Is the call for restructuring the country being fueled by the
vocal segments of the political elite who have lost or are losing
out in the political power game?
This is the thinking of the Senator representing Kaduna Central,
Shehu Sani, when he summed that it would appear that more often
than not, the call for political restructuring is loudest when the
strong, vocal segments of the political elite have lost or are
losing out in the political power game.
The vocal Kaduna senator quickly added that what he said should
not in any way be construed to mean that he endorsed the present
socio-economic and politico-legal framework underpinnings the
management of the public space in the country.
This is contained in a lecture he delivered at the weekend on
the “Imperatives of Sustaining One Nigeria” at the 5th Annual
Parliamentary Lecture of the National Association of Oyo
Students.
Sani, who is Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign
Debts and Vice Chairman, Senate committee on Foreign Affairs,
traced the clamour from a section of the populace in South East
calling for the creation of the sovereign state of Biafra, the call
by the South-South, especially the oil producing region of the
Niger Delta, for greater resource control, fiscal federalism and a
northern group, which, after arrogating to themselves the powers
and privileges of Landlords, issued a quit notice to the Nigerian
citizens from another ethnic group.
He also recalled that from some top political elite, former top
brass of the military and others came strident calls for a
restructuring of the country and declared that it would appear that
the indissolubility as well as the sovereignty of the State over
the entity and political contraption called Nigeria is being
questioned and challenged by some of its own citizens.
The development, he said, gives the impression that the state is
under siege.
He recognized that strident calls to tinker with the structure
of the country will not be the first time that Nigerians are
calling for a review of the basis of togetherness in the
country.
He recalled that after the amalgamation of 1914, Nigerians
continued to clamour for improvements in the overarching
socio-political and legal framework on the basis of which
pre-colonial governance was predicated.
He listed the 1922 Clifford Constitution, the Arthur Richards
Constitution of 1946, the John McPherson Constitution of 1951 and
the Lyttelton Constitution of 1954 and the Independence and
Republican Constitutions of 1960 and 1963 respectfully.
Clearly, he said, political independence was not accompanied by
political and administrative machineries capable of dealing with
the diverse concerns of the over 300 ethnic nationalities in the
country.
The Nigerian Civil War, he added, signposted not just
inter-ethnic intransigencies but the structural dysfunctions of the
socio-economic system.
Sani noted that from General Yakubu Gowon’s post-Civil War
effort of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (the 3
Rs) to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s 2014 National Conference
there have been several efforts at addressing the discontents
within the Nigerian polity.
On “Imperatives of Sustaining One Nigeria” he noted that without
any doubt the agitations across the country is overheating the
polity and threatening the basis of the corporate existence of the
country as constituted under the extant laws of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
He posited that the agitations, particularly the recent calls
for restructuring, must be placed in proper context and addressed
in a manner that strips the narrative of both primordial sentiments
as well as the self-serving interests of the political elite.
The lawmaker argued that “it would appear that more often than
not, the call for political restructuring is loudest when the
strong, vocal segments of the political elite have lost or are
losing out in the political power game.”
To underscore his position, Sani added “What I have just said
should not in any way be construed to mean that I endorse the
present socio-economic and politico-legal framework underpinnings
the management of the public space. “
The hue and cry over marginalization, he maintained, “ is both
real and deserving of urgent national attention. “
But who really are the marginalized, he posed
“In this auditorium over 90 percent of those here present are
the youths. According to the recent census figures this category of
our populace is over 70 percent of this nation of over 170 million
people. Both economically and politically this massive segment of
the population has been marginalised, impoverished and
alienated.
“And rather than a concerted national effort to redress this
very debilitating reality, the narrative and contestation over the
notion of marginalisation have tended to focus on regional/ethnic
preoccupations with power sharing and resource control
arrangements.
The calibre of restructuring that I advocate for shies away from
an excessive preoccupation with this arrangement because as our
history has shown it has not helped the trickling down of the
commonwealth to the masses.
Sani is not convinced that “the recalibration of the national
revenue allocation formula, tinkering with the principle of federal
character, etc would necessarily improve the lots of our teaming
vibrant, energetic, visionary, industrious young people who are
able and ready to take on the critical task of moving our society
forward.
“I advocate for Nigeria’ conspicuous youth bulge to be placed up
and centre in our national discuss, and in our pursuit of national
growth and development.”
