Restructuring In Nigeria: Why? How? When?, By Attahiru M. Jega

[Toyin Falola]

 

Ololade Bamidele posted: " Effort and energies need to be devoted to generating an elite, if not a national, consensus on the necessity of restructuring, defined as the redistribution of power and resources from the federal to the state governments, to be embarked upon before 202"   New post on Premium Times Opinion   Restructuring In Nigeria: Why? How? When?, By Attahiru M. Jega by Ololade Bamidele The best strategy for success is the pursuit of systematic, incremental positive changes through constitutional amendments. Read more of this post Ololade Bamidele | January 24, 2021 at 2:42 pm | Tags: Concurrent Legislative List | URL: https://wp.me/p4Q9sN-R9f Comment    See all comments   Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Premium Times Opinion. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2021/01/24/restructuring-in-nigeria-why-how-when-by-attahiru-m-jega/

[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

It is great that Jega is weighing in on the restructuring debate. I've always argued that:

1. Unless the benefits of restructuring to the north are patiently, respectfully, and painstakingly articulated for the persuasive consumption of Northern elites, the restructuring imperative will not translate to reality.

2. Until Northern intellectuals with heft and credibility enter the debate to bolster the case for restructuring, the elusive national consensus on the imperative will not emerge, and the north, which has always been suspicious of restructuring, which it sees as backdoor secession and an anti-northern conspiracy, will not come on board.

This is why Jega's lecture/op-ed is such an important and arguably seminal intervention. It could prove to be a game changer. I particularly love his frontal embrace of the core area of restructuring: radical decentralization of power and resources from the center to subnational units (from federal to state and state to LGs and ultimately to communities). I also love his aggressive timeline (before 2023) and the constitutional mechanism he proposes.

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[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

Fine analysis from Moses

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[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

The irony of it all is that whilst Jega is calling for radical restructuring and decentralization of power, Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian leader is calling for the opposite.  His “Prosperity 

party” seeks to consolidate a unitary, deregionalized government with all power

at the center, a major shift from ethno -federalism. Time will tell whether his model works out.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

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From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2021 11:07 AM
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Restructuring In Nigeria: Why? How? When?, By Attahiru M. Jega

 

Please be cautious: **External Email**

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[Dr. Oohay]

Begin (right NOW!) to radicalize our ETHOS (through what multiply MOVES our SPIRIT to restructure WHO we want to BECOME).

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[Biko Agozino]

The Federalist Papers for Africa. Let the debates continue.

Ethiopian federalism is flawed because it is based on ethnic nationalism with ethnic war lords allowed to command their own ethnic armies. Can you imagine if the republicans have their own army commanded by Trump while Biden commands a blue army and Farakhan command the army of the Nation while women command their own army? Civil War on many fronts.

Restructuration discourse needs to transgress the colonial boundaries and consider the United States of African Republics as an option preferred by the masses who have no respect for the colonial boundaries as they travel in search of lawful livelihood. This is where the Nigerian debate misses the mark on at least two levels:

1) Too much focus on the elites as if the power elites alone determine policies without inputs from the masses (as suggested by C.W. Mills even during the civil rights movement) whereas Azikiwe identified the movement of the masses across borders as the model for Pan Africanism. Mobilize the masses for Pan Africanism.

2) The discourse of restructuration also suffers from micro-nationalism whereas even the colonial authorities did not run French Africa or British Africa or Lusophone Africa as independent states in isolation but in articulation or jointly. Hence the recommendations of Du Bois, Garvey, Azikiwe, Diop, Lumumba, Nkrumah, Fanon, Rodney, First, Nyerere, Mandela, Mama, Nzegwu, Amadiume, Gaddafi, Mugabe and others, Organize the Mass Party across Africa.

Biko

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[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

Actually,  the Tigray elite constituted the dominant power in the EPRDF, the umbrella 

political  party, even though they were 6 percent of the population. It is amazing that they were able to hold sway between 1991 and 2019, before  Abiy dissolved the unit.  

Checks  and balances would have to be worked out to avoid domination by one group. 

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

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From: Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2021 2:19 PM
To: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Restructuring In Nigeria: Why? How? When?, By Attahiru M. Jega

Please be cautious: **External Email**

Ethnic federalism unraveled in Ethiopia in part precisely because it was defined in ethnic terms and because the Tigray factor, a holdover from the time of rebellion and Zenawi’s one party rule, was never tamed or accommodated within the new power configuration.

 A lot was left to the vagaries of elite political arrangements that were largely adhoc and transactional. Egos and personalities clashed. The rest is history.

Every country is different. Nigeria’s putative federalism will not and cannot be ethnically defined because, unlike Ethiopia, we have too many countervailing identity markers and such a bewildering array of identifying diversity within regions that it’s difficult to see the Tigray situation play out.

I guess the most important point to make is that in Ethiopia, federalism remained largely symbolic as consequential power continued to be concentrated in Addis Ababa, at the center. The true meaning of federalism and regional autonomy remained untested until the Tigray government decided to try to live out the true import of autonomous federated rule. 

I cannot extrapolate the Ethiopian unraveling to Nigeria but I concede that it is a cautionary tale and a teachable example for Nigeria as we try to craft a workable model of federalism to replace the unjust, dysfunctional de facto unitary system. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 24, 2021, at 10:45 AM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu> wrote:



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