There is nothing like “True Fiscal Federalism”…..it does not make sense. Fiscal federalism on the other hand is the relationship between what may be dicentralized and what may be centralized with respect to functions and instruments of governance. Federalism is a system of government in which two levels of government are practiced within a defined territory. It is generally, an overarching national government which governs issues that affect the entire country, and smaller subdivisions like state and local govts…..as in the case of Nigeria….hence this is why she is called Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The advocates of the so called “true fiscal federalism” says…..power should be decentralized and states and local govts. should exercise the control of fiscal powers. Meaning: States must generate their own finance and pay tax to the central federal govt. instead of the federal govt. feeding the states and local govts..That is how I read them in a nut shell ….if I am wrong they should correct me.
However states already do this within the federation.
I am not a social scientist but perhaps no one can spin me with words….Apart from the fact that there is nothing like “true fiscal federalism”, if they investigate on the true meaning “fiscal federalism”, they may just drop that phrase…. When the German-born American economist Richard Musgrave in 1959 introduced and coined the word “fiscal federalism”, it was an improvement of the 1939 paper “Voluntary Exchange Theory of Public Economy”….it separates the redistribution framework into 3 functions, that government activity should be separated into three functions or “branches,” macroeconomic stabilization, income redistribution and resource allocation. Did you hear the word “economic redistribution”?
As that phrase evolved: Fiscal federalism in the present evolved and was explained as a study of how competencies, expenditures, revenues are allocated across the vertical layers of administration. Do not let the terminologies confuse you. In simple terms it is simply transfer of payments or grants by the federal or centralized govt. to the lower levels of government which can either be conditional or non-conditional.
Hence when the disciples of the coined phrase “true fiscal federalism” scream ….unknowingly to them, they are in fact advocating the Father Christmas approach to governance.
I repeat there is nothing like “true fiscal federalism” but there is a “fiscal federalism”
Now let me tackle their specifics!
They say…Nigeria should be restructured entirely and I have disagreed by explaining that….the restructuring must be on a step by step fashion. I am going to break this down in very simple terms so that the 10 year old can understand.
The British handed power of sovereignty to Nigeria and left her in a sort of dis-centralized form……but NOTE THIS as many persons are confused by it…..The 1963 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria DID NOT grant ownership of “natural resources” to the local communities or regions. Meaning if there was gold, diamond, quatz, Bitumen, crude in any regions within the Federal territories of Nigeria, it is still the property of the Central Govt. However states or regions at that time before the 1966 coup could generate their own funds and pay tax to the federal govt. which was healthy…..
Basically what caused the problems we see today was basically the imbalance of the political power distribution. The tripod which Nigeria was standing: Northern, Eastern and Western for starters did not even give voices to the minorities as the Igbos, Hausa Fulani and Yoruba was dominant. The political power struggle collapsed the first republic…..
At that time, no one saw the black gold coming, save for SHELL and CHEVRON who perceived Nigeria was a gold mine in the future with respect to Oil. The political heads within Nigeria could not perceive aright. Going through the classified documents of CIA now declassified, you will be stunned at how this oil companies took sides to hoodwink the Nigerian political heads to massacre their own people all in the name of separation. In fact Ojukwu knew CHEVRON was going to be the power house of oil exploration if Biafra succeeded in its struggle…..The two sisters SHELL controlled by Britain and CHEVRON controlled by France were the chess players and Nigeria was the chess pieces….the pawns were the Nigerian people.
The advocates of “true fiscal federation” or whatever the meaning of that, claim that if a restructured Nigeria along that line is fashioned, Nigeria will be saved. My reply…that is a big fat lie! The stage and maturity of governance must be in tune with the psyche of her people. In fact democracy is not and will never be a perfect system of governance.
Let me give a simple example of this…..If you give 2 children one brought up in the house of royalty and the other brought up in the house of equal rights an assignment to draw out a plan on how to train a dog, they will give two very deferring opinions…..the former may almost present a unitary function and the latter a loose method.. …another example is giving a 6 year old or civilian a live ammunition to shoot at a target without proper guidance as against a trained soldier who in essence must still be guided anywayz. The former may almost shoot and perhaps kill you if you are not careful and the latter will understand the dangers and benefits in a step by step operation of that live ammunition up to the point of pressing the trigger to shoot at the target.
Democracy according to Fela is a demonstration of craze! …though it is functional and right for the present epoch……but a two edge sword in the hands of a persons or group of persons who is not borne from the basics within the primordial DNA of the individuals.
