writer believes in the unity of our nation and that Nigeria stands a better chance of attaining greatness as one undivided nation.
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To start with, everyone thinks of themselves as first, a member of an ethnic group before thinking of himself as a Nigerian. Perhaps rightly so, since the country Nigeria has failed all of us and fallen short of our expectations. Nigeria has no more Nationalists and definitely no great leaders in the likes of our beloved Tafawa Belewa, Awolowo and Azikiwe. There is no generally acceptable national agenda. We have become too different, too tribalised and we have grown apart.
It is almost impossible for the people to revolt or demonstrate against their none-performing government because anyone that begins a protest is likely to be opposed by the people of another ethnic group or in the least, seen as an ethnic militia. The genuine aspirations of the people have thus been scuffled, by incorrectly labeling the revolutionary groups, who are in pursuit of their regional aspirations, as "ethnic militia". Whereas this writer does not sympathize nor agree with the methodology used by these so called "ethnic militia" to achieve their objectives, one realizes that the inherent cause of their agitation is closely tied to the fundamental political and structural problems listed bellow.
The question is, at what point do we call a spade a spade. At what point do we become true to ourselves and re-think, MAYBE WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ONE NATION. When do we sit down together and genuinely negotiate, make compromise and reconcile our differences. And if we are convinced that our differences are irreconcilable, when do we institute the inevitable divorce peacefully or should we wait until after civil wars with their attendant violence and loss of lives to achieve the same inevitable end. Maybe it would be better to let birds of the same feathers flock together. Maybe it would be better to stay apart and survive than to come together and perish. Maybe we will be peaceful as different countries rather than different ethnic groups. The problem is some of us think we cannot survive without each other. True? Who is to say. Maybe we should try or find out. If we cannot survive without one another, why not cherish one another, promote equality and fairness rather than suppress and deny each other.
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Let's pause for a minute and review some of the desires, aspirations and wishes of the various groups, sub-regions and ethnicities that make up the country Nigeria as reflected in the recently concluded National Political Reform Conference. This list is by no means,
exhaustive but is only a summary.
The North East: In favour of the status quo - i.e. a federation with the current 36 states as the federating units. Opposes resources control and state police. Favours increased funding of agriculture and education.
The North West: Wants centralized power with the 36 federating units highly dependent on the center. Opposes resources control and state police.
The North Central:
Also favours the status quo and strong center. Rotational presidency but between North and South beginning from the North. Opposes resources control.
The South East:
Wants restructuring of the federation with the six geopolitical zones as the federating units and the state and local government being totally controlled by the zones. Favours resources control and devolution of power to the federating units.
The South South:
Wants total resources control by the regions or a derivation formula of 25% increasing to 50% to the regions. Favours rotational presidency between the regions starting from the South South. Wants devolution of power and regional/ethnic nationality.
The South West:
True Federalism based on the six geopolitical zones and autonomy for the Yoruba Nation. Decentralization of power to the six federating units. Regional constitution but subject to the supremacy of the federal constitution. Limited power to the center. Regional police and judiciary with broad powers, federal police and judiciary with limited powers. Return to parliamentary system of government.
The Middle Belt:
Although not officially recognized as a sub-region, another subgroup, the Middle Belt, has its own agitations.
The proposed constitutional amendment serves only the interest of a few ethnic regions and selfish interests of those in power. Let me submit to the reader, that until Nigeria learns to carry all of its citizenry along, rather than cater to the interest of a faction of the country or political interest, there will never be a true Nigeria and the danger of breaking up will always loom around. Do our leaders know this? Will they listen and mend their ways as they become informed?
The sad reality, and possibly the greatest hindrance to forming a one united and indivisible Nigeria, is the unwillingness of each of these regions/ethnic groups and their leaders to give up a little of their otherwise genuine aspiration, in the spirit of compromise and negotiating a good faith settlement, in order to forge ahead as one nation. This "winner take all or my way or no way" attitude is one of the major problems facing Nigeria today and will become the eventual cause of the disintegration of our country if not addressed soon.
THE KNOWN STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS OF NIGERIA AS A STATE:
The know structural problems of Nigeria are:
POWER STRUCTURE:
Nigeria is a federation in name only. Power is centralize, perhaps in other to keep the nation as one and avoid regional conflicts and possible break up of the country. In the formation of the United States, 13 original states, that had their respective court systems, legislature, executive, laws and police came together and decided to form a federal government for the purpose of a common defense. The rules of engagement/association with each other, the powers of that federal government (legislative, executive and judiciary) are limited and all spelled out in a negotiated agreement between the federating states reduced in writing and called, "the Constitution". Any power not allocated to the federal government by the constitution is by default, that of the state government.
Our regional and ethnic groups should begin by allocating all powers to themselves, then by agreement, remove some of those powers to the federal government, exclusively or concurrently, and where there is a conflict, make the Federal law supreme. Only then can we call Nigeria, a federation. Again, those who benefit from a strong central government fight against it and those opposed to it agitate for a change. Why not negotiate rather than impose one region's wish on the other. Why not meet each other half way? If the fear is that regional groups could easily break away and declare independence, why not put in place, measures to stop that. Why not, for instance, limit the number of personnel and type of weaponry a regional or local police force could maintain and make them subject to discipline by a federal legislature.