China, he said, is reputed to graduate over 4 million youths
annually from its tertiary institutions and to have in place
domestic and foreign policies that backstop these graduates both at
home and abroad and across diverse sectors.
“Today China is an indisputable economic, political, military
and industrial power. It is correctly adjudged to be the world’s
workshop, pulling millions and millions of its citizens up and
above the poverty line every year.
“I think that we should focus on our youths because the almost
60 year old narrative of the elite is too dysfunctionally fixated
on political power and raw material resource sharing. We live in a
knowledge driven world where cutting edge Information and
Communication Technology is being used to blaze the path to a
future that promises to be even more globally competitive than it
is now.
“How can we be talking of a vision 20 2020 (i.e. being among the
top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020 – just 3 years away)
when all the national energies of our political elites have, in
recent years, focused almost solely on amassing rent from raw
materials and primary commodities and corruptly gorging themselves
with the commonwealth.
“Again, I submit that youth development and empowerment is the
key to resolving Nigeria’s socio-political, economic and legal
malaise. Their energies, vision and industry, properly harnessed,
is the antidote to the centrifugal forces currently threatening the
corporate existence of the country,” he said.
Following from the above, Sani believed that sustaining a one
Nigeria dictates that the mandate of government – at all levels and
across all tiers, Executive, Legislative and Judiciary – must be
refocused on human capital development and productivity.
The Executive, he insisted, must declare a National Education
Emergency aimed at revamping and repositioning our educational and
research institutions.
“We must, as a matter of critical urgency, deploy the needed
human, material and infrastructure support that would help our
tertiary institutions make the prestigious list of the league of
globally ranked institutions,” he said
The critical mass of quality manpower that would be produced, he
said, must however be complemented by continuous commitment to
Research and Development ((R&D) as well as other fiscal and
monetary policies to facilitate innovations and entrepreneurship
while “the management of almost every facet of our economy is in
the hands of the youth. Yet onerous obstacles lie on their paths,
effectively excluding their active participation in politics beyond
the civic duty to vote.”
Sani said that all provisions in the annals of our laws and in
our body polity must therefore be critically interrogated and
progressively revised in favour of youth development and
empowerment provisions.
He highlighted the urgent need for a creative re-engineering of
the political space, including an active and progressive
de-monetisation of the electoral process through the introduction
of such practices as Independent Candidacy in electoral
contests.
He added, ‘Over the past 60 years Nigeria has witnessed a lot of
social and cultural integration. Many of our youths are the
products of mixed marriages. Many more have been born in
metropolitan centres far removed from the states of origin of their
parents. It is politically delimiting to make any demand on these
youths which borders on the requirements of states of origin. As in
the right to vote, the right to contest and be voted for, as well
as the right to public resources among other things, should all be
predicated on residency requirements only.”
He called on “all the youths to be actively involved and to
resist any attempt at either the balkanization of Nigeria or
succumbing to a brand of political restructuring which completely
sidelines the critical question of equity, justice and dignity for
the Nigerian people irrespective of their ethnic, religious or
political affiliations.
Poverty and marginalization, he postulated is not necessarily a
north or south issue.
“To illustrate this point, may I draw your attention to the fact
that people of northern extraction have been in power far more than
any other sections of this country. Yet the most debilitating forms
of poverty, illiteracy, disease and hopeless continue to stalk
millions of the populace. Of what use has the tenacious grip on
power by the northern oligarchs and political aristocrats been to
the millions of poverty stricken households of the north,” he
asked.
The activist politician challenged the youths here gathered to
refuse to be hoodwinked by the political elite. They (the elite)
form alliances among themselves and have a common interest in the
plundering of the Nigerian commonwealth. You, also, form your own
alliances, build bridges and network of friendships from Port
Harcourt to Sokoto, Abakaliki to Maiduguri, Lagos to Asaba through
to Kano. Believe in One Nigeria!
“I can see already a very vibrant parliament in this school. So
much so that I think you can rightly be called the “Shadow
Parliament”. Members of the National Assembly therefore better sit
up if they want to keep their jobs come 2019. The government as a
whole better begin to think creatively about how to keep Nigeria
working well for all Nigerians.”
