- Says Real Progress Lies In True Federalism, Good Governance and Security
Prof. Omajuwa Igho Natufe, a Nigerian-born political scientist, Sovietologist and a specialist in International Relations and Soviet/ Russian Foreign Policy, says restoration of true federalism and good governance are critical for Nigeria to make a reasonable progress in the comity of nations.
The renowned scholar and academic notes that, “to restructure a political system is to reform its components and redefine the relationships governing the powers and responsibilities of all levels of government.”
“Especially in a supposedly federal system like Nigeria, such a restructuring is expected to recognize the exclusive jurisdictions of the federating units in critical sectors of industry and the economy, as evidenced in the 1963 Constitution,” Natufe said.
However, he admits that resistance to reforming Nigeria’s governing system “has been very loud, as the opposition perceives restructuring as a code name for the dissolution of Nigeria.”
“In fact, those arguing for 54 or more states in Nigeria and opposed to restructuring are primarily concerned about forfeiting their fiscal benefits of the current distorted federal system that allows them to collect monthly stipends from Abuja,” he said.
Dr Natufe, 80, who is President General of the Okpe Union Worldwide, delivered the speech, via Zoom, in Lagos on Saturday, May 18, 2024, during the 94th anniversary of Okpe Union, held at the Okpe Union House in Obalende, Lagos. The one-day event, graced by members of the union from all branches in Nigeria and Diaspora, also attracted a sizable audience from all walks of life in and outside Nigeria.
Natufe is an alumnus of the People’s Friendship University of Russia; a former university professor of Political Science (University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, 1978-1980, and the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, 1980-1989); and a senior advisor to the Government of Canada (1970-1978 and 1989-2011).
The author of ‘Soviet policy in Africa: from Lenin to Brezhnev’ (Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, Inc, 2011), Natufe has published books, contributed articles to scholarly and professional journals, and delivered papers and participated in seminars, workshops and discussion sessions on diverse topics across the globe.
Natufe, also a Ph.D. holder in International Politics, McGill University, joined the Institute on March 1, 2013, for a year for doing research into the Russian-Nigerian relations, Russian policy in North Africa, and policy of the great powers in Africa.
Prof. Natufe, at the Okpe Union anniversay, spoke at length on leadership in Nigeria, and security of Nigerians, declaring that the country “is facing an existential crisis engineered by the failure of its leaders to successfully grapple with the problems of nation-building in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious polity.”
“Over the past two decades, the federal government has systematically forfeited its responsibility of safeguarding the well-being and security of Nigerians, as Fulani herdsmen, bandits and terrorists have become a parallel government in the country, especially in several communities in the northern states of Nigeria where kidnapping, raping and killing of thousands of persons, with some of them be-headed and burnt alive, have become an accepted practice,” Natufe said.
“Several indigenous ethnic nationalities in central Nigeria, especially in Benue and Plateau states, have been forced into internal refugee camps, as invading Fulani herdsmen, bandits and terrorists have seized their farmlands and villages,” he added.
Natufe also spoke about mismanagement, embezzlement of the wealth of the nation and impoverishment of the citizens, stressing that, “This leadership failure is replicated in all 36 states of the Federation and the 774 local government councils, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.”
“The challenges that confront us in Nigeria are located in the gross failure of two mutually-reinforcing properties that have conspired to mismanage and embezzle the wealth of the nation, and impoverish the citizens in the process,” he said.
“These are the elected/appointed political leaders and traditional rulers that constitute the ruling politico-military class. The second category consists of a proportion of the citizenry that is vociferous in its defence of corrupt politico-military leaders at all levels of government.
“The critique of poor leadership by the conscious citizenry is dismissed as ‘dissident’ and ‘mischievous’ by the politico-military class, a stratagem to silence reason and logic in policy formulation and to impose anti-democratic regime in the polity.
“The ruling governing parties, at local, state, and federal levels, irrespective of their ideological stripes, employ scores of senior special advisers, whose primary assignment is to literally expel the bearers of objective criticism from the public space, by tagging them as the ‘enemies’ of the state.”
Pondering over the various problems affecting the country, Natufe accuses the politico-military class in power since 1966 of jettisoning the federal principles of the 1963 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in favour of a unitary political system.
His words: “Prior to independence in 1960, the demand for state creation for Nigeria’s ethnic minority nationalities was meant to restructure the polity by freeing them from the marginalisation which they faced in each of the three regions dominated by the tripodal hegemony.
“This issue was the key theme at a post-Richards national constitutional conference convened in Ibadan in January 1950 under Governor John MacPherson. The politico-military class in power since 1966 has jettisoned the federal principles of the 1963 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in favour of a unitary political system, even though they christened the 1999 constitution a federal republican constitution.
