PRofessor Gordini Darah, a delegate representing Delta State at the National Conference teaches English and Literary Studies at the Delta State University, Abraka.

A former Chairman of the Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspapers, he also served as chief of staff to the former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori. He spoke to Vanguard on his expectations from the National Conference.

By OKEY NDIRIBE

His expectation from the confab

The conference should improve on Nigeria’s present constitutional structure which is the legal basis for the underdevelopment, poverty, violence and instability in this country.

That document which is called the 1999 constitution was produced by a tyrannical military regime. The accumulated iniquities and oppressive policies and tendencies that military regimes executed in Nigeria from 1966 to 1999 are incorporated into that document.

The most defining feature of that constitution is the over-centralization of political power and administration. This is because that system suited centralised military command; it was the Military Head of State who posted governors, created states and local governments and also allocated resources to them. Loyalty to the military’s central command was a requirement.

A civilian regime operates from a different perspective. It operates from a system of decentralized and diversified source of power. This is because the people who are going to govern need to be elected. And the electorates are the people they must account to.

1999 constitution inappropriate for a federal society

So, the present constitution is inappropriate first for a civilian regime and secondly for a federal society. The federal system is known for power decentralisation in which there is a central government which coordinates with the governments of the federating units and not superior to them. They are at par; there is no hierarchy of one above and another below. That was how Prof. Weah defined federalism over 60 years ago. It derived from the American experience of 1787.

It took Nigerians 10 years to produce 1960 federal constitution

Nigeria also chose federalism at the time of independence in 1960. The choice did not come hastily. It was as a result of 10 years of Constitution making. Among all the constitutions in Africa, the Nigerian independence constitution took the longest time to make.

The constitutional conferences that produced that constitution began in 1950 and lasted up to 1959. Those conferences followed procedures and took place in stages; the Macpherson Constitution of 1951 was the most democratic.  The British colonial regime consulted village councils to send their views. From the villages, it went up to clan heads and from there it went up to provinces. From there it went to Lagos. That was how the people were also elected; those elected to attend those conferences were truly representative.

The 1960 constitution therefore incorporated all these essential federal features.

What they arrived at was that the regions would be the federating units, but would be coordinate with the Federal Government that had limited responsibilities which it could carry out efficiently. These included the military, immigration and several other functions.

The most vital aspect of that constitution was what was called fiscal federalism; that was the economic aspect of federalism. The political aspect of federalism was the arrangement of the tiers of government and their responsibilities.

Under fiscal federalism, the resources of the nation and how they should be generated and allocated are explained. Even though, the British were an imperialist force, they recognised the diversity of Nigeria and the variety and location of natural resources.

The British even before they drew up a Constitution for Nigeria, settled for fiscal federalism. In 1946, even before the regions were created, they set aside a minimum of 50 percent of revenue generated from any region for the generating region. That was carried into the 1951 Constitution and retained in 1952 when the first indigenous civilian governors were appointed.

Leaders of government

They were called leaders of government. These included Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto.

“In 1954, an election was held and the indigenous leaders of government became premiers. The same system of fiscal federalism was retained and carried to 1957 and 1958. The 1960 Constitution captured it in Section 140, sub-section one.

In 1963, we had the Republican Constitution and it still retained these genuine federalist features.

Studies have already been done on the advancement that Nigeria attained under that arrangement in terms of regions striving on their own, taking initiatives, exploiting their local resources and then connecting with the global economy. The regions had Liaison offices in London like embassies. The regions also had their own constitutions. You can see how advanced that system was 50 years ago.

After all that we now retreated. So, the basic problem that this National Conference should address is to restore the principles of fiscal federalism.

“On behalf of Delta State for which I am speaking, we advocate 100 percent control of our resources out of which an agreed percentage of our revenue would be paid to the central government for maintaining and running essential services.

If adopted, this will unleash creativity, energy and investment. It will make Nigeria competitive and enable the country to catch up with those it began the race of nationhood and economic development.

These include India, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. These were Nigeria’s contemporaries in the 1960s.

The projection for Nigeria during the 1960s was that in 20 years, it would become a world economic power. But all these years have been a period of serious waste.

However, it is only those of us who are still alive today that can effect the repairs. So, this conference has the responsibility and duty to repair the Nigerian system; make it accountable, democratic, responsible and efficient enough to cater for the needs of 170 million people and other African countries, who look up to us for assistance.

On the preamble of the 1999 Constitution

The preamble of the 1999 Constitution has been extensively analysed in public media. It is actually a fake statement.

It was just incorporated there by the military to give the impression that the constitution reflected the will of the Nigerian people. Of course, you could say we went for a Constitutional Conference in 1976 under the Obasanjo-Murtala Mohammed regime.

Then we went for another one between 1988 and 1989. There was a conference during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha. The drafters of the 1999 Constitution could claim that the document emanated from consultations with different layers of society.

It is a popular phrase that you find in most democratic constitutions all over the world.  It is now we are going to give substance to that statement.”