The flashpoint of Nigerian federalism was re-stoked recently at a media company’s event in Abuja where Vice President Kashim Shettima once again beat the shop-worn drum of the status quo.

For him, there is nothing wrong with our current federal structure. “The problems we attribute to our federal system,” he was quoted as saying, “often stem from the poor management of what is already within our grasp, not from any inherent flaw in our constitutional architecture. The issue is not merely how much each federating unit accrues, but how judiciously such resources are utilised…”

Shettima correctly argued that there is no “one size fits all” model of federalism, and all federal systems are constantly undergoing change. He claimed that the Supreme Court judgement enforcing Local Government Autonomy, which was prompted by President Bola Tinubu through the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), is the administration’s strategy of reforming our federalism.

The notion that only corruption and poor management are the problems of our current federalism assumes that once you remove these elements, the system will work. However, the fact that corruption continues to worsen despite our serial anti-graft wars simply means that the system itself is a breeder of corruption.

The agitation for a return to the federal model we practised in the First Republic, with a regional structure and massive devolution of powers, is based on the failure of our military-style centralised federalism. We have practised the two systems, and it is obvious that the former, which is fondly referred to as “true federalism”, was far more progressive than what we now have.

There is a scientific correlation between form and function. Planes have aerodynamic features and wings. Trucks are built for speed control. In the same vein, the old regional structure was built for production, competition and rapid development from the grass-roots. The current military-decreed state system is built for federal revenue allocation, sharing and consumption.

It is a dependent and parasitic federal set-up that has reduced Nigeria to the world’s poverty capital, despite its enormous human and natural resource capitals. It has brought Nigeria to the final stages of state failure. Nigeria is no longer able to protect its citizens from armed non-state actors, criminals and insurgents. Hundreds of thousands of Nigerian youth flee annually to foreign countries for survival.

It is unfortunate that those who live off the fat of this country are cocooned from the daily traumatic challenges that the ordinary people face. They defend the indefensible and resist the call for a return to sanity.

It is an irony that Tinubu who was once a front-line “democracy and true federalism” activist, has settled comfortably into a system he once opposed even as Lagos State Governor.

We must abandon this sinking ship and return to the system that worked.