In this interview, former Director-General of the Federal Civil Service and advocate of a return to local government, Dr. Akin Fapofunda, said Nigeria could no longer afford to maintain the current facilities of presidential government. .
What do you think a return to regionalism will achieve?
The problem is economic and political. Economically, Nigeria can no longer sustain the means of governance we have established. It was established at a time when oil money was flowing like a river. We created 36 states, with 36 governors and 36 state legislators, 25 each. There are 774 local governments, with a chairperson, vice-chairman, and councillors, all of whom collect money from their only source of income: oil.
Approximately 2 million barrels of crude oil per day. In 1952 it was about 55 million barrels, now it’s over 220 million barrels, and even now it’s not even 2 million barrels, it’s 1.2 million barrels to 1.3 million barrels. That is, our income has decreased and our population has quadrupled.
In fact, the money coming in now is going towards debt repayments. I also borrow money recurrently. We are bankrupt and can’t do anything. As for the power problem, we need more than $20 billion to solve it, and no one is talking about it. All the dams built during the Audu Bako era in Kano State have reached the end of their useful life. I worked in Kano State in 1975, so I can say that all the dams were built 50 years ago.
University is restless. If you look at the lives of students at university, you will feel disgusted.
We don’t have the money to maintain what we have, so we need to reduce the cost of governance, and the way to do that is by reducing the number of political bodies.
We already know there are 6 zones, so from a regionalism perspective there should be 8 to 12 governors instead of 36. In fact, in 1967, Nigeria was divided into 12 states. That would have been the best system. There were 12 states, 12 governors, 12 legislatures, and fewer than 200 local governments at the time. It was the Dasuki Committee that increased the number of local governments to 774. Very unsustainable. It is based on economic grounds. From a political perspective, Nigeria is no longer the country we used to say it was. We have been fooling ourselves. We know that Yoruba and Igbo people are as different as people like Ija, Middle Belt, Bazi and Hausa. So why are we deceiving ourselves?
Regionalize based on ethnic diversity. It should not be suppressed. If I tell you there are 600 tribes in Nigeria, let’s find out. Why are we sitting on them? Why do we only say Wa zo Bia? You can’t have justice if you sit above other people. Therefore, it must be localized to allow for the expression of self-determination. We are going to come together as one nation.
However, current politicians seem satisfied with the current arrangement. How should we push forward with this demand for regionalism?
It would take a very reasonable politician to say we don’t have to wait until the roof collapses on our heads to know we need to fix it. I know it is very difficult because one senator once said that they collected about 29 million naira every month. They even bought their own cars without worrying about the state’s financial situation. A jet plane was also purchased for the president while we were living on a World Bank loan that was repaid in 30 to 40 years. These loans will not be repaid for the next 10 years. There is a grace period, so you start paying after 10 years and end up paying for 40 years. In other words, they are mortgaging the future of their unborn child. I can’t stop talking about it. Someone may insist on additional legal recourse. I don’t support war or military coups, but the political class needs to know that this country has a very serious intelligence leak. Competition for available resources is very intense.
The political class needs to know that things are not going well. We have to keep saying things aren’t right. We need to significantly reduce governance costs.
For example, in the entire Western region to which the Yoruba belong, Ibadan needs only one legislative body. 30 people can make local laws. In the northwest, the Yoruba people are able to pass laws regulating all Sharia issues.
If Nigeria’s education, health, sports and even infrastructure were decentralized and each region ran it on its own, Nigeria would progress further. The Southwest is supposed to produce cocoa, but no one is doing it. We are all waiting for Abuja.
However, despite having 36 states, cries of alienation persist, and the movement for more states continues. How confident are you that this will stop if Nigeria returns to regionalism?
That’s because everything we’re doing is wrong. There are 26 people groups in Yoruba land, including Ijebu, Egba, Ilaje, Igbomina and Ekun, so if we decentralized now, the South West would become a federation of 26 groups. A federal constitution will also be enacted in the local regions. Actually, my thoughts are: If there are 600 ethnic groups, each should become a full-fledged local government and manage its affairs.
I am from Osun State and I can say that Ijesha, Ife and Ikirun are different. The key is to reorganize the federal system in Abuja, and each region will also have its own constitution, written by them, that will enshrine the rotation of public offices. There will be local constitutions for people to negotiate and demand their rights. However, as it stands, we operate under only one federal constitution, without each region having its own quasi-constitution where it can properly express its views. But we are running a unity government from Abuja. And in a state, if a congressman becomes governor, he will be able to lord it over everyone.
In the true federal constitution, there is a system of proportional representation. If they receive 10 percent of the vote, they are entitled to a seat in parliament, with proportional representation at the local level. Suppose there were three political parties, and one party had 50 percent of the vote, as it currently does. It is winner-take-all for four-year terms.
Did you know that assuming there is a proportional representation system, Mr. Tinubu cannot form a government on his own as he gets less than 30% of the votes? Other parties that get 20/25% have no support. They will have the constitutional right to be members of the government, not just as private citizens. It is not a unity government.
