By Justice Faloye 

There is no doubt that true Federalism in a culturally diverse nation like Nigeria is the ultimate political aspiration towards an egalitarian just society, but like every good thing it requires investment to achieve. 

Apart from issues of state policing for better security, opposed by those that want to keep the centralized structure for economic and political exploitation, the agitation for true federalism is fueled and also blocked by selfish sectional interests to control a largely colonial economy, based on food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing subsector taxes, and not about building a sustainable balanced advanced national economy with high wages to uplift the citizenry. 

Obviously, fiscal federalism is not economically viable since only two out of six regions, six out of 36 states, are economically self sufficient – Lagos and Prot Harcourt based on their ports and import and export businesses. It requires a two thirds quorum to amend the constitution, leaving one to wonder how unsustainable undeveloped federating units, either regions or states, can rationally vote for fiscal federalism. 

Unfortunately, our political classes will rather blame other ethnicities and personalities for the failure to restructure, instead of tackling the economic barriers. Just like they all blindly supported superficial arguments for subsidy removals, when asked how restructuring will bring about economic prosperity and sustainability to majority of states, they mumble that mining, a continued neocolonial extractive low wage economics. Not considering the cost in finance and environmental degradation, nor oversupply that besets commodity prices. Just a few rich elites with their foreign partners, exploiting land and the poor.

The US constitution was delayed for over a decade after independence because of the political economic conflict between Southern slaveowners and the industrial North, which was finally resolved with the 1787 Three Fifths Compromise that prescribed regarding Black people, their economic driver, as three fifths of a human being to determine states representation at the legislature and for tax purposes. The need for a constitution actually arose when Americans sought economic independence after 165 years of slave plantation economy, based on the golden triangle between the Americas, Africa and Europe, which was created, controlled and exploited by European monarchies.

When President Olusegun Obasanjo stated that he supported Buhari who was not good for economics but was politically disciplined against corruption, I wonder why would he back someone that couldn’t resolve our number one problem. Then again I recalled that Chief MKO Abiola’s agitation for slavery reparations and economic power led the West and their neocolonial guards to deprive him of his mandate.

The root of all Black peoples problems is Economics. We were enslaved for the economic exploitation of the sickle cell genes of our labour that could withstand insect bites in sugarcane and cotton plantations. When African slaves rose to a level that they began overpowering White slave owners, the Western civilization evolved a new economic system based on colonization, in which Africa territory was divided into colonies solely for the primary production of cash crops and natural resources, and act as a dumping ground for European manufactures, leading to colonial laws and constitutions. 

Agitation for independence was allowed from those who agreed to change the laws but not the economics, which was why South Africans that demanded the control of the gold mines were the last to get their flag independence in Africa. Africans leaders that turned around after political independence to get economic independence were overthrown by their Western indoctrinated and weaponized army. So, African leadership shied away from economic issues, and continued the low wages exploitative agricultural, agro allied and mining sectors.

Like African American politicians that focus more on civil rights than economics, their African counterparts avoid economics issues, and prefer grandstanding on revising constitutions fought for since independence that never really transformed the colonial economy to empower the people. It is obvious that constitutions worldwide were created to institutionalize and sustain newly evolved economic systems, but don’t create economic systems.  At independence, what should have been done was the building of African focused consumer and producer markets from the core. Some leaders of the newly independent nations like Chief Awolowo adopted the prevailing global economic thought of Welfarism (Afenifere) and massive public works, started with US President Federick Roosevelt 1933 New Deal, and postulated as Keynesian economics through institutions like the Fabian Society. 

However the Western colonists that wanted to keep their economic exploitation set out to destroy the commodity markets used to fund the building of a sustainable independent market. The Western Powers then empowered the IMF and World Bank to enforce neo-liberal economic policies that tightened the poverty trap since it ignored slavery and colonial historical costs. Whenever a new government comes into power, IMF and World Bank officials are usually the first to visit to spell out the economic restrictions that must be followed if the new leader doesn’t want his country to be blacklisted and economically destroyed.

Though most Black nations are too small to have large markets to fight Western economic blackmail, Nigeria has a large enough market to fight economic isolation from the West. To build its consumer economy, like the USA New Deal and other European nations in the Fifties, Nigeria must embark on massive public works to ensure every citizen has a roof over his head. Houses are a source of wealth creation and growth driver for consumer goods. With over 20 million homeless people, and population increases of over 6 million every year, 17,000 people daily, the Nigeria government must build at the very least 20,000 houses every day for at least five years. This doesn’t include the 300,000 built a year by the private sector. 

At the core of industrialization are railways, which are the largest production unit of iron and steel, chemicals and plastics, electric sectors etc. Railways have the largest income and employment multiplier effects across the economy as they affect every economic sector. Currently 40% of our agricultural output is wasted due to lack of storage, freezing and haulage which only can be efficiently provided by railways. The production of its iron, engines and other parts can go on to produce for other existing or new sectors. Therefore to build its productive economy, the Nigeria must strive to have a railway station in each of the 774 local governments by building at least ten kilometers every day across the nation.

The coloniality of knowledge sources and economy wrongly make our leaders believe that there is no way out, but from the Modern Monetary Theory it has been shown that the massive public works could be achieved as long as the increase in money supply doesn’t seep into imports that would bring about inflation and devaluation. Unfortunately our mentally constrained political class continue focusing on agriculture with low wages used to exploit the masses like the White slavemasters and colonists. Their focus is to agitate for a greater share of the neocolonial economy for Prebendalist motives, and not geared towards building an integrated economy that can enrich and empower all citizens. While the top economic classes have been able to monopolize the proceeds of agriculture, the fight for decentralization for some agitators is about monopolizing mining, which is about primary production of a colonized people.

If every federating unit has its housing market fully functional with railways that promote heavy manufacturing, they will be in support of decentralization and fiscal federalism, regardless of their region, tribe or religion. 

Prince Justice J Faloye, President ASHE Foundation think tank.