“Ironically, the United Kingdom, a unitary system, possesses more federalism compliant institutions than a supposedly Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“For example, political parties in the United Kingdom are federalism compliant unlike the military imposed command system that defines the form and content of Nigerian political parties. This military imposed command system has permeated all levels of governance, including the state and local governments.”
On the role of democrats in distorting the country’s federal system, Natufe says elected civilian governments (1979-1983; and since 1999) failed to address the issue in a meaningful way to halt the various centrifugal forces in the country.
“While it may be fashionable to condemn the military regimes for restructuring Nigeria via their respective state creation exercises between 1967 and 1996, it is most disturbing that the elected civilian governments (1979-1983; and since 1999) have failed to address the issue in a meaningful way to halt the various centrifugal forces in the country.” Natufe said.
“For example, their refusal to restore the 1963 Republican Constitution and jettison the 1999 Constitution, which is essentially a militarised command-system constitution, can only be construed as a rejection of renewed federalism,” he added.
On creation of states, Natufe notes that the imposed exercise on the country by various military dictatorships (1967, 1976, 1987, 1991, and 1996) merely balkanized the three major ethnic groups – Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo – into states. “Thus, by military fiat, the Hausa/Fulani have 10 states, the Yoruba have 7, and the Igbo have 5. This military fiat must be discarded,” Natufe said.
He queried: “If we recognise that all indigenous ethnic nationalities are equal federating units of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, then on what basis was these three ethnic groups balkanized into several states, respectively, and thereby establishing power disequilibrium in the polity?
“This creates an undue access to power for these ethnic nationalities in terms of multiple federal ministerial and board appointments to each of them, compared to, for instance, 1 federal ministerial appointment for the entire 40 ethnic nationalities in Plateau State or 1 for the entire 10 ethnic nationalities in Delta State. Is this George Orwell’s Animal Farm hierarchy the basis for Nigeria’s renewed federalism?”
As a framework for a restructured federal Nigeria, Natufe insists on the creation of homogeneous federating states for the 15 most populous ethnic nationalities that have contiguous boundaries, respectively, creation of a maximum of 15 heterogeneous (multi-ethnic) federating states for the other ethnic nationalities and a Charter of Rights and Freedoms protecting minority rights.
‘”If the proposed homogeneous and heterogeneous federating units are rejected in favour of the existing 36 states, then it is recommended that a distinct ethnic nationality occupying a defined contiguous territory, like, in alphabetical order, the Bini, Itsekiri, Nupe, and Okpe, for example, be classified as an autonomous region with due constitutional jurisdictions to exercise concurrent jurisdiction with the state over natural resources in its territory; but shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over primary and secondary education, culture, language, and traditional institutions,” he said.
Looking back, Natufe says, “Another proposition, which appeals to Okpe, is the 18-regional structure prescribed in the PRONACO People’s Constitution of August 2006, where the Isoko, Okpe, and Urhobo ethnic nationalities are grouped in one region to be known as either ISOKPU or ISOKPEHOBO Region.”
“Each of the three (3) ethnic nationalities shall be classified as an autonomous area with due constitutional jurisdictions to exercise concurrent jurisdiction with the state over natural resources in its territory; but shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over primary and secondary education, culture, language, and traditional institutions,” he said.
Natufe launches a crusade towards changing the revenue allocation formula, saying, “In all of the above proposed frameworks, the revenue allocation formula shall be 50% derivation; 20% Federal Government; and 30% to the Federation Distributable Pool.”
He also recommends the Chinese treatment in dealing with convicted corrupt officials in Nigeria, as the most effective method of waging the war against corruption, emphasising that, “restructuring by itself does not guarantee an end to marginalisation in Nigeria.”
“In each local government area and in each state across Nigeria, there are communities marginalised out of the mainstream by leaders and political parties comprised of members of the same ethnic and religious groups, for example, in Delta State and in Okpe Nation,” he said.
“What we have is poor governance across all levels of government, including the traditional system, anchored on massive corruption. Therefore, we recognise that restructuring by itself is never a panacea for good governance, as long as corruption remains the mainstay of Nigerian political culture.”
Natufe advises Nigerians to recognize the tenets of federalism as contained in the 1963 Constitution. “If restructuring is to succeed in Nigeria, there must be a universal recognition of the tenets of federalism as contained in the 1963 Constitution,” he said.
“Assuming that we agree on the prerequisites for restructuring, then a key question to be resolved is on the number of states (federating units) in a renewed Nigerian federalism. Given that Nigeria is a collection of indigenous ethnic nationalities, it is the view of the Okpe Union that a restructured Nigerian federalism must reflect this imperative,” Natufe added.