The issue of how to achieve peaceful co-existence in a diverse polity led to the convocation of the national conference. How to co-ordinate, produce and share limited resources is at the heart of how to achieve peaceful co-existence in our country.
The conference got it right in a lot of key areas thereby confounding the skeptics. Unfortunately it fell down at the most critical hurdle. By pushing back the buck to President Jonathan’s table, the conference abdicated its core duty.
For, if the President had not wanted to get a national consensus or democratic agreement on this most vital of issues, he would not have summoned the conference in the first instance. With pivotal elections looming in the horizon, we are obviously stuck in the logjam.
It should not be so. This is because the entire negotiation process leading to independence as well as the 1960 independence constitution was based on a clear federalist position as the best way for the country to achieve its immense possibilities.
The post-1966 coup framework of an increasingly overbearing centre has clearly destabilised the country politically and acted as a brake on economic development. With centrifugal forces now threatening to tear the polity apart, we must now go back to the basics.
Going back to the basics means that the tail must no longer wag the dog. To achieve a balanced federation, we have no alternative than to return to fiscal federalism. This will entail imbibing the spirit of the 1963 Republican Constitution. The states as federating units must be encouraged to as much as possible, “eat what they kill.”
Eating what you kill means that the federating units will now contribute to sustain the centre and not the other way round. This will not only lessen contrived tension but will also lead to an outburst of energy. With the outburst, the federating units will now develop in their own way and at their own pace.
The results will be beneficial to all. For a start the present quantum of revenue from oil and gas is too limited to cater for the needs of such a large country. In addition, the empirical evidence from the first republic shows that higher living standards are better attained within the framework of a competitive federalism. We must implement that position now!