Farewell to state creation, kudos to the Senate By Emmanuel Yawe At my last count, there were demands for 42 additional states before the National Assembly. If all these demands were granted today, Nigeria would end up with 78 states. It is doubtful if the agitators have ever read the constitutional provisions for state creation. If they have and are honest with themselves, they should have known that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a state to be created in Nigeria with the 1999 constitution in place. In any case, throughout the history of state creation, only one – the Mid West Region – was created since Nigeria became independent by politicians. All others – beginning with that of General Yakubu Gowon in 1966, that of General Murtala Mohammed in 1976; General Ibrahim Babangida -two times in the 80s and early 90s; and that of General Sani Abacha in 1996 – were through martial legislation. To the Brits who amalgamated the Southern and Northern protectorates in 1914 to form Nigeria, the country was best run on a tripod federal structure – North, East and West. Initially, the inbuilt instability in the tripod was not apparent to Nigerian natives. They were more concerned with shaking off the yoke of colonial rule. But as the country moved rapidly towards independence, the minority ethnic groups became restive about what would become their fate in an independent Nigeria. Their agitations in all the three regions forced the colonial government to set up a commission of inquiry in 1958, headed by Sir Henry Willinks QC to look into their fears. That commission, popularly known as Willinks Commission saw a lot of merit in those fears as presented to them in their countrywide public meetings. Part of their own recommendation was that additional regions or states be created to allay those fears. But they went ahead to warn that the process of state creation would further delay the attainment of independence and intensify the heat generated by nationalist agitation for a sovereign Nigeria. By consensus, it was agreed that Nigeria should become independent in 1960 and proceed therefrom to sort out its minority problems. It never worked out quite nicely as was thought. After independence, the demand for more states was propelled by a new force of its own. The minorities of the North demanded a Middle Belt State and this gradually became a resistance movement particularly in Tiv Division of Benue Province. In the Western Region, the minorities around Benin and Delta Provinces similarly demanded a state of their own. In the East, the minorities of Ogoja, Rivers and Calabar rose up to demand their own state. It was from here that Isaac Adaka Boro took up arms and became a hero of his people. Interestingly enough, while none of the three parties, the NCNC, NPC and the AG, led by the big tribes, wanted a region carved out of their regions, they promoted the causes of states in the other opposing Regions. The NPC in the North was opposed to the idea of a Middle Belt in its region but welcomed the agitations of Benin and Delta people in the West and also those of the Ogoja, Calabar and Rivers people in the East. The leadership in the West did not support the demand for a Mid West Region but it actively supported the UMBC of the north in their agitations for a Middle Belt state and also the minorities of East. At the end of the day, the NCNC and NPC succeeded in undoing the opposition Action Group by splitting the West. That was how the mid Western Region emerged. This complex struggle for power led to the collapse of the constitutional order of the first republic. Unfortunately, the victorious section of the military that emerged on the political scene neither understood the complex nature of the country nor the nature of the aspirations of the minorities and the direction of their struggle for states of their own. In a tragic demonstration of political insensitivity, Major General Aguyi Ironsi announced the promulgation of a decree, known as the Unification Decree, which collapsed all the regions and gave him the sole power to run the huge and complex country as one regiment! This may have been an ideal style of administration under the military with their command structure, but it was simply a disaster for Nigeria. That decree had tragic consequences for the country and its author who never lived long, after that, to see the grave implications of his political misadventure. The country moved to the precipice of disintegration. A civil war became almost inevitable and it took General Gowon’s wise decision to split the country from its four regional to a twelve state structure to save the country from its self destructive course. The dismembering of the regions into states was one master stroke that helped the federal side in the fight to keep Nigeria one. But as important as it is to the survival of our federal structure, additional states themselves cannot tackle the minority problem in Nigeria. Often, when a new state is created, a new majority and minority arises in the new polity, setting up new oppressors and the oppressed in yet another round of accusations, counter accusations and endless recriminations. In the end, what will determine the survival of our democratic life and even our life as a country is good governance and not how many states we create out of Nigeria. It is bad government that induces all kinds of agitations, some genuine, some not so genuine and others patently criminal, taking refuge under one popular cause or the other. Ironically, the endless creation of states has eroded the concept of federalism in our system and structure. The states are now so weak that most of them depend almost wholly on handouts from the federal government without which they cannot survive. When states depend on the centre for resources and direction, we lose the federal ideal of governance. The duplication of administrative structures has also eaten deep into the fragile resources of the multiple states. The high cost of administration has invariably made service delivery – in crucial areas of human existence – a very difficult task for the new administrative units. At a time in our history, the creation of additional states was seen as a one stop solution to all our national problems. The Senate has in its own wisdom told all those who still think so to look elsewhere. Emmannuel Yawe is a former Crystal magazine Editor.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 17:04:32 +0000
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