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
The problems with the Nigerian Local Government Areas (County in the United States) is well known and do not need to be restated here. The current structure, creation and management of local governments as currently stated in our constitution is at best, a mess and a major cause of disagreement between the various regions. Some states have too many local governments, some have too few. But the major cause of the disagreement is in revenue allocation. If one region has more local governments than the other, it means more revenue, thus the frenzy in creating more local governments by the states. The solution is simple - copy some of the United States structure/system. Make the local governments independent of the state and federal governments. Spell out the powers and authorities of the local governments, their taxing authorities, elections, offices and criteria to meet in order to become or create a new local government. Then, if 33% of the national revenue is allocated to the local governments and XYZ local government's population is one million or let's say 1% of the Nigerian population, then XYZ local governments should get 1% of the total revenue allocated to all the local governments.
If a state carves out an existing area as a new local government, the population of the local government it was carved out from is proportionately reduced by the population of the new local government. Thus no increase of revenue to that region. This solution of cause assumes proper and accurate census plus on-going registration of deaths and births by the local governments which is attainable (see bellow). Receipt of federal funding should be made contingent on meeting the stipulated rules but a direct charge to the nation's account. This is the correct thing to do, but those who currently benefit from the current disproportionate structure will give their life to retain the status quo. While those who have suffered from this inequity and have been waiting for justice to be done for years are running out of patience. Should we wait until these regions begin to forcefully advocate separation from the state called Nigeria? The tragedy is that those regions that received more funding as a result of more local governments have absolutely nothing to show for it because of mismanagement.
REVENUE ALLOCATION/DERIVATION:
The current formula for revenue allocation is unfair, and a major source of conflict between the various regions of Nigeria. Of what use is "land mass" in determining revenue allocation if the entire region is made up of bodies of water, swamps or desert? Solution? Nothing but population should determine revenue allocation. Accurate census figure of states and local governments, not ethnicity or tribe becomes imperative. Again, if state B has 50% of the Nigerian population, let them have 50% of the allocations to all the states. Of course, a reasonable portion must be set aside for the producing state or region as derivation. If revenue allocation is fair and equitable and based on accurate population figures, if government manages resources well rather than squander the same, states/regions concerned would not mind lower derivation percentage.
Alternatively, let the federal, states and local governments own nothing. Not land, not natural resources, absolutely nothing. Let the lands and the resources from the surface to heaven and from the surface to the middle of the earth's core belong to individuals, not regions or ethnic groups. Individuals are free to sell or contract with companies to extract or produce from the land provided they pay taxes to the various governments. Let the various governments, federal, states and local as taxing authorities, tax the land and the produce of the land, including minerals, oils and agriculture. And let the governments, federal, state and local, reserve the right to condemn parcels of land, for the public good, in order to build roads, hospitals, parks, natural wildlife reserves and the like, provided they pay just compensation to the rightful owners of the land (the power of eminent domain). This is the law of the united states of America.
RELIGION:
The diversity of Nigeria religion wise is obvious. To have one religion impose its beliefs on another as is the case with some Nigerian states that have adopted Sharia laws, is preposterous and definitely a major source of conflict among the regions and ethnicities. In order to coexist, as a nation, to honor and respect each region's religion, everyone should be free to worship whatever, whenever and wherever. To that effect, no government, federal, state or local should pass any law promoting or hindering any religion or the practice thereof. Let the various religious sects discipline its members but government should have no hands in it. It should be made a crime to harm someone or discriminate on the basis of religion.
CITIZENSHIP:
In Nigeria, people seem to confuse and thus use interchangeably, the terms "citizenship" and "Residency". Citizenship should be that of Nigeria and should be determined either by birth in any part of the country or naturalization after fulfilling certain criteria set by the federal government. A citizen of Nigeria should be able to call any part of Nigeria home. Residency on the other hand should be defined as indefinite and continuous living in any part of the country for at least a year. Thus anyone born anywhere can become a resident of any state, town or local government after meeting this residency requirement. A state may deny benefits to people who are passing by or citizens who are not yet residents. This is to make sure the benefits accrue to residents who pay taxes only.
A state or region may not discriminate on its residents on the basis of culture, religious conviction, ethnicity, language or tribe. In addition, one should be able to run for election into any elective office in the city, local government and state of his residence. This is the reason President George W. Bush of the United States was the governor of Texas at the same time that his brother Jeb Bush was the governor of The State of Florida.
LAND/PROPERTY OWNERSHIP:
Nigeria should make up its mind whether it wants to follow the British monarchy and parliamentary system of government, with imperial kingdom, or the American federal system of government with supremacy in the constitution. This quasi-federal, quasi parliamentary system in place right now is a disaster. The land use act seems to mimic the British system of land ownership, in which the absolute title rests in the Monarchy. Individuals can own/lease property but subject to the absolute power of her majesty to revoke or refuse to renew the lease. This allows the imperial power to withdraw land ownership and title of those considered oppositionists.
