Federalism is the answer, after all

Incidentally, Nigeria registered 61 years as an independent country this year.

As if it were to be, this 61st edition of our editorial plea for the country’s return to a federal state structure concludes the remarkable series on “Federalism is the answer, after all.”

Last year we started with the knowledge that Nigeria was suffering from a “state crisis” and the belief that it could be cured with a federal recipe. Our conviction has not changed. Truly, the “sick man of Africa” ​​can be saved if those responsible have the political will to do so.

In his absence, the patient could die. Our wish is that she live and be an entity with abundant life and a bastion of peace and justice. But the ruling elite, which by omission and commission brought the country to its knees, should not take the country for granted.

At the Center for Constitutionalism and Demilitarization’s first annual democracy conference in 2003, titled “Remapping the Nation: National Boundaries and Normative Bounds,” Professor Adebayo Williams, then of the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, in the United States, addressed the question, “When is a nation?” The scholar then argued that nations are not permanent entities.

As historical constructions; they change over time, in other words, due to irreconcilable contradictions, they can fade into history. In his words: “The history of the modern nation-state is filled with nations that have vanished, nations without accompanying states, and states claiming to rule over non-existent nations.

Since the start of this series, we have dissected the federal characteristics of the Nigerian state and highlighted the fact that they make a federal constitutional arrangement not only attractive but good for our country. It is a real basis for unleashing the creativity of our peoples and leading the development of the country.

Throughout the series, we have made it clear that the country is suffering from a state crisis and that the battle for Nigeria is to “restore the freedom to component units to chart the course of development in their respective enclaves.” Those who plant yam should harvest yam, and those who plant rice should harvest rice and should not be impoverished despite their natural resources.

We have resolved the misunderstanding surrounding the restructuring proposal, however worded it may be. It signifies a return of the country to federal status before the promulgation of Decree No. 34 of 1966 and dispels the fear that restructuring will balkanize the country and on the contrary strengthen democracy and launch the country on the path of economic development. We recognized the growing clamor for a return to federalism and the need to seize the opportunity to return the country to a federal state structure without further delay, urging supporters that there is everything to be gained but on the contrary, everything. to loose.

We underlined the need to respect the heterogeneity of the country and put forward the fact that the country is not functioning and that the administration in place should resort to the reports of the national conference of 2014, including the committee of the Congress of all the progressives led by El-Rufai on restructuring to reconfigure the country and make history. Likewise, we address the merits of federalism, the counterproductive arguments of the protagonists of a unitary state system and the persistent contradictions of governance in the country.

We also highlighted the federal characteristics of our country which make the call for federalism reasonable. We noted the call for the restructuring of elements of the interior of the state, especially the south-south governors and in support, we argued that we could solve much of our problem with the devolution of power within a federal constitutional framework. We have repeatedly reminded the ruling party to reconsider the content of its manifesto, which promised to restructure and to note that constitution making is a well-known path that should not be a problem for change. social in our country.

In the soap opera, we drew the attention of the Buhari administration to the growing insecurity in the country and the failure of governance, which could be alleviated if the country was reconfigured on the path of federalism. We underlined the merits of the Republican Constitution of 1963 which was federal and which could be emulated to chart a federal constitutional course for the country. We have pointed out the growing contradictions of the state and the corresponding consequences, namely, the incessant killings, kidnappings, corruption, the impoverishment of the population and the failing health of the country, pathologies on which the Financial Times s ‘is also focused and suggested a Lean Condition. structure. Nevertheless, we expressed the hope that, despite all the contradictions, our country is redeemable. We focused on the layers of state security architecture, in particular the efforts of incumbent state actors to smear the call for state police with a central structure, so called the police. community. Subverting the real call for state re-federalization is not the answer but federalism.

In addition to internal contradictions, we have used externalities to make our arguments in favor of federalism. In this regard, we reflected on the feasibility of ordering the U.S. Federal Constitution despite the Jan.6, 2021 assault on Capitol Hill, which is still under consideration by Congress. The Ethiopian civil war over Tigrayan autonomy is focused on to draw our attention to the consequences of the mismanagement of diversity.

We also discussed the ambivalence of the Nigerian Presidency on the issue of federalism and addressed the stalemate between Ondo State and the Federal Government on the responsibility for security following the state government’s proactive action. d’Ondo to push back the Fulani herdsmen who invaded the state perceived by the people of that state as land grabbing and warned the Buhari administration against the delay in security, especially when his parents are at the heart of it. We have argued that leadership is not just Nigeria’s problem, but rather lies in the politics of domination that undermines the diversity of the country. The non-inclusiveness in changing department heads was also affected and we argued that the President missed an opportunity to incorporate the federal character of the Nigerian state as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution as ‘amended. The president’s extension of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) term violates the 2020 Police Act he promulgated. We have observed that the method of appointment of the presidency borders on nepotism and undermines the momentum towards true federalism in the country.

We also noted that the abduction of secondary school children in Kiagara, Niger State, highlighted the failure of the overly centralized and ethnically distorted security architecture in the country and called for the transfer of some security responsibilities to the state. We have drawn attention to how the excessive centralization of the state undermines the cultural expression of the constituent nationalities of the Nigerian state. Most importantly, we assessed the resource endowments of the 36 states in the federation and argued that with a true federal order, perhaps every state could survive and prosper. Likewise, we have asserted that the need to rethink the distribution of income in the country in a way that truly reflects fiscal federalism is addressed, among other issues.

All we have done in this series is a walk of empiricism with idealism in the hope that the ruling elite will be well advised to act to preserve the unity of the country based on inclusiveness and respect for diversity, based on democratic principles. As the famous American scholar Samuel Huntington put it in his 1968 book, Political Order in Changing Societies, “The truly powerless society is not threatened by revolution but incapable of doing so. Today our society is threatened by disorder and the failure of governmentality, and in Huntington’s sense, “violence is democratized, politics demoralized, society at odds with itself.” Nevertheless, we have once again put on the table like our ancestors the recipe for saving a faltering country, it is up to the state actors in place to seize the opportunity and put the country back on the path of federalism. As we aptly titled this series, federalism is the answer, after all. This is an edition to say ’61 Hearty Cheers to The Guardian’s 61 Federalist Texts. ‘

Concluded.