The national conference which has few more weeks to go before winding down has adopted series of resolutions. Some of the resolutions and proposal has been good and some are terrible. The larger question is the constitutional basis for this gathering and how their proposals will make their way into Nigeria constitution. However, it is important to examine some of the notable proposals adopted so far by this august body chaired by the former supreme court chief justice, Idris Legbo Kutigi.
State Police: National conference recommendation that will permit state governors to establish state police force if they wish is long overdue. This is a very good idea which will mitigate the current deplorable security situation in Nigeria. Centralization of the police as currently exist in Nigeria has not been effective. State police will be more familiar with the people and culture of their state. They will be in a better position to gather necessary intelligence required to carry out their job since the local population will likely have more trust and confidence in them. I wish the national conference had gone further by recommending establishment of Local Government Area police force or even Township police force. However, state police is a good start. The potiential probem with state police force is that they could be misused by some state governors who will unleash them against their opponents and enemies. It is serious concern which could be addressed by providing mechanism for temporary nationalization of any state police who are not following the constitution. State police force will clearly complement and enhnace the current national police force.
Immunity Clause: Removal of immunity clause for governors and presidents appears to be one of the best proposal adopted so far by the conference members. Every Nigerian know that corruption and insecurity is the most serious issue confronting the nation. Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation as most Nigerians knows. It has brought governance to a standstill in some cases. Economic and Financial crime commission (EFCC) and other law enforcement agencies cannot effectively prosecute a governor or president who is misusing tax payers money or federal allocations in a timely manner. They have to wait till the governor or president leaves office before they can be prosecuted. Passage of time makes all the difference when it comes gathering evidence and commencement of prosecution. Waiting for 4 years or more before bringing charges against elected official makes it difficult to successfully prosecute a governor or president who engaged in looting and corruption while in office. Ministers, Commissioners, state and national legislatures do not have immunity and they are doing just fine. United State’s governors are doing fine also without immunity. There is no doubt that some sitting governors or president will be distracted from their job with frivolous lawsuits. It could be remedied by making sure that a sitting governor or president legal fees will be fully covered by the government while the president or governor is in office so they will not leave office bankrupt. Also, base salary and pension of governors and president need to be increased so the temptation to loot government treasury will be curtailed.
Single Term: The national conference rejected one term tenure of 6 or 7 years for the governors and president. Rejection of single term is a very positive development for Nigeria. Single tenure takes away the incentive to record accomplishments in the first term so the sitting governor or president will be rewarded with second term due to the past accomplishments. The urge to win relection is a form of political competition and an incentive to perform since one term governor or president are generally not regarded as successful. We have seem some Nigerian governors throwned out of office after one term for non-performance. It is great that Nigeria elections is becoming more free and fair. 6 or 7-year tenure is way too long for a citizens of a state or any nation to get the opportunity to vote out a bad governor or president. The idea that single term will cut down election violence is not quite true. It will not do much, other than give the politicians a license to loot the state treasury or natioanl treasury with little or no accountability since they will not have to worry about re-election.
Rotational governorship and Presidency: The conference adopted rotation of the presidency between the north and south shared among the 6 geopolitical zones, and governorship rotated between the 3 senatorial zones of each state. Rotational pesidency or governorship is a very bad idea for so many reasons.
Rotation of elective offices encourages mediocrity by reducing pool of applicants for positions since the person selected from a zone may not be the best person for the job. Rotation of the governorship and presidency sounds great, but it is frought with danger because a governor or president selected from a particular zone may be tempted to divert the state or national resources to their zone since they will not need the vote of other zones to get elected or re-elected. Moreso, it could take about 30 to 50 years for the presidency to go around all the geopolitical zones.
Rotation of the office of the president and governor will also be a logistic nightmare because all parties has to forced to select their candidates from aparticular zone in each election. There is no way to force all parties to select their candidate from a particular zone without the obnoxious single term concept. It is safe to conclude that forced rotational presidency or governshop is a very bad idea that should be discarded.
Their is nothing wrong with political parties zoning elective and appointed offices on their own as a political strategy and a way to get wider acceptance and win election. All Nigerian political parties are currently zoning various offices on their own because they know that they cannot win presidential election if their party do not reflect the national character. Same applies to governorship election.
Creation of more states: The national conference adopted a proposal recommending creation of 19 additional states in Nigeria. This is another bad idea out of the national conference. Nigeria should not be carved into states at anybody whims. The people making this recommendations assumes that oil will be there forever, and that federal allocation from oil revenue will continue indefinitely. Nothing could be further from the truth because Nigeria oil will run out at some point, and all this states will be forced to rely soley on internally generated revenue to meet the needs of their states. Most of the current states in Nigeria today will not be economically viable without yearly federal allocations from oil revenue. There is no question that creation of states over the years from, 12 to 36, has led to more development at the state and local level, but Nigeria does not need more states. Perhaps, one more state in the southeast to equalize the number of states in each geopolitical zones maybe worthwhile considering. We need to redouble our effort in stabilizing the existing 36 states so they can become self-sufficient absent federal allocation from oil revenue. Government could be brought closer to Nigerian by creating 4th tier of government called the township council with officials elected on nonnparty basis. The Township government should be given power to levy taxes in addition to the federal revenue they will be receiving. This will bring government closer to the people and encourage rapid development if coupled with real war on corruption to checkmate the officials. Effective local governance is the panacea for rapid development and the most effective way to bring government closer to the people.
National conference should also institute law against tribalism, nepotism, ethnicism and religionism. Every Nigerian must be able to travel, live, contest and hold political office wherever he or she desires in any part of Nigeria without any form of harasement. This concept may be alien to some Nigerians but people will get use to it with time. Nigeria can only succeed in the long run if all ethnic groups can live and work together. The national conference will end soon. Lets see what the Federal government will do with their recommendations.