Nigeria can’t be stampeded into restructuring – AGF

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), has said that reforms and modifications of institutional arrangements, systems and processes are normal in federations, but these cannot be achieved in single swoop as being advocated in Nigeria.

The AGF stated this in his remarks at the opening of a Think-Tank Conference on ‘Federalism and the Challenges of Dynamic Equilibrium in Nigeria: Towards a National Strategy’, organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru , Jos, Plateau state on Tuesday.

In a press statement made available to newsmen in Abuja Wednesday by his Special Adviser, Comrade Salihu Othman Isah, the AGF emphasised that change is a gradual process that must be democratic and subjected to legislative and administrative processes as provided by law and indeed the constitution.

“We must use democratic means to reform our federal system. We need to recognise that both Federalism and democracy are mechanisms for managing diversity. Indeed , while federalism provides the institutional framework for managing diversity, democracy makes possible the negotiation of diverse identity claims by providing them with representation, voice and political mechanisms by which their competing claims are balanced and reconciled,” he stated.

Malami also pointed out that there is no true or false federalism but each federation, reflects essentially, the particular conditions and circumstances that produced it.

“We cannot wish away the particular conditions and circumstances that had produced the challenges in our federal system. We must use democratic means to find solutions to these numerous challenges,” he cautioned.

The AGF, unequivocally, maintained that democracy is the best way to articulate citizen’s preferences and place limits on arbitrariness, adding that it is not out of place to state that as far as constitutional democracy is concerned, the idea of restructuring is not a function of advocacy or agitation but about constitutional accommodation.

He said, “As things stands, restricting requires amending the constitution to accommodate referendum or in the alternative an amendment to the 1999 constitution which must be supported by majority of legislators, 24 states of the federation as enshrined in section 9 of the constitution.”

“Whether that process is going to be an easy sell is a conjecture that should be left for deliberation of this forum, but one thing that is certain is the inevitable implication that abolishing states through restructuring process will certainly translate to the eventual multiplier effect of abolishing the states House of Assembly and perhaps downsizing the National Assembly.”

He urged the think-tank conference to make usable recommendations with clear implementation strategies to enable the country move forward.

Speaking earlier, the acting Director General, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Mr. Jonathan Mela Juma, represented by Professor Abu Galadima explained that federalism was adopted in Nigeria in 1954 to provide a dynamic equilibrium between centrifugal and centripetal forces in the country given its multicultural nature.

He stated emphatically that since its adoption, “federalism in Nigeria has been experiencing disequilibrium between centralising and decentralising forces which had affected the union.”

Juma noted that concerns about the increasing number of centrifugal forces within the Nigerian federation had been expressed by experts, opinion leaders, civil society organisations and many others at all levels of government, which requires immediate attention.

In his words, the conference was aimed at “providing platform for you to conduct a problem solving discourse on the theme with a view to developing a national strategy for effective response to the current challenges of federalism in Nigeria.”

In his goodwill message, Venerable (Prof.) Akin Akindoyenimni, an alumnus of the NIPSS who chaired the occasion stressed that to retrofit current federating units; there was the need to have to establish a suitable solution to structural stability in politics.

He also added that solid foundation of procedural decision making for every facet of development and a suitable ambience for self-realisation for every Nigerian individual, community, ethic group as well as the nation as a whole is required to achieve it.

He expressed dismay on the inability of those in the governance driver’s seats to keep faith with the noble objective with which NIPSS was established which accounts for part of the impasse and social ills being experienced in the federation today.

In a keynote address, former Minister of Information, Professor Sam Oyovbaire noted that there is a huge disconnect between available stock of knowledge and of live experience in Nigeria federalism as it stands.
He advocated for devolution of powers, resource control and sustenance of the three tier structure as acclaimed.