19 Sep 2012
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar
Chuks Okocha
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar Tuesday called for a review of
Nigeria’s political system with the country returning to the regional
structure that obtained in the First Republic.
Atiku said that the current three-tier structure, comprising the
federal, states and councils should give way to a two-tier system made
up of the six geopolitical zones with states serving as provinces.
He called for decentralisation of power to other lesser tiers of
government so that the people would have a greater say in governance,
but disabused the notion that decentralisation could lead to a breakup
of the country.
The former vice-president spoke at the annual Leadership Newspapers
Awards in Abuja where former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu,
called for the scrapping of the Senate as a way of reducing the cost of
governance, while former Minister of Defence, Lt-Gen. Theophilus
Danjuma, decried the overweening influence of governors in the polity.
The former vice-president, in his address, advocated the restructuring
of the federating units in such a way that it would strengthen the
various geopolitical zones.
According to him, “I want to recall that during the 1994-95
Constitutional Conference, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the Second Republic
vice-president of this federation, introduced and canvassed for the
concept of geopolitical zones.
“I was among those who opposed it because I thought that Ekwueme,
coming from the defunct Republic of Biafra, wanted to break up the
country again.
“Now, I realise that I should have supported him because our current
federal structure is clearly not working. Dr. Ekwueme obviously saw
what some of us, with our civil war mindset, could not see at the time.
There is indeed too much concentration of power and resources at the
centre.
“And it is stifling our march to true greatness as a nation and
threatening our unity because of all the abuses, inefficiencies,
corruption and reactive tensions that it has been generating.
“There is need, therefore, to review the structure of the Nigerian
federation, preferably along the basis of the current six geopolitical
zones as regions and the states as provinces.
“The existing states structure may not suffice, as the states are too
weak materially and politically to provide what is needed for good
governance.”
Atiku also weighed in on the ongoing debate over the desirability or
otherwise of decentralising the nation’s police force, saying there was
nothing wrong with each state having its own police unit so long as it
could be insulated from and is independent of the state or regional
government.
“Should we abolish the Nigerian Police because it is often abused by
those in power at the federal level? Should we abolish the state
treasuries because governors abuse them? And should we also abolish
local governments for the same reason? No. We should, as a people,
struggle for and put in place institutional safeguards against abuse of
power by those in power at all levels.
“We have a chance now to put many of those safeguards in a new
constitution. The argument that governors will abuse state police is
rather specious,” he added.
On decentralisation of power, he said: “Why should we be talking of
federal roads and federal secondary schools? Decentralisation is not an
invitation to the breakup of the country and national unity should not
continue to be confused with unitarism and concentration of power and
resources at the federal level.
“Of course, I am aware that some of the main beneficiaries of our
erstwhile regional parliamentary democracy have been hiding behind the
call for restructuring to push for the breakup of the country because of
their proximity to a finite natural resource and transient political
power.”
Atiku said because of excessive centralisation and the military rule
that facilitated it, the Nigerian president is the most powerful leader
in the world.
“This is because he can quite literally unleash all security agencies
on an individual or organisation, undermine the National Assembly, and
turn the judiciary into an almost pro-government and conformist organ.
“This is not in the realm of speculation; it has been happening in this
country. Indeed, I drew attention to it when I was in office as
vice-president and was having a political face-off with my boss. It is
not healthy for democracy and must be changed,” he said.
Supporting Atiku’s position, Danjuma described governors as powerful sole administrators who command enormous powers.
He said the governors are in control of ministers appointed at the national level, adding that even in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the president has no power without the governors who control the delegates.
He said the governors are in control of ministers appointed at the national level, adding that even in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the president has no power without the governors who control the delegates.
“Our governors are the most powerful. There is the need for a radical and drastic restructuring of the country,” he stressed.
In his speech, Tinubu who lamented the cost of governance, called for
the scrapping of the Senate, saying only the House of Representatives
should be retained, as it is more representative of the people.
He queried why the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
should have a first line charge, when its chairman has no power to
appoint resident electoral commissioners (RECs).
He said it was not in the interest of democracy for the president to be appointing RECs.
Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who received an award during
the ceremony as Governor of the Year, however, told the gathering that
there was hope in the country.
Fayemi, who spoke on behalf of the recipients of the awards, called on
Nigerians not to lose hope in their country, adding that the desire to
make the country better must be collective.
He said the opposition would make sure that they come together to provide an alternative to the ruling PDP.
The highlight of the occasion was the presentation of the Leadership
Newspapers awards of Person of the Year to Danjuma, Governor of the Year
to Fayemi and the Politician of the Year to House of Representatives
Speaker, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
SOURCE: ThisDay, 19 September 2012. http://www.thisdaylive.com
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