Nigerian governors, quest for devolution of powers and Executive Order question
On the heels of the resolutions by the 17 Southern governors in Asaba, Delta State, emphasizing devolution of powers, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governors at their meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State, Tuesday, May 18, 2021 also restated the call that they needed more powers to tackle socio-economic challenges in their domain.
For so long, it has been said that there is too much power residing with the Presidency, provided by the constitution. The argument is that the government at the centre with lesser responsibility should also have lesser powers.
There have been serious arguments over the 68 items on Exclusive legislative list and only 30 in the Concurrent list. The thinking is that it is a dangerous allotment of powers in a country like Nigeria.
The governors believe that it is wrong for the Federal Government to control the resources in their states. They want a situation where they would mine their resources, but pay royalties to the government at the centre.
They also complain about their inability to rein in the monster of insecurity in their states. Although they are constitutionally empowered to protect lives and property of people in their states, they are not allowed to do so because they are not in charge of the police in their domain. The commissioners of police posted to their states do not take orders from them, but from the Inspector-general of Police in Abuja.
The talk about true federalism has been on for a while. Nigeria is not practising true federalism. The problem is not with the laws, but with the implementation of the laws enshrined in the constitution.
Observers believe that what is happening in Kaduna is a failure of separation of powers, where the local government should be independent.
It is their belief that the time has come to look at the constitution to amend the areas that can help the country.
In Nigeria, there is an amalgam of federal system and parliamentary- making the country look like a bat that is neither mammal nor bird. There are already three tiers of government that do not work.
Although there are too many things wrong in the 1999 Constitution (As Amended), there are aspects that are good, but are not being implemented by government.
While the governors are busy clamouring for devolution of powers, political analysts and experts have advised them to implement the good aspects that are already in the
Constitution while waiting for more powers.
It has been observed that the same problem plaguing the country at the Federal level is happening at the state level.
Governors have dominated power and suffocating the local government administration, making it difficult to operate.
The governors hijack the council elections, dictate who wins and who does not win. They have become godfathers to those they install as council chairmen, who now behave like puppets and act only as errand boys of the governors. They have no voice, and have no power to say no, to the state governors.
While the governors seek devolution of power, they have continued to resist the implementation of the Executive Order 10 signed into law by President Buhari last year, which seeks the fiscal autonomy of the local government and the judiciary in their states.
Recall that part of the reasons given by Judicial workers for the recent strike was the failure of the state governors to implement the fiscal autonomy of the Judiciary in the states. Up till now, that has not been done.
The state governors also wield absolute powers in the states. They pocket the judiciary and the legislature, which makes it difficult to impeach a non-performing state chief executive officer.
This negative collaboration between the Executive and the legislature, either at the federal or state level, has ruined Nigeria.
This is why, the clamour for state police as a panacea to the insecurity in the land, has been described as dangerous. It is believed that just as the federal police force is being pocketed by the Executive at the federal level, a state police could be deployed by state governors to fight their perceived or actual enemies. It is feared that the state governors could turn themselves into thin gods with state police.
Olisa Agbakoba, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), at a public forum recently, noted that Nigeria is beset with a lot of ills and that the country is not in a position at the moment for devolution of powers.
“My submission is that with Boko Haram in the North East; with banditry and criminality in the North West; with Boko Haram now penetrating into the North Central; with chaos and contagion in the South East; with piracy in the South-south; Nigeria has the worst piracy incidence in the world; it is no longer about stealing crude, it is now about kidnapping crews so that you can pay ransom. The whole country is in contagion. You don’t talk about devolution,” Agbakoba said.
According to him, “The Index of Failed States ranks Nigeria 14 out of about 200 countries. We are a fragile
state; we are in low-grade civil war. We can’t talk about devolution. We need to first of all discuss peace and order. There’s so much chaos. You can devolve power as a process to the same set of people.”
Agbakoba, who is a Maritime lawyer, and senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), pointedly accused state governors of hypocrisy, saying: “The governors are not obeying the constitution. The men who want devolution- I went to court, I got two judgments in respect of financial autonomy, and they are not obeying the orders. I think it is in the Bible that it was said that if you are not faithful in little things, how do you expect bigger things? How do you expect more to be given to you, when you are not faithful with the little you are given?
“The state governors have paralysed the judiciary, and they are looking for more power. They haven’t shown me that they are constitutionally responsible, because they are not obeying the constitution with the small (powers) that they have got. How can we say giving them more, they will do better for the people?”
Norrison Quarkers, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise daily, Thursday, May 20, 2021, said: “The devolution of powers should cut across the federal, state and local government. A situation where the local government chairmen go cap-in-hand to the governors of their state to beg for money to execute project is sickening, whereas it is the local government that should have enough funds to provide better governance for the people.”
According to Quarkers, “On paper, there is a semblance of true federalism, but here we are, not ready to implement them. We copied the US, but we have not allowed it to work. In America, there is the federal, state and the county (council). How far have the state governors gone in implementing what is on the Concurrent List? So, attitude is largely the problem.”
The state governors are seeking more powers to control the resources in their domain, particularly when it seems that the Federal Government is playing politics in that regard.
For instance, whereas the Constitution stipulates that the items on Exclusive list are for the Executive to implement, the current administration is playing politics with it. Whereas it prevents other states and zones from mining the minerals located within their territory/ domain, the Buhari administration has feigned ignorance and paid a blind eye to the mining of gold by the Zamfara State government.
Moreover, the sharing of revenues based on land mass, population and other considerations that do not give advantage to the areas that generate such revenues have caused adrenaline rise in people from affected zones/states that feel harddone-by.
This is worrisome when considered that the census figures in Nigeria are padded to favour certain states/zones for a predetermined outcome.
It is based on the above highlighted cases of injustice that the call for devolution of powers and true federalism has become deafening nowadays.
While flaying the resolutions of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governors at their Ibadan meeting, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) said that the state chief executive officers were being hypocritical in some of the points they listed in their communiqué.
According to the BMO, “We also want to remind the PDP governors that despite the signing of Executive Orders by President Muhammadu Buhari, ceding autonomy to the Legislature and the Judiciary at the sub-national level, the state governors have failed to execute the order, thereby negating their positions on the need for devolution of powers to the states. They should abide by the maxim that, ‘those who go to equity must come with clean hands.’
“We are afraid that the clamour for state police by the state governors may be a subterfuge to recruit their political thugs for election purposes.”