Is the call for restructuring the country being fueled by the
vocal segments of the political elite who have lost or are losing
out in the political power game?
This is the thinking of the Senator representing Kaduna Central,
Shehu Sani, when he summed that it would appear that more often
than not, the call for political restructuring is loudest when the
strong, vocal segments of the political elite have lost or are
losing out in the political power game.
The vocal Kaduna senator quickly added that what he said should
not in any way be construed to mean that he endorsed the present
socio-economic and politico-legal framework underpinnings the
management of the public space in the country.
This is contained in a lecture he delivered at the weekend on
the “Imperatives of Sustaining One Nigeria” at the 5th Annual
Parliamentary Lecture of the National Association of Oyo
Students.
Sani, who is Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign
Debts and Vice Chairman, Senate committee on Foreign Affairs,
traced the clamour from a section of the populace in South East
calling for the creation of the sovereign state of Biafra, the call
by the South-South, especially the oil producing region of the
Niger Delta, for greater resource control, fiscal federalism and a
northern group, which, after arrogating to themselves the powers
and privileges of Landlords, issued a quit notice to the Nigerian
citizens from another ethnic group.
He also recalled that from some top political elite, former top
brass of the military and others came strident calls for a
restructuring of the country and declared that it would appear that
the indissolubility as well as the sovereignty of the State over
the entity and political contraption called Nigeria is being
questioned and challenged by some of its own citizens.
The development, he said, gives the impression that the state is
under siege.
He recognized that strident calls to tinker with the structure
of the country will not be the first time that Nigerians are
calling for a review of the basis of togetherness in the
country.
He recalled that after the amalgamation of 1914, Nigerians
continued to clamour for improvements in the overarching
socio-political and legal framework on the basis of which
pre-colonial governance was predicated.
He listed the 1922 Clifford Constitution, the Arthur Richards
Constitution of 1946, the John McPherson Constitution of 1951 and
the Lyttelton Constitution of 1954 and the Independence and
Republican Constitutions of 1960 and 1963 respectfully.
Clearly, he said, political independence was not accompanied by
political and administrative machineries capable of dealing with
the diverse concerns of the over 300 ethnic nationalities in the
country.
The Nigerian Civil War, he added, signposted not just
inter-ethnic intransigencies but the structural dysfunctions of the
socio-economic system.
Sani noted that from General Yakubu Gowon’s post-Civil War
effort of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (the 3
Rs) to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s 2014 National Conference
there have been several efforts at addressing the discontents
within the Nigerian polity.
On “Imperatives of Sustaining One Nigeria” he noted that without
any doubt the agitations across the country is overheating the
polity and threatening the basis of the corporate existence of the
country as constituted under the extant laws of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
He posited that the agitations, particularly the recent calls
for restructuring, must be placed in proper context and addressed
in a manner that strips the narrative of both primordial sentiments
as well as the self-serving interests of the political elite.
The lawmaker argued that “it would appear that more often than
not, the call for political restructuring is loudest when the
strong, vocal segments of the political elite have lost or are
losing out in the political power game.”
To underscore his position, Sani added “What I have just said
should not in any way be construed to mean that I endorse the
present socio-economic and politico-legal framework underpinnings
the management of the public space. “
The hue and cry over marginalization, he maintained, “ is both
real and deserving of urgent national attention. “
But who really are the marginalized, he posed
“In this auditorium over 90 percent of those here present are
the youths. According to the recent census figures this category of
our populace is over 70 percent of this nation of over 170 million
people. Both economically and politically this massive segment of
the population has been marginalised, impoverished and
alienated.
“And rather than a concerted national effort to redress this
very debilitating reality, the narrative and contestation over the
notion of marginalisation have tended to focus on regional/ethnic
preoccupations with power sharing and resource control
arrangements.
The calibre of restructuring that I advocate for shies away from
an excessive preoccupation with this arrangement because as our
history has shown it has not helped the trickling down of the
commonwealth to the masses.
Sani is not convinced that “the recalibration of the national
revenue allocation formula, tinkering with the principle of federal
character, etc would necessarily improve the lots of our teaming
vibrant, energetic, visionary, industrious young people who are
able and ready to take on the critical task of moving our society
forward.
“I advocate for Nigeria’ conspicuous youth bulge to be placed up
and centre in our national discuss, and in our pursuit of national
growth and development.”
