As we went out to make history with the first book and arts festival in the northeast – the Yobe Peace and Arts Festival, other aspects of life went on as they should. Making me realize that it’s not only when one is dead that life moves on, it does even when one is alive. That somehow made me feel my decision to take a backseat from public commentary should not have been made. Of those aspects of “moving on” – as if the world revolves around me – is the constitutional amendment public hearings held in each of the geopolitical zones. And that piqued my interest the most among the many issues that sprung up; the 1999 Constitution is no longer capable of rightly guiding the affairs of this nation.
The public hearings, though I disagree with the decision to hold them in geopolitical zones and not in each state, provided great opportunities for citizens to actively participate and feel like integral components of “we the people.” The participation was good, almost comprehensive. It is however very disappointing that we didn’t see efforts from citizens for indigenous systems to spring up, for us to lead the way for other African countries by creating a system that is entirely African, instead we had more clamour for new local governments and states.
It seems the idea of having a share of the national cake is our solution to every problem and at this rate, we won’t stop until every man is a local government, every family a state and every clan a micronation. One day we could wake up to the reality of Suleiman Local Government marrying Mariya Local Government in an area named after an uncle no one remembers, in Gimba State, attended by many states and micronations.
That could have its advantages though, children in basic schools would finally have 200 million reasons not to cram state and capital, and everyone’s dad (or mom) would have an official car, extravagant allowances, medical care and education in countries of their choices, and a police unit as part of their official convoys. One would wonder where the Police officers would come from since everyone is a local government but that is the fantasy their minds create when they think of bringing government closer to the grassroots.
On a more serious note, most of these fantasisers don’t factor in the cost of creating a new state or local government, setting up governments, creating a civil service that does very little, irrelevant agencies created for political favours and the over-reliance on federal allocation. It is like fighting to break free from the shackles of a dictator and misappropriator of public resources 100 miles away only to end up in the hands of a similar person living just 1 mile away; with an army of family and friends as contractors, entitled to security votes he can spend as it pleases him, highly corrupt and protected by Section 308. Your fate unchanged, problem unsolved, only brought closer to your doorstep.
Most of our existing states and local governments have very little economic opportunities outside of government work and very little infrastructure, carving more out of them will only deepen the problems by handing them over to politicians that cannot even maintain their homes unless they are given political appointments and/or contracts. They frown at large settlements because the quality of competitions they face are stiffer, dividing and ruling the people more difficult but resigned to their shells, they could very much be kings.
Large human settlements teach people to embrace diversity and inclusiveness; higher productivity human capital; a bigger customer base; more chances of collaboration with like minds; more chances for growth in business and public space; and higher employment prospects. There are more Facilities and recreational services to enjoy. Not that these cannot be provided in new states and local governments but the time it will take, the resources to be spent, slim chances of raising high internally generated revenue, zero chances of attracting foreign investments, poorly trained with limited thinking capacity leaders and the lack of proper checks and balances in the current system makes them unarguably set up to fail.
Of interest though. Is the proposal for a Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs. While it is good to see thoughts along preserving and managing our indigenous systems, the proposal is grossly inadequate. Except we want to fold our arms and say “the way we are set up is totally okay and we don’t need to succeed as a people” then we have to make drastic changes; rip apart and put together a new constitution with particular provisions for each tribe, we are all Nigerians but the system most fit to the historical strengths and weaknesses of each tribe. Every tribe must be allowed to grow and contribute to national development in its own way, at its own pace and on its own terms as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of other groups.
They say when you go to Rome you do as Romans do, that could work when one is on holiday for a few days and trying to experience new cultures. But to transfer the whole inhabitants of a country and expect them to forget their nature, strength and weaknesses and adapt blindly, most of them will crash, a few will understand the system and thrive. Amongst the few, a certain number will exploit the quagmire of crashed countrymen and either seize the country or make it dysfunctional enough to continue benefiting ad infinitum while the majority remain broken. This is what happened to Nigeria, to Africa except that we didn’t go to Rome, Rome came to us and instead of adapting to us, it is forcing us to adapt to it.
Flashback; around 1906, indirect rule was introduced by Lord Lugard in Northern Nigeria and for the subsequent decades that followed, the region witnessed its best years in terms of organization and stability since the move to a “more formal” system. The system was hugely successful because traditional structures that have been around for centuries were employed. If the system had been continued with in the north leading up to Independence – and whatever works for other regions (indirect rule didn’t succeed in the south) – and beyond, then most of our existing problems might not have arisen in the first place.
We won’t be the bundle of confusion we are now; everyone one would take to the system like a duck to water. Everything will be built on the existing administrative and tax system in the north; we can borrow the Igbo system of “village democracy” expand it; borrow the principles of democracy; separation of powers; checks and balances; and rule of law, not to replace the indigenous system but to improve it. In the end, we would be better off with a system where Native Authorities are restored in place of local governments, to be headed by an elected Chief that will serve a term of four years in a system I call “Elective Monarchy.”
To be continued…
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