Nigeria’s Unity Negotiable – Atiku

* Says Nation Can’t Develop Without True Federalism
* Considers Distribution Of VAT Unjust

Abuja – There is nothing sacrosanct about Nigeria’s unity, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said on Monday, noting that it is negotiable.
He also noted that Nigeria will continue to grope in the dark in its struggle for development unless there is proper restructuring of the nation and federalism practised in its proper form.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in July warned that Nigeria’s unity was not negotiable while receiving a cross section of Nigerians most of whom were Muslims, who were in his residence within the precinct of the Presidential Villa to pay him sallah homage during the Eid-el-Fitri celebration this year.
He was speaking against the background of incessant bombings of oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) which apparently threatened the peace and unity of the country.

Federalism Bastardised
In making the observations, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar insisted that federalism as being practised in Nigeria is bastardised and not working because the power at the centre is too much, not getting used for the interest of the people but for the economic interest of those in position of authority alone.
In a lecture entitled ‘Strength and Unity in Renewal: Towards a Rebirth of Nigerian Federalism’ delivered at the public presentation of a book ‘The Nigerian Federalism: Continuing Quest for Stability and Nation-Building’ edited by Okechukwu Ibeanu and Mohammad J. Kuna, in Abuja, Abubakar also faulted the modality being used for distribution of money collected for Value Added Tax (VAT).
He noted that some states are being cheated of their resources in terms of VAT distribution by the Federal Government.
According to him, states that didn’t contribute to funds raised through VAT on some items should not benefit from its sharing.
Nigeria’s Unity Negotiable
He stated that those calling for renegotiation of Nigeria’s unity have a right to do so, as he noted that relationship of any kind cannot flourish in an environment where negotiation is not allowed.
“What I find odd and somewhat unhelpful is the argument of those who say that we cannot renegotiate our union and who proceed from there to equate every demand for restructuring with attempts to break up the country. I believe that every form of human relationships is negotiable.
“Every political relationship is open for negotiations, without pre-set outcomes. As a democrat and businessman I do not fear negotiations. That is what reasonable human beings do. This is even more important if a stubborn resistance against negotiations can lead to unsavoury outcomes.
“I have spoken a number of times in the past several years on the need to restructure our federation in order to devolve more power and resources to the federating units.
“Recently, I went to Kaduna and told an audience of mostly my compatriots from the North, where most of the resistance against restructuring seems to come from, that restructuring is in the interest of the North and Nigeria.
“I have even called on states in each geo-political zone to, in the interim, pool their resources together to provide some services for their people for greater efficiency and cost effectiveness”, Atiku Abubakar said.
‘We Must Develop Home-Grown Federalism
Speaking on the real challenges of proper practice of federalism in Nigeria, the Turaki Adamawa highlighted the identified problems with Nigeria and its practice of federalism, saying a home-grown federalism must be developed in Nigeria for the nation to grow.
“We must acknowledge that what got us to our current over-centralised and centre-dominated federal system is political expediency and fear, and bolstered by the command and control character of military regimes. But after 50 years of ‘unitary federalism’ we are now in a position to clearly see that it has not worked well.
“The federating units in the First Republic had their disagreements but none claimed to lack autonomy of action, and none waited for federal fiscal allocations before it could implement its programmes and pay salaries. The current structure may be working for some elite but it has clearly not worked well for any section of this country and the country as a whole.
“We should take deliberate steps to change this structure to serve us better. And we should not dither for too long that we let fear and expediency stampede us into another disastrous policy shift that may not serve us well either.
“We have to acknowledge that federalisms are works in progress: there is no ideal federal system or so-called true federalism. Each nation has to work out the best federal system suited for it. In Nigeria’s case we must acknowledge that it is disingenuous if not outright dishonest to say that the system is not the problem.
“If the problem is just the operators how come we have failed for 50 years to produce the right people? Should we import them from outer space? A look at our 1999 constitution, specifically Section 7, which, as the introduction to this book notes, has 83 legislative items as against 15 for the states (which the Federal Government can also override) shows that there is a huge problem with the system.
“I challenge anyone who is against restructuring our federation to show me another well-functioning federal system in the world with that level of lopsided central dominance. Individuals operate within certain structural and institutional constraints. If all we lack are good operators, as these people argue, would anyone advocate doing away with constitutions altogether so we rely on fantastic individuals to do the right things.