I opine that the American system is a better system because it espouses freedom by recognizing individual fee simple ownership of land without the threat of withdrawal of such ownership by the government, at least not without due process. Let ownership of land, from the center of the earth bellow to the heavens above belong to individuals, institutions or private entities. Government should retain only the right to tax property and the products/produce from such property and the power of eminent domain. The criteria the government should meet before condemning private property must be spelled out and just compensation must be paid to the owner before taking it. Government must never take from one and give to another but can only take for the benefit of the general public, for instance, to construct roads.
IMPROPER CENSUS:
Undoubtedly, prior census conducted in Nigeria had been inaccurate and sometimes manipulated to archive higher figures in certain regions to suit the interest of the government then in power. It is a known fact that because of lopsided and inaccurate census figures, some local governments have a few hundred people, while others have millions of people. Kano for example has 44 local Government Areas while Lagos State has only 22. Has Kano twice the population of Lagos? Yet local government is a basis for distribution of the National revenue. Also because of inaccurate census figures, some members of the national assembly represent a few hundred individuals, while some represent millions.
Kano and Jigwa together have more representatives in the National Assembly than the entire states in the South East region put together. Does the population of Kano and Jigwa together exceed that of the five states of the South East region? Highly unlikely, but perhaps so. Then again, perhaps not. Only an accurate census can determine this. Yet each member of the National Assembly can have only one vote. The result is a situation where possibly the views of a minority is carried out each time in the legislature when the majority should carry the vote in a true democracy.
A proper and accurate head count is imperative and a precursor to the solution of some, if not most of the problems listed in this article. The modalities put in place by the National Population Commission for the just concluded 2006 census (finger print verification, satellite imagery, GPS technology, etc.), if properly implemented, should result in accurate census figures. Animals could not be counted and double counting of people will be eliminated with fingerprint technology. Moreover, with satellite imagery, one cannot allocate a million people to a village with just ten houses. Whatever figure that comes out of this should however be used as a base census number.
Anyone not counted should go to their local government headquarters and fill out the same form for onward transmission to the NPC. The NPC should then subject the forms to the same safeguards for accuracy and update the census figures yearly. Further, it must be made mandatory to obtain death certificates and a crime to burry anyone without a death certificate. Death Certificates must be issued by Local Government Headquarters free of charge and within hours of applying for the same. Likewise, every birth must be registered. As part of the registration of death and birth, a simple one page application form with fingerprint provisions can be filled out and a copy forwarded to the NPC. The NPC will again, use this information to update the country's census figures yearly.
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL PROBLEMS OF NIGERIA
Political and governmental problems of Nigeria are numerous and include: Bribery and corruption, reckless disregard for the rule of law and the constitution, gross mismanagement of public funds, improper use of state security forces, election rigging, inadequate infrastructure, irregular power supply, violation of fundamental human rights, selective prosecution and double standard etc. Of all these political problems, the worst among them is improper or no elections since there cannot be true democracy without the mandate of the people. The solution to Nigeria's election problem is simple and can be solved by taking the following steps:
Each of these structural and political problems of Nigeria feed into one another and some are as a result of the other. Those who are disfavored by the structural and political problems of Nigeria continue to agitate for its correction. Those who are favored vehemently oppose change and want the status quo. A compromise is necessary and if no compromise is attainable, let us peacefully break up Nigeria now, rather than wait for catastrophic wars.
The truth is very simple - as long as the above listed regional and ethnic differences are not reconciled, as long as the known structural and political problems of our country listed above are not addressed, in the words of the late Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, "There will be wars and rumors of war". Journalists have written volumes on these, but is anyone listening? No! The proposed constitutional amendment does not even begin to address the agitations of the various regions let alone the structural and political problems, supra. Instead, the reverse seems to be the case. If this marriage is not working, maybe it is time to declare irreconcilable differences and initiate a divorce. If so, let's break up Nigeria peacefully, negotiate our boundaries and part our ways rather than wait for violent civil wars and loss of lives to accomplish the same. It is only a matter of time.
Only a fool would think it can be business as usual forever, without consequences. Only a fool can think that injustice and inequity can continue indefinitely and the aggrieved would not revolt. Only a fool can think he can impose himself and his sectarian wishes on the rest of the masses forever with out repercussions. One last note: Nigeria has remained one country partly because the world super powers have consistently stayed on the side of a united one Nigeria. As peace and stability continues to elude Nigeria, as the global price of oil continues to rise, it is only a mater of time before a world superpower, perhaps in order to have better prospects at getting cheaper oil, re-aligns itself with one of the disgruntled regions of Nigeria. Then all hell will break loose. Remember Russia versus The United States and the Taliban in 1970s Afghanistan? He, who has ears, let him hear.
The author, Bertram C. Oparaku is a licensed attorney in active practice and the Senior Partner at The Law Chambers of Bertram C. Oparaku and Associates in Houston, Texas.