By Bisi Akande
Having participated, together with Baba – Senator Ayo Fasanmi, in the 1977/78 Constituent Assembly that enacted the draft legislations which birthed the Nigerian constitutions since the military misadventures in governance, I am glad to be invited to this event marking an anniversary of Senator Ayo Fasanmi’s passage. In his beliefs and statements mentioned in this book, Nigerian cultural integration, social and economic infrastructural development and peaceful national progress were prominently revealed.
As I indicated in my book, My Participations, published by Gaskia Publications, the military government of General Obasanjo which convoked the Constituent Assembly as part of its transition to disengage from power, inserted such various amendments to the constitutional enactments as to whittle down the powers and authorities of the Nigerian federating units. Had the military government allowed all the recommended enactments of that Constituent Assembly to stand, our lot, in Nigeria, might have been very different today. Similarly, had the National Assembly adopted key recommendations of the various political reform conferences that Nigerians have had, the polity would have attained more national cohesion and peaceful co-existence. That’s why, in regards to the ends pursued by Senator Ayo Fasanmi according to the manifesto of the political family to which we both belonged, the focus of my remarks, today, is on the ‘Devolution of powers to the federating units’, whatever those units turn out to be in the end.
Let me quickly say that ‘Federalism’ is a most complicated word to define among politicians of the developing worlds. The simplest Federalism, in my opinion, is a “two tier theater of authority” where the sovereign authority is shared between the ‘central’ and the ‘regions’ or between the ‘Federal’ and the ‘state’ governments. In Nigeria, where there had been further complications of ethnicity and cultures or religions and where states had been arbitrarily created by the military without regards to cultural affinity nor financial viability, variants of subsidiary authorities might need be considered.
Let me also put quite simply, devolution is the allocation, transfer or delegation of power or authority by laws from a central government to subnational units, such as regional, state, or local government. The purpose of such devolution generally is to bring the government closer to the people so that problems of security, poverty, and agitation for self actualisation could be reduced or better handled. The logic is very simple. Federating units or subsidiary units are usually the theatre of action. That’s where you have the land, the forests, the farms, the schools, the hospitals, the manufacturing industries and even the roads and the citizens together with daily economic and social activities. Federating or subsidiary units are also, therefore, the theatre of insecurity, especially in helpless communities, as we are witnessing today. Yet, in Nigeria, states are not equipped well enough to defend themselves in the present arrangement.
Take education, for example. What business has the Federal Government to engage in primary and secondary education? These schools are located in the states and their local governments. It is in these schools that pupils are socialised into their local culture through their language, customs, and patterns of social interaction. It is important here to note that US Department of Education does not establish schools or colleges and does not determine curricula or even educational standards. Rather, it focuses on establishing and implementing policies on financial aid for education; collecting and disseminating data on American schools; prohibiting discriminations; and focusing national attention on key educational issues, such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education.
The truth is that subsidiary units perform better in Nigeria when they are in control of their resources, security outfits in the cities and the forests, and in all other activities within their space. That was why the different regional governments were able to achieve a lot between 1954 and 1966, just within a space of twelve years! The more centralisation we have had since then, the greater the insecurity, the more people have fallen into poverty, and the more the agitations for self actualisation.
Admittedly, no system of government is perfect. But some are more suitable for particular nations than the others. Yes, Nigerians have chosen a federal system with a democratic form of governments as the political driver. However, we still have to reorganise our federal inter unit relationship in order to make our democracy work more efficiently. In recent human history, there has been no better way to attain efficiency in a federal or unitary system than devolution of powers to the subnational units.
America works because its federal system, which we copied, thrives on the devolution of powers by laws between the central and the states; and, each state devolves powers to local governments, known variously as counties, boroughs, municipalities, and townships. Even federal elections are conducted at these lower levels, collated at the county level, and certified by the state, without an overarching FEDECO or INEC. There is only a Federal Election Commission, whose singular purpose is to enforce campaign finance law and only in federal elections. It does not conduct or collate results!
Within the last 50 years, other democracies, whether federal or unitary, have copied the American model by further devolving powers to regions, states, and other smaller units mostly in response to agitations from these subnational units. As far back as the 1970s, for example, devolution of powers became a major political issue in the United Kingdom as people from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland demanded greater control over their own affairs. This culminated in 1997 in the creation of a Scottish Parliament with the authority to raise taxes, followed by the creation of the Welsh Assembly. In 1998, Northern Ireland was also granted its own parliament.
Similar developments began in France in the 1980s, when President Francois Mitterrand expanded the authority of the three layers of subnational government, by removing the supervisory role of the central government in their affairs. Today, France’s regions, departments, and communes are in control of their own affairs. In Italy and Spain, the central government has also granted considerable autonomy to regional governments.
In every democracy, devolution is viewed as a way to reduce regional, ethnic, or religious tensions, especially in multiethnic societies like our own. It also prevents finger-pointing at one another as every group will be in charge of its own affairs. In this regard, there are lessons to learn from India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia, where devolution has yielded positive results and from Latin America, where devolution has not yielded desired outcomes, especially in the poorer regions, due largely to mismanagement by the central governments.
It is one thing to devolve powers to subnational governments. It is another thing for the subnational governments to have the resources they need to effectively control their own affairs. Devolution must go hand in hand with the resource determination and allocation. The Federation Account Allocation Committee is on the right track in providing more resources to the states in its recent review. However, more still needs to be done in order to attain effective fiscal federalism. Similarly, in order to improve on the security situation in the country, while the police education and training must be centralized and uniform, the policing system for the cities and the forests must be decentralised.
Again, the United States provides an excellent example. It has the most decentralised police system in the world. True, there are central police and investigation agencies at the federal level, such as the FBI and the CIA; but there are also police agencies controlled by states, counties, boroughs, municipalities, cities, towns, and villages. Even university campuses, hospitals, parks, fire stations, etc. have their own police units. That is why it is easy to detect crime and bring criminals to book as quickly as possible.
I am happy that the biological and political children of Baba Fasanmi are here to celebrate his past. When the roll is called among those who care passionately for Nigeria and its happier and united future, I want to be counted among them as Senator Ayo Fasanmi is now being recognized at a befitting ceremony.
I thank the authors of this book – Orobola Fasehun and Olufunmilayo Fasehun – very much and I wish this book be widely circulated and read.
Chief Bisi Akande,
The Asiwaju of Ila Orangun;
The Former Governor of Osun State; and,
The Founding National Chairman of APC.
18th August, 2022.
Speech by Chief Bisi Akande at the launching of the Book – SERVING WITH INTEGRITY – The Ideology And Praxis of Senator Ayo Fasanmi In Nigerian Politics.
The speech was presented on his behalf by Chief Mrs Titi Laoye -Ponle, former Deputy Governor of Osun state