China, he said, is reputed to graduate over 4 million youths
annually from its tertiary institutions and to have in place
domestic and foreign policies that backstop these graduates both at
home and abroad and across diverse sectors.
“Today China is an indisputable economic, political, military
and industrial power. It is correctly adjudged to be the world’s
workshop, pulling millions and millions of its citizens up and
above the poverty line every year.
“I think that we should focus on our youths because the almost
60 year old narrative of the elite is too dysfunctionally fixated
on political power and raw material resource sharing. We live in a
knowledge driven world where cutting edge Information and
Communication Technology is being used to blaze the path to a
future that promises to be even more globally competitive than it
is now.
“How can we be talking of a vision 20 2020 (i.e. being among the
top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020 – just 3 years away)
when all the national energies of our political elites have, in
recent years, focused almost solely on amassing rent from raw
materials and primary commodities and corruptly gorging themselves
with the commonwealth.
“Again, I submit that youth development and empowerment is the
key to resolving Nigeria’s socio-political, economic and legal
malaise. Their energies, vision and industry, properly harnessed,
is the antidote to the centrifugal forces currently threatening the
corporate existence of the country,” he said.
Following from the above, Sani believed that sustaining a one
Nigeria dictates that the mandate of government – at all levels and
across all tiers, Executive, Legislative and Judiciary – must be
refocused on human capital development and productivity.
The Executive, he insisted, must declare a National Education
Emergency aimed at revamping and repositioning our educational and
research institutions.
“We must, as a matter of critical urgency, deploy the needed
human, material and infrastructure support that would help our
tertiary institutions make the prestigious list of the league of
globally ranked institutions,” he said
The critical mass of quality manpower that would be produced, he
said, must however be complemented by continuous commitment to
Research and Development ((R&D) as well as other fiscal and
monetary policies to facilitate innovations and entrepreneurship
while “the management of almost every facet of our economy is in
the hands of the youth. Yet onerous obstacles lie on their paths,
effectively excluding their active participation in politics beyond
the civic duty to vote.”
Sani said that all provisions in the annals of our laws and in
our body polity must therefore be critically interrogated and
progressively revised in favour of youth development and
empowerment provisions.
He highlighted the urgent need for a creative re-engineering of
the political space, including an active and progressive
de-monetisation of the electoral process through the introduction
of such practices as Independent Candidacy in electoral
contests.
He added, ‘Over the past 60 years Nigeria has witnessed a lot of
social and cultural integration. Many of our youths are the
products of mixed marriages. Many more have been born in
metropolitan centres far removed from the states of origin of their
parents. It is politically delimiting to make any demand on these
youths which borders on the requirements of states of origin. As in
the right to vote, the right to contest and be voted for, as well
as the right to public resources among other things, should all be
predicated on residency requirements only.”
He called on “all the youths to be actively involved and to
resist any attempt at either the balkanization of Nigeria or
succumbing to a brand of political restructuring which completely
sidelines the critical question of equity, justice and dignity for
the Nigerian people irrespective of their ethnic, religious or
political affiliations.
Poverty and marginalization, he postulated is not necessarily a
north or south issue.
“To illustrate this point, may I draw your attention to the fact
that people of northern extraction have been in power far more than
any other sections of this country. Yet the most debilitating forms
of poverty, illiteracy, disease and hopeless continue to stalk
millions of the populace. Of what use has the tenacious grip on
power by the northern oligarchs and political aristocrats been to
the millions of poverty stricken households of the north,” he
asked.
The activist politician challenged the youths here gathered to
refuse to be hoodwinked by the political elite. They (the elite)
form alliances among themselves and have a common interest in the
plundering of the Nigerian commonwealth. You, also, form your own
alliances, build bridges and network of friendships from Port
Harcourt to Sokoto, Abakaliki to Maiduguri, Lagos to Asaba through
to Kano. Believe in One Nigeria!
“I can see already a very vibrant parliament in this school. So
much so that I think you can rightly be called the “Shadow
Parliament”. Members of the National Assembly therefore better sit
up if they want to keep their jobs come 2019. The government as a
whole better begin to think creatively about how to keep Nigeria
working well for all Nigerians.”
Read more https://nairalaw.com/why-cry-for-restructuring-is-loudest-now-shehu-sani/