Resource Control: A Way Forward

By Abiola Ayodeji Gbemisola

After the botched military coup of January 15th, 1966 led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, the administration of Nigeria was transferred to the Military, headed by Major AguiyiIronsi. Maj. AguiyiIronsi through decree 34 declared a unitary system of Government and by its implication; it ensured that all powers, resources and responsibilities rested with the military's 'Supreme Military Council'. Thus, the existing 3 sub-regions of Nigeria which were the North, the South-West, and the South-East regions were merged under a single rule.

Historians would agree that the distorted political structure practised before Decree 34 was Republican Regionalism (an arrangement from the Richards Constitution) which was characterised by regional resource control and healthy competition among the regions not forgetting the Unity it provided. Each region as recalled strongly worked in developing its region, and the result was a robust GDP of $6,366,793,000 and a growth rate of 3.1% between 1960 and 1966.

Evident as it was, each Region was administered by a Premier and at the Central government was the Head of government assisted by the Prime Minister. Economically, Nigeria was doing great with sweet prospects. Even the Naira; Nigeria's' currency was highly valued over the American Dollar.

All these comprised the beautiful story of Nigeria till DECREE 34 disrupted it all.For a country like Nigeria with a Land Area of 923,768km²; one of the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa and a population of 52m people as at 1966 (approximately 166m people as at 2012), Decree 34 can be perceived as an horrid mistake whose consequence is still being suffered in Nigeria today.

The Military held power for 13 years between 1966 and 1979 within two administrations and till 1979 when power was to transferred to a democratically elected system, called FEDERALISM. Federalism came with a lot of promises, one of which was that it was the best system for a large country such as Nigeria giving that it allowed for some form of autonomy and allowing each region to develop at its own pace. But the mistake of the federal constitution in Nigeria was placing Resource Control under the exclusive list and by implication; the resources in each region belonged to the federal government and could only be explored by it.

This was depicted by the fact that the Alhaji Shagari administration didn't explore other resources; even agricultural production began to drop apparently because the government at that time had tasted the black diamond (crude oil) and lacked willingness to deviate from the status quo. While the Niger Delta; the region in the south-south Nigeria that provided oil still laid bound in the chains of poverty, environmental degradation and underdevelopment.

As Dare Arolowo puts it, he said, "Nigerian Federalism was designed to reflect and sustain what could best be described as centralism. A situation that makes other component units subservient to and reliant on the federal government even on critical issues of development and age long neglect" (Dare Awolowo, 2011). To explain this, in this federal system as currently practised, it is a norm for the fate of every 'Tom, Dick and Harry' across the federation to be determined within the enclosure of a Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, the FCT.

Fast-forward to 2014, and 15 years of democracy in the fourth republic (1999-2014), the federal system of government has still been in practise, and various calls for diversification has yielded no results. The amazing fact is that the federal government is not ready to diversify rather is it willing to allow each states to explore the resources in its vicinity.

When the Goodluck Administration in 2013 announced the National Conference slated for 2014, hopes were high that a discuss into the problems with Resource Control would recommend a lasting solution. Many who followed the discuss would agree with me that the manner at which the North opposed it showed that the needed progress we desire in Nigeria may only come later in the future.

In the words of Mr Anthony Sani, a former spokesman for the Arewa Consultative Forum, “The North believes resource control or ownership byconstituent parts of the country would make the centre weak and tilt the country towardsa confederal arrangement..." His words corrobates the outcome of the Resource Control debate at the National Conference which was inconclusive and no agreement reached, thus showing the much evident desires by the North to continue devouring the National Cake funded by the Crude Oil. Although this is not an affront on the North as I understand as a student of Economics the "rationality" behind such argument as I was taught in 100 level Micro-Economics.

Conclusively, if this generation of Nigerian leaders (or rulers) do not realise that the idea of controlling resources from the central is ineffective and will never bring about the needed development, it is my wish that the new generation of leaders should not thread this path of selfishness and create the right change. Maybe it is time to look the way of regionalism to bring about the much needed progress.

Abiola Ayodeji Gbemisola, is a student of Economics at the Obafemi Arolowo University. He tweets from @bilex_g. Contact him via [email protected]

References:
1. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism_in_Nigeria

2. Www.indexmundi.com/facts/nigeria/population
3. Www.indexmundi.com/facts/nigeria/growth_rates
4. Dare Awolowo, OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 2, No. 7, pp. 83-88, 2011.

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