Implementation of APC True Federalism report key to restructure Nigeria – Lukman
Tunde Opalana, Abuja
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Salihu Lukman has once again called on the President Muhammadu Buhari – led APC administration to consider the 13 points recommendation of the report on True Federalism initiated by the party in solving the looming ethno – religious tension that pervades the country.
Lukman in a statement Saturday titled ‘Nigeria’s Volatile Politics and the APC Report on True Federalism’, said inability to address issues of ethnic tension has continued to inflame all manner of political crisis in the country.
The Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum, said the belief among political leaders that ethnic tension will always be part of the character of politics in the country may be responsible for the attitude of indifference and unwillingness to consider proposals for governance reforms bordering on true federalism or restructuring.
He said his position does not represent the view of any APC Governor or the Progressive Governors Forum.
Hinging his reasoning on the recent events in the country especially with the purported eviction order on Fulani marauders by Ondo State government and the generated ethnic tension in the country, he said poor management of the issue can weaken the capacity of government to resolve important governance problems, which may not necessarily be caused by ethnic factors but could easily be given ethnic interpretation
He was of the opinion that the task of managing volatile politics is simply a case of either political leaders are able to initiate active ways of controlling the narratives of how citizens interpret government actions or government accept the distractive accusations of ethnic biases to all government initiatives.
With 2023 in view, he said “ahead of elections, almost everyone become sucked into the politics of ethnic contests. Every government initiative and almost all actions of political leaders get interpreted in ethnic terms. Once initiatives are not taken to control and manage the manifestation of ethnic politics in the country, all ethnic groups will be vulnerable almost to the same degree”.
He, therefore charged all party leaders to protect the achievements of APC governments, especially the Federal Government and President Buhari by overcoming the current lethargic attitude against initiatives for true federalism or restructuring.
Lukman urged President Buhari and the APC government to review, adopt and implement the report of the APC Committee on True Federalism with Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State and Sen. Olubunmi Adetunmbi, as Chairman and Secretary respectively.
He said the Committee identified thirteen (13) issues based on the review of reports of National Conferences, including the 2005 National Political Reform Conference and the 2014 National Conference. The 13 issues identified are – Creation of States, merger of States, Derivation Principle, Devolution of Powers, Federating Units, Fiscal Federalism & Revenue Allocation, Form of Government, Independent Candidacy, Land Tenure System, Local Government Autonomy, Power Sharing & Rotation, Resource Control and Type of Legislature.
The Director General, however lamented that the full report of the Committee which was submitted to the APC National Working Committee on January 25, 2018 are yet to be considered, three years later.
He said the consideration to hold dedicated meeting to consider adopting the recommendations of the Committee may have been lost in all the chains of leadership crisis being experienced by the party since 2018.
The party chieftain said the report had provided a large window if opportunities to fix issues around restructuring of the country.
“Recommended governance reform initiatives contained in the report of the APC Committee on True Federalism present a big window of opportunity for the nation and APC leaders in particular to develop the capacity to manage our volatile politics laden with ethnic and religious influences.
“To be able to manage our volatile politics, we need to strengthen our governance institutions. Inability to proceed to initiate processes of strengthening governance institutions in the country as contained in the recommendations of APC Committee on True Federalism will continue to subject our leaders to often unfair accusations of ethnicity based on wrong perceptions.
” And if care is not taken, no matter the achievement of our leaders, public recognition of the tenure of our leaders may be dictated by perceptive judgements of poor performance based largely on bad management of ethnic relations.
“Although, no matter what any political leader is able to concede, there will always be the strong presence of political demands by ethnic groups, it is important to appeal to our leaders to consider the bigger picture, which is about responding to national challenges and strengthening the capacity of governance institutions in the country to serve Nigerians.
“The recommendations contained in the report of the APC True Federalism Committee have potentials to strengthen the capacity of government institutions at all levels to respond to most of our security challenges, for instance.
“Most of the recommendations will elicit wide range of disagreements from many groups and interests across the country, a debate to consider them will raise hopes and almost everyone will most likely find something appealing as much as there will be cases of strong objections to some of the recommendations.
” It is important to understand that debating the issues doesn’t mean it is a decision for implementation. Debating these issues through our processes of law making as enshrined in our constitution is a fundamental requirement.
“As a party committed to change, the best way to demonstrate that should be to move the country to the level of active engagement to consider recommended initiatives.
Ensure that we operate a truly federalist system of government and our democracy is both representative and responsive should be a shared objective of every political leader in the country.
“This is not a task for only President Buhari. As much as being the leader of the party and President of the Federal Republic, he has a crucial role, every leader of the party is also responsible”, said Lukman..
He submitted that the advantages of considering the recommendations contained in the report far outweigh all the fears that has held the nation tied to the current volatile politics of ethnic tension.
He praised the party for producing recommendations for governance reforms as contained in the report which he said is not a small achievement by a political party such as APC with membership as diverse as the country.
“Arguably, it is the first time in the political history of Nigeria that a political party, not government, is undertaking such extensive national consultations on a contentious political issue such as true federalism or restructuring.
Being the governing party, and able to successfully come up with the recommendations contained in the report of the Mallam Nasir El-Rufai led Committee on True Federalism, further raised expectations about the potentials to move the country forward such that issues of ethnic relations would be prioritised based on initiatives to minimise grievances arising from governance issues in the country”, he concluded.
