The National Conference

I should say upfront that I support efforts by the Jonathan Administration to organize a conference amongst Nigerians to discuss fundamental issues afflicting the country. I have been convinced for many years that Nigeria’s most important challenges are structural-the country has been designed (actually deliberately mis-designed since 1966) such that the country’s structure ensures that it will not work. In an attempt by Nigeria’s unitarists to ensure the perpetuity of their stranglehold over the destiny of its diverse peoples and nationalities, they have created a dysfunctional, sub-optimal, pseudo-unitary constitution and nation that is neither federal nor rational and that ensures that Nigeria as we know it is politically, economically and socially unsustainable. We now have a country that discourages productivity by its federating units, since the vast resources taken from the federating units accrue to a wasteful supra-entity, a “national” entity that belongs to no one, and is accountable for nothing and to no one! The country is politically hobbled, unable to find any agreement beyond a lowest common denominator on any worthwhile matter as ethnic, religious and regional cleavages dominate national discourse. If a minister blatantly steals money, her tribal affiliates defend her; if a leading Representative is caught on video collecting bribes and stuffing the cash in his cap, his powerful regional patrons ensure he suffers no consequences, yet we are all required to utter the empty words, “national unity” and “Federal Republic of Nigeria” even as we know deep in our hearts that they are meaningless in our current context! There is neither shared vision nor common project! The 2011 elections were fought almost entirely on regional lines, and the approaching 2015 version promises to be contested completely on the basis of region, religion and ethnicity. We are living dangerously and it is wise in my view to have a dialogue on the fundamentals of our union. I am convinced that Nigeria’s problems will not be solved by mere elections! Our national drift predates and will endure beyond Jonathan so long as we retain the failed constitutional structure. The paralysis and dysfunction will persist or in fact worsen as avowed unitarists take over the presidency! Most names I have heard mentioned for instance are complicit in the destruction of Nigeria’s federalism and have evidently learnt nothing and regret nothing! Indeed current House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal believes that rather than restore Nigeria’s federal structure, the solution is to completely destroy it, in favour of full unitarism by elevating local governments to a third-tier of government; abolishing state electoral commissions; denying state police; and retaining the distorted and inefficient exclusive legislative list! Rabiu Musa Kwankaso’s public comments are so shockingly irredentist and parochial that one shudders what type of leadership he would provide in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. He recently suggested representation at the national conference on the basis of 774 local governments! The attitudes and inclinations of other leading unitarists are well known! I am also totally convinced that the National Assembly does not have either the credibility or institutional integrity required to embark on the restructuring of Nigeria, which is what is required. The Assembly is itself one of the biggest evidence of the gerrymandering of Nigeria by soldiers who created states and local governments in pursuance of narrow strategic objectives-regional, ethnic, religious, even personal! The distribution of federal legislative constituencies, particularly in the House of Representatives confirms why the institution is disabled from any tangible and credible constitutional change, beyond irrelevant palliatives. If you need any confirmation of the federal parliament’s disability, please look to the (lack of) substance and quality of amendments they have proposed to our Constitution since 1999!!! My support for the National Conference is of course not unqualified! I support a conference in which representation is on the basis of equality of the six geo-political zones; in which representation within the zones is representative of the ethnic nationalities domiciled therein; and in which the decision thereof will be submitted to a referendum of Nigeria’s peoples and the outcome unalterable by any authority since sovereignty ultimately resides with the people. If a conference carries these attributes, I do not care what it is called or how it is described! I am not naïve about whether President Jonathan may or may not have any “motives” in convening this conference, but I would seize any chance to improve Nigeria’s structure nevertheless until proven otherwise. In any event most change in Nigeria has come because of someone’s tactical considerations-the amalgamation itself due to British budgetary concerns; independence due to changing post-second World War British realities; the creation of Lagos, Rivers and other states in 1967 due to Gowon’s need to under-cut Ojukwu’s Biafran secession; the Obasanjo Presidency due to Northern tactical outreach to pacify the Yorubas after “June 12” etc. There is nothing wrong with seizing a president’s tactical opening to effect fundamental positive change! Substantively however, there is basis to think that President Jonathan’s Ijaw nationality has good reasons to favour a fundamental restructuring of Nigeria as persons like Ankio Briggs and Professor Kimse Okoko may have argued. What I imply is that President Jonathan’s support for a national conference may not be entirely tactical. Whatever Jonathan’s objectives, we should seize this opportunity such that it acquires a momentum of its own! Let the dialogue begin!!!