It is not always the case that an obvious answer to a nagging problem is perceived by many as one, until someone, perhaps out of a deed reflection over the matter, draws everyone else’s attention to the point. Sometimes it is a minor issue, or an overlooked point, that has the potential to turn the table and do the magic in the quest for a solution.
This is the case with the recent and timely admonition by the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, to the effect that Nigeria should return to the old and creative regional rivalry in the country that engendered the sterling development up to the earl years of independent. Speaking in Asaba, the Delta state capital, at the start of the second edition of the South- South Economic Summit, he advised that a return to that system should replace the current clamour for a national conference that many groups and highly placed individuals have canvassed as a panacea for the nation’s ills.
Nigerians should abandon the lingering clamour for national conference and begin to ``act the national conference’’ by taking their destinies in their hands.
At independence in 1960, Nigeria had three regions – the East, North and West. A fourth region, the Midwest, was added in 1963. Each of the regions then was, in reality, full-fledged entity of its own, having and optimally exploiting its abundant natural resources. The West had its Cocoa, which became the bedrock of the region’s financial and educational success that still resonates until today. The West’s cocoa economy proved what is becoming more manifest today – that this crop can be a trusted earner of foreign exchange and can also play a key role in the local economy. The North had its famous Groundnut Pyramids of Kano, while the East was known for its Palm Oil. These were the major commodities in the regions, but there were others, which together made the areas as the pillars of the Nigerian economy then.
Each region, led by committed politicians, showed some level of pride in the resources with which nature so graciously endowed it, and worked had to make the most of them. As Soyinka said, there was ``creative rivalry’’ among the regions, because each sought to achieve the best for its people using the materials located in its domain.
When the regions in the good old days built the edifices that have outlived their leaders such as universities, five-star hotels, roads, and gave free education as the case may be, they did so without relying on handouts from the central government. If they could achieve so much many years ago, with the level of technological advancement that has taken place since then, and given more resources that have been identified as existing in the various places, they are even better placed today to achieve much more.
Therefore, as Soyinka admonished, the regions should engage in policies and strategies of development that would progressively reduce the central government’s powers to determine the ``fate’’ of their peoples. Which state or region would want to achieve the highest rate of literacy among its people? Which state would like to be associated with the lowest level of unemployment among the federating units of the union? And, which, for instance would to be seen as best markets for its resources, in terms of foreign exchange earnings from its export of such materials. These are some of the questions we believe that can drive such a healthy rivalry among Nigeria’s states or regions.
We cannot agree more with Soyinka on the point that the central government is impeding the pace of development of the constituent parts. To checkmate this overbearing presence of the federal government, a state or region must strive to create its economic vibrancy that can guarantee its liberty.
Reduced to its nuts and bolts, the clamour for a national conference is simply a call for an agreement on, not just the way we want to be governed, but much more importantly, how we want to share the goods of the land. It is clear that the whole struggle for the control of Nigeria is about how to share the goods, not really how to grow or bake the cake, as it were. Those who struggle to get into the central government do so because that is where the resources are concentrated. Yet, according to the Nobel Laureate, the politically correct thing to do is, in his words, to ``act the national conference’’ by taking their destinies in their hands.
As commonsensical as Soyinka’s suggestion might seem to some, its relevance first and acceptance by the decision-makers, has been obscured so far by our obsessive penchant for legislated advantage. Virtually every state or region believes it has some divinely given rights that should give it some advantage over others and for those who hold this view, the call for the national conference is simply an opportunity to have such a status on them written into law.
Yet, all in all, every region of Nigeria has something that can make it great in its unique area. A loosely federal system will only help each area look inwards, identify and develop its own field and thus carve a niche for itself. That is partly what the Laureate meant when he said the central government is delaying the growth of the regions. For as long as the current system based on sharing subsists, the states or more appropriately the regions, will continue to see each other as opponents, rather than partners. For so long will the call for a review of the revenue sharing formula continue, and no formula will ever satisfy everyone. However, when each region or state develops its field to the best possible level, the benefits in terms of competitiveness will emerge and ultimately foster trading and other economic relationships among them.
Ultimately, though, what has to be agreed upon will be what the relationship between the federating units and the central government should be. This will have to do with what the region’s or state’s obligations to the centre will be, and vice versa. In our view, that question is best addressed when each of the units comes to the negotiating table from a position of strength derived from the state of its economy back home. For now, many of them are far from this point.
