The apex socio-cultural organization in Northern Nigeria, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has objected to the proposal of the South-West governors advocating a return to a regional system of government, declaring that it prefers the operation of a true federal system where more powers will be devolved to the states by the Federal Government.
Spokesman for the ACF, Emmanuel Yawe, made the position of the organization known in an interview with New National Star. He said the South-West governors should perish the thought of the country going back to the regional system of government as obtained at independence. According to him, reverting back to the post-independence era style of governance will create more problems for the country.
The South-West Governors Forum had in a document dated July 5, that was presented to National Assembly members from the region, proposed an amendment to Section 3 (1) & (3) of the 1999 Constitution to allow for the emergence of six geo-political regions and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), instead of the 36 states and the FCT. The six geo-political regions proposed by the governors are the North West, North Eastern, Middle Belt, South West, South East, South-South and the FCT.
But Yawe in the interview said categorically that the ACF and the North was opposed to the idea of returning the country to the regional system of government, asserting that Nigeria had operated that system of government in the 60s and it was partly responsible for the outbreak of the civil war. He declared; “we don’t believe in regionalism. We believe in a federal system of government and not a return to those regions that will not work.
The North did not abolish federalism. It was done by the military that came in 1966. “They said they did not want a federal system of government, as the only system of government they understood was the unitary system. Getting out of that unitary system has become a problem because all the powers are concentrated at the centre even when we have a civilian government. “The people at the federal level are enjoying a lot of powers that make them control a lot of resources, so they don’t want to relinquish that power. So, if anybody is talking about a return to federalism where more powers are given to the states, we agree with that but not to regionalism, it won’t work.
“You know yourself, if they want to return you to another region from your state will you agree? We cannot go back to the regions. We do not believe in regions. If you start creating regions, you create additional problems for this country. “What is wrong with states? We had regions before, it did not work. Partly, what led to the civil war was the imbalance of the regions. The people of the North, the MiddleBelt wanted a region and then the powers in the North rejected. People of the Mid-West wanted a region, but the powers in the South-West rejected it. “It was the Federal Government that created the Middle Belt. People of the East wanted an additional region out of Cross-River and Rivers, they got the COR Region, it didn’t work.
“Now the military came and created states; people are very conscious of their states now. If you want to take them back to regions, there will be additional problems and people will protest. “You see, this regionalism of a thing just didn’t work; they are making it look now as if it worked. Why was there a crisis in the First Republic so much that one of the regions demanded a country of its own? If things were working, why was there Biafra? It is because it wasn’t working,” the ACF spokesman stated.