OP-ED: NIGERIA AND THE PROBLEM OF FEDERALISM
“ As a Nigerian, I believe the Nigerian state should be restructured to allow for all regions to grow at their own pace.”
OVERVIEW
This article is part of our series featuring the voices on the front lines of democracy. This article, Nigeria and the Problem of Federalism, comes to us from John Oluwafemi OLLA, CEO and Founder of Act Hub Africa, and the views expressed therein are his own. John is an advocate of accountability in governance, open government partnership, social and environmental accountability, and youth development. Act Hub Africa is a member of the Democracy Moves coalition, and we stand with Oluwafemi in Act Hub Africa’s fight for a more democratic future in Nigerian communities.
Act Hub Africa envisions a world in which citizens are active, informed, and powered up in making government accountable to them without discrimination by race, social class, ability, or gender. They use adaptive and creative technology to drive content that can empower Nigerian citizens capable of demanding their rights, accountability, institutional reforms, efficient service delivery, and equitable society.
NIGERIA AND THE PROBLEM OF FEDERALISM
By John Oluwafemi OLLA, CEO and Founder, Act Hub Africa
The federal system of government in Nigeria has contributed to or directly caused various problems in local communities, including insecurity, unemployment, youth unrest, tribalism, and nepotism. Corruption runs rampant. Recently the country has been faced with several new faces of terrorism in the form of banditry, kidnapping, violent herders in the midst of herder-farer conflict, and cattle rustlers. We still have no solution in view.
Officially, Nigeria has a federal system of government. But the present federal system takes power away from the people at the state and local government levels. When we look at it critically, we realize that Nigeria is far from allowing other federating units to perform their functions as constituted by the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In actuality, the constitution is fighting against itself. Let’s take a closer look.
Nigeria’s federal government has vested almost all of the constitutional power, leaving state and local governments in a state of helplessness. The insecurity that the Nigerian state is facing today can be traced to the lack of local state power over security, even though state governors are being referred to as the chief security officers of their state. The overriding fact is that the President of Nigeria is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. This simply means that all security operations in Nigeria can take orders from the president alone. Such control includes that of the police force, customs, civil defense, the military, and immigration, among others.
Presently in Nigeria, more than 50 percent of the total revenue budget allocations go to the federal government, while the state and local governments are left with the remaining percentage. The 36 states and 774 local governments are left to share or fight over the remaining budget crumbs that have been dropped from the federal government’s table. One thing is certain—the prosperity of both state and local governments will be tied to the success or failure of the federal government.
With this in mind, one begins to wonder whether Nigeria is practicing a truly federal system.
Another issue that placed a question on the type of federalism Nigeria is practicing is the issue of "federal character." The idea of federal character is to ensure that all regions have equitable representation, but the story has changed under the present administration, as the government has wrestled even more control from local states in the midst of the many challenges facing the country.
The federal government is not the only entity guilty of seizing power from another level of government. The state governments in Nigeria have also eclipsed the local governments. They exercise the power to hire and fire the leaders of the local government. Instead of organizing open and fair elections for new chairmen, some state governments choose to appoint a caretaker chairman to run the affairs of local government, robbing the people of their right to choose who will make decisions in their best interests.
For good governance to succeed in Nigeria, we need to work to adopt a democratic system of government at the federal, state, and local levels. For this nascent democracy to take hold, we need to work to ensure that true federalism at all tiers of government is allowed to perform its function without interference. We need to empower local governments to act on behalf of the people of their communities and not leave all the decision-making at the state and federal level, far removed from their constituents.
Finally, we must decentralize political power away from the federal government. The concentration of power in the federal government has failed in many areas, from security to the management of the economy to employment services, and most importantly to good governance. The nation will thrive if states are allowed to control their resources, leading to self-sustenance and economic viability.
As a Nigerian, I believe the Nigerian state should be restructured to allow all regions to grow at their own pace. This will allow us to manage our plurality more sustainably as distinct but united regions, like the United State of America.
At Act Hub Africa we will continue to engage and raise our voices to ensure that the federal government of Nigeria loosens the rope on the neck of other federating units in Nigeria for economic prosperity.
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