FOR years, Nigerians have been desirous of a quick fix for the challenges the country faces. They range from the economy to security. All these challenges are related to the constitutional contraptions that replaced the regional governments that operated until the military intervention in 1966.

Calls for return to the regional arrangements often refer to the Aburi Report, the January 1967 communiqué from a meeting of the Nigeria Supreme Military Council, in Aburi, Ghana, on problems that arose after the coup and serial massacre of Ndigbo in Northern Nigeria.

Aburi is another reminder of the continuous failings of the Nigerian leadership. Suggestions that it should be re-visited tell the story of Nigeria’s tiredness with the search for solutions. The greed of the elite has resulted in short-term efforts to re-arrange the country to benefit it. Nigerians have consequently being saddled with leaders they do not need.

Under different names, most prominently, sovereign national conference, calls have been made about finding more sustainable solutions to the daily difficulties of living in Nigeria under constitutional dictates that guarantee Nigerians liberty and security. Unfortunately, no Nigerian government attempts to pursue those ideals.

More trying are the constitutional binds that put critical matters of the economy in the control of the over-burdened Federal Government. Governments at the local government level, another constitutional provision, barely exist. States, without any legal powers, decide if there are local government councils and the duration of their tenure.

States depend mainly on revenue allocation from the general purse for their operations. The more unproductive the states are, the more the general economy degenerates as it bears the burden of catering for everyone and everything.

The main attraction of Aburi was the recommendation for more powers for the regions. Before the 1966 challenges reined in the powers of the regions, they managed their affairs well, raised their own revenues and paid taxes to the central government for defence and other services. The competition for excellence among the regions left each thriving in its areas of core competence.

Regional universities in Nsukka, Ife and Kaduna are grand testimonies to the depth of regional administration, which developed at paces they could afford. Various regional enterprises were successful. No government has replicated what the regions did with their marketing boards. Cotton, cocoa, groundnuts, palm oil, leather were major agricultural products in which Nigeria was among world leaders. Proceeds from these products sustained regional governments well before the discovery of oil.

These attractions of regional governments fail to consider the quality of leadership in the post-military dispensations. Nigeria suffers from gross leadership deficiency, a defect that poses more challenges than form of government.