Appraising the call for a new national dialogue in Nigeria

Happenings in Nigeria in recent times have shaken the very foundation of this country. From calls for self-determination, referendum and to restructuring, the speed at which those calls are made signposts a country that is in need of a new direction.

At length, there seems to be a collective move to chart a new direction for Nigeria going by the new stance of the seventeen governors in southern Nigeria.

In an unprecedented move, and which has received commendations across the nation, albeit with pockets of protests here and there, the executive governors of the seventeen states in southern Nigeria met in Asaba, the capital of Delta State on Tuesday May 11, 2021 to review the current state of affairs of the federation.

Their resolutions, now regarded as the Asaba Communiqué, have renewed hope in Nigeria by emphasizing that the nation is not rudderless. Rotimi Akeredolu, the Ondo State Governor who read the communiqué stated inter alia that they “affirmed that the people of Southern Nigeria remain committed to the unity of Nigeria on the basis of justice, fairness, equity and oneness and peaceful co-existence between and among its peoples with a focus on the attainment of shared goals for economic development and prosperity.”

The communiqué went further that the governors resolved “that open grazing of cattle be banned across Southern Nigeria; noted that development and population growth has put pressure on available land and increased the prospects of conflict between migrating herders and local populations in the South. Given this scenario, it becomes imperative to enforce the ban on open grazing in the South (including cattle movement to the South by foot).”

The southern governors also called for restructuring of Nigeria, while also emphasising the need for a new national dialogue to save the country from disintegration. The joy that has swept across southern Nigeria following that historic meeting and their recommendations could be interpreted to mean that southern Nigerian people have longed for such move from their elected leaders.

As commendable as that meeting, however, the unanimity among the southern governors for a new national dialogue calls for more scrutiny. From the socio-economic point of few, a new national dialogue now is not what Nigeria needs. It is a misplaced priority.

This is because, there have been a number of national dialogues held in the past, of which if their resolutions are implemented now, the problems bedevilling the nation presently would have been solved, or at least not be at a level posing existential threats to Nigeria.

We have the late Sanni Abacha Constitutional Conference of 1994/95; the Olusegun Obasanjo’s National Political Reforms Conference of 2005; the 2014 National Conference, as well as the Nasir ElRufai led Committee Report. The late Sanni Abacha Constitutional Conference may be said to have been organised by a military junta, the other reports in 2005, 2014 and the El- Rufai Committee Report were organised by democratically elected governments in Nigeria.

The El-rufai Report called for more devolution of power to states. The committee suggested that ten items on the Exclusive Legislative List should be moved to the Concurrent List. The ten items as listed by the committee included: drugs; poison; foods; narcotics and psychotropic substances; mines and minerals (including oil fields, oil mining, geographical surveys, and natural gas); stamp duties; police, public holidays, railway, fingerprints and identification of business names.

Further, the El Rufai Committee’s report recommends merger of states if those states so desire; suggests the principle of derivation that will vest the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission Act the power to review the derivation formula periodically; fiscal federalism and revenue allocation; as well as the devolution of powers.

As good as El-rufai Committee’s recommendations are there seems to be unanimity of acceptance of the 2014 Constitutional Conference by the different ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, for no reasons other than the comprehensiveness of its recommendations.

The 2014 Conference Report, blended with the El Rufai Report could provide the needed solutions Nigeria currently needs. Or what else does the nation need now that has not been addressed by the two reports?

In an era funds are not sufficient for the three tiers of government, resulting in continuous borrowings, which have raised Nigeria’s public debt to new highs, the call for a new national dialogue in the presence of the aforementioned reports is a misplaced priority. The 2014 Constitutional Conference Report was attended by 500 individuals who represented different interests. Apart from that, the deliberations lasted for about five months.

The state of this nation requires urgent solutions, not a gathering of individuals whose recommendations may be swept under the carpet in the manner past and current Nigerian leaderships have treated previous recommendations from national conferences.