There appears to be a haze of uncertainty as to where President Bola Tinubu is leading the country even as he has promised to restructure it at several fora.
The fear is heightened by the introduction on the floor of the senate last week barely few days after the Supreme court judgment, of a Bill to create a Local Government electoral Commission to conduct election for local government and effectively removing such powers from the state governors and placing it in the hands of the federal government which already had more than it can chew in a federal state like ours.Is he trying to practise more Unitarism or guided Federalism?
Since penultimate week when the Supreme court delivered an epoch making judgement of the financial control of the nation’s local governments, tongues have been wagging on what some described as a surreptitious erosion of the principle of federalism by the Tinubu administration which instituted the action against the 36 state governors on the provision of section 162 of the nations constitution.The section gave opportunity for the governors to divert the monthly allocation to the local governments using the State local government joint account as stipulated in the constitution.
However ,more damning is the introduction of a Bill on the floor of the Senate last week to establish a federal agency for the conduct of local government elections in the country. It scaled the first reading and was sponsored by Chairman Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa-APC(Niger East).
The Bill titled,’Local Government Independent Electoral Commission (Establishment)Bill,2024. If passed into law, the Federal government would have removed the influence of the state government in the conduct of Elections in the country.
This move also appears to be a systemic move by the federal authorities to remove the hands of the state governor from determining who rules the local government as experience all over the country has shown that elections conducted by state independent electoral commission,SIEC, for local governments as enshrined in the constitution were always won by the incumbent party power in the state.
It also shows that there has to be an amendment to the constitution of section 197 sub-section b which stipulated the creation of sate independent electoral commission to conduct election into the local government in each state of the federation.
As I predicted last week that the President Tinubu may likely seek for powers to remove the hands of state governors from the conduct of local government election if he really wanted to go the whole hog to set local governments free from the strangle hold of the governors as stipulated in section 197 (b) of the constitution. I also wrote that allowing them to conduct local government election and removing their hands from the State /local government Joint account is contrary to the provision of section 162 subsection 6 and 7 of the constitution. This is for the fact that retaining this provision will allow the governors to continue to determine who become a local government chairman as most of the states have done by ensuring they win all elections to the local governments.
That Senator Musa has proposed the Local Government Independent Electoral Commission Bill, as stipulated above shows President Tinubu is working towards solving the riddle.
The problem of local government administration in Nigeria is as old as the country itself as succesive regimes be they military or civilian has toyed with one idea or the other over the years. This is because all agreed that the engine of development of the grassroots lies in the local government or even Counties as they are called in the United states of America from where we borrowed or copied our presidential system.
In the preface to his book-The Peoples Republic,published in 1968,the late sage,Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who you will agree with me was the father of federalism in Nigeria, clearly pointed out the futility of using a Unitary system of government in a multi lingual,multi ethnic country .He said the adoption of this portends inherent dangers.
Said he,’ I realize that many multilingual and multi- national countries continue to be governed and administered with great sense of measure of stability under a Unitary form of constitution. But i am of the opinion that the stability enjoyed by these countries with inapproporiate constitution is false and an illusion; and that such stability is possible mainly because there is temporarily and for reason which can be ascertained and demonstrated,an absence of national consciousness and ferment among the ethnic units which compose these countries.’
And since time and forces of dialectical progression are not on the side of any fundamentally defective system, I predict that every multi-lingual or multi-national country with a unitary constitution must either eventually have a federal constitution based on the principles which i have enunciated or disintegrate ,or be permanently afflicted with disharmony and instability.
Today, almost six decades after this warning by the sage in his widely acclaimed book, the country is still moving from one crisis or the other because we refused to do the needful either for lack of vision by the emerging leaders or for fear of some unknown factors. Why are we are still battling with state building six decades after our independence? Is President Tinubu trying to readjust these anomalies ?
But with the powers to conduct local government poll now about to be transferred to the federal government,this is contrary to the dictum of federalism.
If the new bill sails through in the senate and the national assembly, this portends an amendment to the constitution as should be done with the removal of State /local government joint account.
This itself portends lot of intrigues among and between the Senators , members of House of Representatives and their political parties .It also portends powers struggle among the legislators and President Tinubu and his men in the national assembly especially the Senators some of who are former state governors ; as most of them have surrogate they have imposed in their states as Governors and who also hold in trust for them their structures in the local governments .
But then to what extent will this new Bill help in the attainment of the Fiscal Federalism which Tinubu had said he will practise.Is it feasible to practise fiscal federalism under a government at the Centre on which hand is the running of affairs of who emerges in the local governments?
The question on the lips of many now: Is President Tinubu proceeding with his restructuring from the local government after which he will proceed to the state and eventually the federal government ?.
In other words, will he increase also the powers of the state as regards their functions in other spheres like mineral resources, police, internal security and other issues like the concurrent and residual lists.?
Is he trying to adopt the American system which places more powers in the hands of the state government to control their resources.But then this is doubtful with the powers to conduct local elections now in the hands of a central body which is clearly against the spirit and tenets of federalism.
Is he trying to ensure that none of the local government or states attempt to confront the federal government?
But with the states likely to have state police , how does he expect the local governments to maintain law and order in their jurisdiction except they are under the control of the state or be allowed to set up local police as was done in the first republic with limited powers to maintain law and order?
There is no doubt that the best way to address the various tensions which Chief Awolowo spoke of in 1968 and which has continued to afflict our country and threaten its stability is to restructure it in such a way that we practise not only fiscal Federalism but advocate cultural democracy such that people at their various ethnic conclaves and nationalities which make up Nigeria are free to identify with political parties and choices as it suits their economic, political ,ethnic and religious aspirations without let or hindrance and in a way that guarantees freedom of oppression from any sub- national at the centre of affairs at any point in time. Anything short of this is akin to postponing the evil day.