“We must acknowledge that agitations for more states across the country, the clamour for more federal take-over of state institutions, and the clamour for local government autonomy (i.e. autonomy from state governments) are inconsistent with establishing a viable and well-functioning federal system.
“We already have too many weak and unviable states. What we need are stronger federating units (be they existing states or zones) with a greater share of resources and responsibilities.
“I have been shouting myself hoarse asking why we should have federal roads, federal schools, federal hospitals, etc. I have called for state police, for the states that so desire, to help us provide more effective security.
“In 2012, I went before ALGON in Enugu and told them that their clamour for local government autonomy from state governments is misguided. I told them that it is wrong for the Federal Government to be creating local governments and giving them money directly from the federation account. What is the meaning of ‘local’ then, I asked? How does the transfer of local government dependence on state to central government translate to autonomy? Even our state governments are nearly totally dependent on the Federal Government, meaning they do not even have the autonomy that we are trying to give to the local governments that are below them. This is a complete absurdity.
“Can anyone honestly claim that our local governments have performed better since the introduction of the joint state/local government account than they did prior to the coming into effect of that constitutional provision? We must end our culture of institutional escapism in this country. By that I mean our tendency to create new institutions to solve problems for which we already have institutions just so we avoid dealing with the shortcomings of the existing institutions.
“We must acknowledge that in federal systems that work, federating units cede certain powers to the centre. In our strange federal contraption, it is the centre that is creating federating units, giving them money and monopolising most power and resources. Thus our state governments are no longer performing as federating units. Rather, they currently seem like dependent provinces of the central government in Abuja.”
Unjust VAT Collection
He went further to condemn the current situation where some states do not allow sales of certain goods but always wish to participate in money raised from VAT collected on such item.
Some states in the northern part of the country do not allow the sale and consumption of alcohol in their society but are still collecting funds from the VAT raised from sale of alcohol.
“Think about this: sales taxes ought to be collected and used by states and local governments. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong in a federal sales tax but states must agree with the Federal Government what items should be taxed, at what rate and how the proceeds are to be shared. They ought to be uniform.
“If a state is opposed to cattle tax or bicycle tax or alcohol tax, or pollution tax, for instance, it should not expect to share in the tax proceeds from those items. That is called fairness.
“In fact, states should be the ones collecting those taxes on behalf of the Federal Government and get compensated for their work, through an agreed sharing formula, rather than duplicating the cost of collection. Federal intrusion makes it more difficult for a state to collect taxes from items that may be peculiar to it, thereby narrowing the tax base. And it makes enforcement even more difficult”, he said.
The stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) noted that the current situation is not beneficial to anyone, and therefore must be changed if progress must be made.
“No section of this country can claim correctly that its people are better served by the current structure of our federation. When we were not dependent on oil revenues and when the federating units had greater autonomy of action and were largely responsible for their affairs, they, that is our regional governments, did not owe workers their salaries for several months. They did not shut down schools and universities for several months because of teacher strikes and inadequate funding.
“Take a look at the industries that the regional governments established and ran and the quality of schools that they established, and see if you can see a state government or a group of state governments that have bested them since the emergence of our unitary federalism. And also ask yourself which of those establishments taken over or established by the Federal Government since, has performed as well as they did under our pre-1966 federal system.
“National unity does not mean the absence of disagreement or agitations. In fact disagreements and peaceful agitations indicate vibrant and living relationships. The key to making national progress is to manage those disagreements in peaceful and mature ways.
“Political and civic leaders from across the country must come together, discuss, negotiate and make the necessary compromises and sacrifices needed to restructure our federation to make us a stronger, more united, productive, and competitive country. Perhaps we might start with making our grievances and fears apparent. When each section or party to a dispute airs its grievances and expresses its fears and concerns, the outcome may be better understanding by others, and a quicker route to a resolution or agreement. That’s perhaps how we should proceed with the much needed rebirth and renewal of our federation”, he said further.