Federal 2016 budget reinforcing federal-unitary contraption

By Polycarp Onwubiko

The contents of the federal government 2016 budget depicted that President Muhammadu Buhari is still adamant on the clarion call from the southern parts of the country for the restructuring of the lopsided federation to reinvent proper fiscal and true federalism. Instead of recognizing the root cause of disparate cries for marginalization, militancy in the Niger Delta and reinvention of Biafra agitation, the President was simply reinforcing the abhorrent “federal-unitary” contraption in the name of federal practice which led to centralization of MDA’s, which entrenched deep-seated corruption, collapse of the sectors of the economy and intractable insecurity in all the nooks and crannies of the apparently accursed country.
The budget speech contained declarations indicative of the facts that the President has spite for the realistic prescription that will frontally address the problems of the country which is lopsided federation since corruption is its off-shoot. The founding fathers of Nigerian nation were wise to have adopted federal system of government in view of the pluralistic contour of the society.  It was the vaulting ambition of the Northern Moslems to lord it over other ethnic groups that led to the bastardization of federal system to impose the “federal-unitary contraption. It was this uncivilized mindset that led to electoral malfeasance which enabled the then Northern People’s Congress [NPC] to control the federal government; and the unfolding events precipitated western crises and Nigeria-Biafra war.The creation of greater number of states and local governments in the north by the military regime did not care for the grievance of ethnic groups in the south.  The devious strategy was to dominate in the federal legislature and funnel greater revenues in the Federation Account to the north.
  In the military imposed 1999 constitution brazenly being panel beaten in the lopsided national assembly,[as legislators from the south are in the minority even as some of them are sell-outs], provisions were entrenched which made it a virtual impossibility to create additional states and local government councils in the south especially in the south-eastern states.
In the concurrent legislative list in the constitution, the notion that the federal and state governments could make laws and policies and implement them has proved to be a farce. For instance, state governments have never been allowed to implement their laws and policies on education. State owned universities and polytechnics are not allowed to conduct entrance examinations and give admissions to the candidates. The establishment of JAMB was a violation of the constitution. It was a sadistic ploy to slow down the educational advancement of the south with Igbo ethnic group in mind, having noted their daring military prowess and exploits during the civil war.
The 2016 budget has usurped the constitutional responsibilities of the state and local governments. President Muhammadu Buhari said: “Job creation drive will be private sector led. We will encourage this by a reduction in tax rates for small business as well as subsidized funding solid minerals. As an emergency measure to address the chronic shortage of teachers in public schools across the country, we also will partner with state and local governments to recruit, train and deploy 500,000 unemployed graduates and NCE holders. These graduate teachers will be deployed to primary schools, thereby enhancing the provision of basic education especially in our rural areas. We also intend to partner with state and local governments provide financial training and loans to market women, traders and artisans through their cooperative societies. We believe that this segment of our society is not only critical to our plan for growing small business but it is also an important platform to create jobs and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs”
Why should the President choose to ignore the sacred principles of federal system of government as observed in countries of the world? For how long will this apparently accursed country continue to be a laughing stock to the international community in brazenly bungling governance which has rendered the country prostrate?
For the southerners to actualize their quest for restructuring and true federalism, the passionate appeal of the Vanguard columnist, Femi Aribisala on the immediate cease of hostility between Yorubas and Igbos [Vanguard, January 12, 2016] must be put into action. He said: Igbo and Yoruba prefer a Nigeria that practices fiscal federalism. Both want a weaker centre. Both want a Nigeria that rewards merit, with a state-structure based on resource-control. Both groups want a Nigeria committed to self-determination”
Dr Arthur Nwankwo’s in his mind-blowing expose of the age-long devious agenda against the Igbos by the feudal caliphate [The AUTHORITY January 14] admonished the two ethnic groups as follows: “This is why I have always maintain that Nigeria’s only safety valve lies in a round-table discussion to fashion out a frame-work for the continued existence of Nigeria as a corporate entity. The best we have gotten close to the Republican constitution of 1963 was the out-come of the 2005 National Political Conference and the last one convoked by the former president Goodluck Jonathan. What President Buhari owes Nigeria is the political will to implement the recommendations of those constitutional conferences. Any other way leads to doom and self-destruction. And I dare to ask: do we have any other escape route to this impending implosion? I doubt!”
It is sad that some of the Yorubas who had championed restructuring and reinventing of realistic federal practice and regarding the geo-political zones as regional government, back-pedaled. Nothing stops these people in the APC from sticking to their erstwhile conviction since it is the only way to reposition the country to realize the aspirations of ethnic groups in the south. The states in the middle-belt apparently lack the guts to liberate themselves from the feudal caliphate’s internal colonialism; even as they are under threat to be siding with them in the lopsided national assembly.
President Buhari should review the 2016 budget to allow the state and local governments to take care of their constitutional responsibilities; in addition to transferring the staffs of many MDA’s to their states of their origin. To this end, the federal government should review the revenue sharing formula with 70% going to the states. Federal government will retain only three ministries viz: foreign affairs, defence and custom/immigration; in line with true federalism to solve the country’s problems especially corruption and insecurity.
Mr Onwubiko is a public affairs analyst, [email protected], Awka Anambra state.