Anyaoku: Nigeria’s Present Governance Architecture Not Sustainable
Solomon Elusoji
Former Commonwealth SecretaryGeneral, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has again called for restructuring of the country, noting that the present system of governance, which only pays lip service to true federalism, is not sustainable.
The diplomatic icon made these remarks in Lagos yesterday at the public presentation of ‘Africa in Transition’, a book written by Ejeviome Eloho Otobo.
“As I have said on many other occasions, our country, given its current frustrating circumstances in virtually all sectors, will not achieve political stability if it continues to be under its present governance architecture, which pays only lip service to federalism,” Anyaoku said.
He pointed out that the route to political stability, for any country with the kind of diversity that Nigeria has, is through true federalism, a fact recognised and agreed by Nigeria’s founding fathers in the constitutions of 1960 and 1963.
According to him, “My call for restructuring is predicated on the belief that there is no part of Nigeria that does not benefit from belonging to a country of the size and endowment of Nigeria.
“There is no part of the country that wants to break away. Restructuring, as some critics feel, will not lead to disintegration of the country. It will instead create a path to ensuring a united country, with an improved chance for progressive development.”
Anyaoku went on to stress that restructuring means having fewer and more viable units with each having its own constitution, “as against the present 36 most unviable federating units that we currently have.
Also, it means leaving to the central government responsibilities for only such national assets and institutions as defence, monetary policy and currency, foreign affairs, immigration, customs, and such similar national institutions.”
Fiscal federalism, too, with each federating unit developing and managing its resources and contributing agreed percentage of its revenue to the centre, also came under Anyaoku’s definition of restructuring.
He stated that restructuring also means “each federating unit being responsible for all aspects of its socio-economic development, health, education, power, transportation (except inter-regional facilities such as roads, railway).
“And it will mean saving us the current argument over the lowering of the benchmark for admission into universities, which I believe is a prescription for lowering the quality of university education in our country.”
Meanwhile, Anyaoku recommended the ‘Africa in Transition’ book to all those who are interested in understanding why African countries’ efforts towards speedier development are stalling and how they can improve the quality of their various transitions to a stable and progressive development.
“I believe that there are many useful lessons which policymakers and advisers in Africa can draw from this book, especially in appreciating the importance of a holistic approach to the perception and planning of the transition of their countries to stable and progressive development,” he said.