KOGI WAGE DISPUTE: BACKAND-FORTH INTENSIFIES
In the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of activities around the so-called Kano-Kaduna Political Axis (in contrast to the Abuja, Lagos-Ibadan and Enugu-Port Harcourt Axes) on the trending political topic of the moment - Restructuring, also known as Devolution of Powers, True Federalism and many other names.
In this far-Northern axis and beyond, there is much intellectual activity around the topic. One of such was by the Kanobased Hudaibiyyah Foundation, an intellectual Muslim Forum, which convened a symposium on What Rationale for Restructuring Nigeria? It was a robust discussion.
First speaker and veteran politician Alhaji Tanko Yakasai (who is now 91 and thankfully reinventing himself ), posited that the voice of the North is very faint in many national debates such as the present agitation for restructuring. The insults, blatant lies and false accusations from some Southern elements usually go unanswered by those who should answer, and went on to suggest that Northerners need to respond promptly in these matters, especially to set the records straight when blatant falsehoods are bandied.
On statistics, he restated that the North has always constituted two-thirds of Nigeria’s landmass and 54% of its population. Interestingly on this, he reminded all, the National Population Census, the National ID Scheme and the National Voter Registration during the Obasanjo Regime all corroborated each other on this Northern population superiority; yet in 2014 Jonathan convened a National Conference with Northern Minority Membership. And it seems on this new debate, the North has continued to have a minority, feeble voice.
A former Minister of Power Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu was of the opinion that the real reason for all the agitation for restructuring is that a northerner is now the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Period. He wondered why some of today’s virulent agitators were all silent during the time Obasanjo was president from 1999 to 2007. As a lawyer, he asserted that the charge by restructuring agitators that the 1999 was not a people’s constitution and that it was a military constitution is baseless, as all the constitutions of Nigeria since the demise of the Second Republic were derived from the 1979 constitution, which was also a militaryderived document.
He wondered why, with 289 delegates allocated to the South and 203 to the North at the 2014 Jonathan National Conference, these agitators couldn’t get Jonathan to implement his own report. So why now? During that Conference, they manipulated everything from resource allocation to state police to another state to be created for South East, etc. Yet why did they not pressurize Jonathan to implement it?
Constitutional lawyer and Professor of Laws Auwalu Hamisu Yadudu stated that no constitution is perfect, and because life is dynamic, it is subject to amendment. If we must restructure, according to him, it must be based on true representation unlike the 2014 Constitutional Conference and it must conform to the realities and due process.
He asserted that the statutes vested all mineral resources in the hands of the Federal Government, and so the present lopsided allocation of resources is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court struck down the National Assembly law abrogating on-shore and offshore dichotomy, yet oil producing states are benefitting from the law implemented by President Obasanjo by executive fiat and Legislative connivance. He also debunked the claim that the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions gave 50% of oil proceeds to the Regional Governments. The legal fig leaf is a 1960 law that empowered states to collect 50% tax on petroleum imported and sold in their regions, not oil extracted from the territory.
Convener of Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), Dr. Usman Bugaje, reiterated what he said that caused much controversy not too long ago - that Nigeria’s oil belongs mostly to the North’s because one, the North constitutes 70+% of Nigeria’s landmass and, under the United Nations Convention, a country’s minerals belong to the part that constitute 68% of the land area; two, only 27% of the oil is mined on-shore while 73% is mined offshore. Nigeria got about 300 nautical miles of oilrich sea bed beyond the minimum allowed by international law due to its land mass, which is actually Northern landmass. So offshore oil belongs to all, and it is a falsity and illegality politically executed to allocate returns as is being done at present.
He rhetorically wondered why the South East could complain of marginalisation while taking the lion share of resources and federal appointments: Imo State alone, for example, has more federal civil servants than all the seven North Western states. Who, then, is marginalized in this circumstance? Even in elections, Northern States have less than the required polling units (some Abuja units have 6,000 voters; others 2,000), while in the South the maximum is 500, some as low as 200. Worse, in the 2016 Budget, 60% of the capital budget was spent on projects in the South; 57% of 2017 budget the same. Southern States never accept Nigeria’s existence unless they are ruling and getting more than their fair share of national resources.
Further in the discussions, it was revealed that the concern of many, as voiced by former Kano State Governor and former Minister of Education Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, is the lack of unity among the Northern States. He narrated the sad story that, on his becoming governor in 2003, he met a court case between Kano and Jigawa States on asset sharing. He took the initiative of driving to Dutse and resolving the matter out of court. At another time when he was governor and presented a Kano-suggested solution to the Almajiri Crisis to the Northern States Governors’ Forum, one governor dismissed the whole idea by saying “that’s an ANPP Agenda.” And that killed it.
Many participants lamented this lack of cohesion by the Northern States - even the almost homogenous North West. On every opinion, the states would speak in almost seven voices, as their number, and would not have a common front, unlike, say, the South West which usually comes out in one voice or no more than two (the Afenifere and the Tinubu Voices).
Shaikh Ibrahim Khalil, Chairman of the Kano State Council of Ulama (a man known as Cleric in Politics) forcefully asserted that as long as Governors are allowed control of political parties in their states as well as the national level, so long will Nigeria continue to suffer from half-baked, sometimes rotten, elected officials. So all possible effort should be exerted to ‘snatch’ political parties from the governors.
More suggestions included that the North should demand more States and LGAs in any future negotiations; off-shore oil revenues should belong to all states; present situation must be challenged by elected representatives of the North on pain of recall; that Nigeria should go back to the parliamentary system where each parliamentarian only campaigns in his or her constituency; that INEC should delineate new constituencies to give the North its due share; and all communities to demand that elected representatives to protect and promote our agenda, on pain of recall, again.
Away from the Hudaibiyyah Symposium, a group known as Friends of Democracy led by Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, a one-time presidential candidate, came out in a widely published advertorial with a significant suggestion - Nigeria should be ‘restructured’ back to its former twelve-state format which existed until the 1976 addition of seven states by late General Murtala Muhammad.
Further away, the local media are lapping it all up. As a mainly radio-listening region, all the region’s stations are abuzz, discussing the topic. The popular AM and FM stations are setting the agenda for those with an opinion, and for those who are waiting for their opinions to be made up for them.