You will almost certainly create a cartel and an unseen demon if an overwhelming restructure takes place. An example of this is the creation of Venezuela which started from a decentralized form of governance did not understand the lessons and is currently on a socialist form and almost crushing herself. But she is learning a fresh. If you are complaining of an oppressive central govt. now what happens when you create an unseen demon in the name of restructure.
DONT GET ME WRONG…..Nigeria needs to be restructured BUT, must be done with a step by step fashion or else she will collapse into pieces….We remember the clamour for a South Sudan……In a unified Sudan a gloomy picture was painted of how the North were oppressive to South Sudan and the voice of separatists and decentralization of power became louder hoodwinking world leaders and celebrities to point at the wrong enemies which they tagged the North. I remember before the separation I got into a debate with my Sudanese friend while I was in post graduate school in in the UK…..telling him the problem was not about separation but about psyche and greed. I told him South Sudanese with the way they reason cannot self-govern and will destroy themselves within. I went further by telling him self-governance must be learnt gradually through guidance and monitoring and that the African needs to learn to identify the true enemy which was not his fellow colour but the way he thinks and identifies the enemy! He always identifies the enemy with sentiments and emotions. He never truly identifies the true enemy. He is angry all the time. I warned him that if Sudan separates we will as well see who the true enemies are. His co Sudanese who was living in the same hostel in the University were almost at each other’s neck when they discussed politics……I sometimes jump in to tell them….focus your energies on the true enemies which is the way you think. The man from the North liked my approach but the Southern Sudanese Christian saw me as a betrayer. 6 months ago he sent me an email and said….Gawain I wished more Africans can reason the way you did….Africa will be like Japan and China. I now understand your word when you meant step by step and I am using this in my new job with the Africa Union.
He went further by saying: Our religion and ethnic divide are our true enemies. We are fools! South Sudan is currently experiencing the worse form of massacre, rape and mis-governance we never experienced when we were one.
Though the advocates of true fiscal federalism have not clamoured for a separate country as the short sighted separatists are doing, they do not see the hidden danger behind the shadows. They are directly or indirectly playing into the hands of separatists. Some of them in truth are hidden separatists and are only using the true fiscal federalism as a smoke screen to infuse their intentions to separate Nigeria. I must warn them….separation does not come with water but with blood and it does not matter if we are living in 2016….The game is still the same but in varying faces…The end result is simply blood shed which no one wants. Do not attract what you cannot handle. Some of us have experienced wars face to face, eaten and lived with it. We know the lessons and will never advocate for a death struggle in the name of ideologies…The after effect is too traumatic…..
Nigeria has greatness within her, she is very powerful and can emerge into an African empire if we learn the basic principle of unity, fairness devoid of any ethnic and religious sentiments. Restructuring Nigeria must go on, but the ladder of restructuring must be climbed one movement at a time. The reason for the first civil war was simply about restructuring and over 1 million lives were taken after the restructure came about…..
How about learning the rudiments of good governance and accountability for starters……then the basics of local govt and state separation of powers, then state police and so on and so forth. You do not yet have the ability to restructure wholesale because your temper is still short fused in religion and ethnicity….You will collapse again if you move at break neck speed. It is no rocket science. You collapsed the first time and destroyed a healthy system….Have you learnt the lessons…..maybe yes, maybe not.
The removal of the current power elites whom have plunged the country to her present state is not hard if you see things deeply…..There is always divine providence in any nation and the emergence of Jonathan first and Buhari now is simply not accidental. I never from the beginning supported GEJ and saw his lack of shrewd and tough leadership meant for Nigeria, however I sensed the providence within him and the happenings to show our people that it is simply not the ethnicity that can liberate them but the character. One would expect a Niger Delta upgraded in good roads and infrastructures after GEJ had left, instead we have billionaire militants and misgovernance in the Niger Delta regions…even politicians being beheaded and killed. Does this not make sense to you that the maturity and development of the psyche is key? The lessons of GEJ is learnt….we are now on the lessons of Buhari….let us develop aright and sense that it is not the machine that makes the system perfect but the Man……The machine must be operated by the man….indeed the machine is designed by the man and the character of the man shows the operation of the machine. Understand the allegorical meaning aright!
Every country on this planet earth has a structure and when you say restructuring, you are up building within an existent structure…This is how it should be done…not tearing the paper and starting all over again. You must plan within an existent structure and evolve…..Intellectuals will always hit the rock in the eyes of intuition.
