horsepower102:
Even better they should go back to the ABURI ACCORD that GOWON and his British sponsors rejected.

The ABURI ACCORD completely restructured Nigeria into a confederation. But the British advised GOWON against it after he already agreed to it.

Aburi Accord was an illegality and a purely military document just like this present 1999 constitution. It lacked the seal of the people's sovereignty. Can you please mention the name of the person who represented your federal constituency in Aburi during the sitting? Aburi Accord wasn't a constitution but just an assortment of agreements poorly thought out and hurriedly compiled by soldiers who have no deep knowledge on how to make laws through the universal legislative principles and process. Can you defend the fact that Aburi Accord had nothing on elections and democratic governance? It was just a seven point agreement among soldiers regarding how they were going to share power among themselves across regional lines

Lazynigerian1:
So we want to go back to regions?

Sorry, but no thanks.

The 1963 constitution did not solve Nigeria's problems then and it won't now

Our problem is not constitutions it is our lack of willingness to follow due process.

And I ain't pro North or South by the way

Our problems started when the 1963 constitution was abolished

Deadlytruth:

Our problems started when the 1963 constitution was abolished

Our problems started from our refusal to follow due process...and from treating our economy as a national cake to be shared.

No country has a perfect constitution. And the regions were no better than the states.

Lazynigerian1:


Which leads to another issue...none of the regions are producing enough to sustain themselves...meaning there would still be a big fight over oil revenues.

This is not 1963...WHEN we had cocoa, cotton, etc etc...and when we were among the top 5 producers of all those stuff...and in some cases (eg columbite) no 1 worldwide. This is now, when our agro capability is messed up, when our solid minerals are not quite enough, and when most people prefer to go into business...importing. And where we all rely on oil.

Go back to 3 regions, and two would be flat broke, and the East would be using oil to paper over the cracks...plus there would be a fight over who controls the oil between the oil producing bits, and non-oil producing bits (And in the old regional system, there was already agitation for resource control then)

We have to be realistic.

Are u insinuating that without oil we will all die of hunger?
What about commerce? What about other countries doing well without crude oil?
We can do well, if only we put our brains at work.

Some regions will be mightier than others but at the end of the day many national pressing issues will be adressed... Terrorism, banditry, etc

buckeyemedia:
Charity begins at home, too much power in the state capitals, let them first decentralize the States & give the power to the Local Governments that is where the people are, not the State Capital. All these rhetoric restructuring is just playing to the gallery. Why do we have State Representatives in the States House of Assembly, & Federal Representatives in Abuja? Nonsense. Absolute Nonsense.

State cannot decentralize if I may put it the way you did. Everything is enshrined in that constitution the same that gave too much power to the Federal over state and local also gave too much power to the state over local.

So if you want the local government to be strong, it has to still come from the constitution from top down. The state governors on their own can't do nothing about the local government.

Zane2point4:

Are u insinuating that without oil we will all die of hunger?
What about commerce? What about other countries doing well without crude oil?
We can do well, if only we put our brains at work.

Some regions will be mightier than others but at the end of the day many national pressing issues will be adressed... Terrorism, banditry, etc

As it is, we are all dependent on crude oil revenue.

Which is why I don't vote for either PDP or APC, nor have I regarded any government , past or present, as good for Nigeria. None of them have any plan to get us off oil.

If oil prices go up, our currency and economy go up. If oil goes down...everything goes down.

Apart from oil, we don't have any major earner...and this isn't the 1960's...when things...especially our forex needs and population...were far less than they are now.

Plus, no one wants regions anymore really....infact what people want is states...and more states (We are not seeing agitation for more states now because the Constitution makes it harder to create states).

LegendHero:


Yeah the military led us to where by are by abolishing that constitution. It’s a joint enterprise by Ironsi, Gowon who nailed the semi-final coffin, and even 1999 constitution is just another wahala on its own by those same military.

If you look critically at the Decree 34 that abolished the federal system which is the genesis, you will see that everything Federal was removed from the constitution.

--The 2. (1a) The Federal Military government will be known as National Military Government

The Federal Executive Council will be known as Executive Council.

--The 2. (1b) The Federal Capital Territory will be known as Capital Territory

They should just return the Federal back now and make it a true federalism, devolution of power, revenue sharing, state policing (infact not only police, the state should take over a lot more of what the FG is controlling), and etc.

Awolowo also helped to institute the unitary governance structure. When Ojukwu arranged for a confederation,. Gowon along with Awolowo were on the side opposed to confederation.

Thank God Ojukwu saw these things, many decades before a lot of people who are now wailing

At least this thread didn't end up into tribal bickering. I guess we found a common ground.

Sorry , I take my words back. Useless Africans!

Lazynigerian1:


Our problems started from our refusal to follow due process...and from treating our economy as a national cake to be shared.

No country has a perfect constitution. And the regions were no better than the states.

Due process was killed when the 1963 constitution was abolished by the military in the sense that the military instituted the culture of disregard for a Sovereign constitution and the due process stipulated in it

OfoIgbo:


Awolowo also helped to institute the unitary governance structure. When Ojukwu arranged for a confederation,. Gowon along with Awolowo were on the side opposed to confederation.

Thank God Ojukwu saw these things, many decades before a lot of people who are now wailing

Here we go again with revisionism and victim card playing. What Nigerians were expecting from Aburi Accord wasn't Confederacy but federalism which they all mutually consented to at the London Constitutional conference of 1957 and which Ironsi dismantled with the assistance of the same Ojukwu you claim saw something. When Awolowo, Enahoro, Balewa and Ahmadu Bello stood firmly for a confederal arrangement by making a case for secession clause Ojukwu was aware of the fact that it was his brother Azikiwe that sabotaged their efforts repeatedly in his own preference for a tightly bound and fraudulent one-Nigeria like we have today but Ojukwu never questioned Zik rather he even gave him a very important position in Biafra secession project and was expecting Awolowo and the rest whose earlier motions were sabotaged by the same Azikiwe to support Biafra and therefore work under the supervision of Zik the one-Nigerianist. How does that make sense? You have also forgotten that when Ironsi made the unification decree which introduced unitary system to Nigeria Ojukwu approved of it and gleefully announced over the radio the next day that Southern civil servants would start getting posted th to the North to take up headship positions courtesy of the now unified civil service. Again you forgot to add that the same Ojukwu was the one who attacked Isaac Adaka Boro for declaration Niger Delta secession from Nigeria, arrested him, stripped him naked and sent him to Lagos where Ironsi secured a death sentence on him for trying to seceded from Azikiwe's fraudulent one-Nigeria.

Lazynigerian1:
So we want to go back to regions?

Sorry, but no thanks.

The 1963 constitution did not solve Nigeria's problems then and it won't now

Our problem is not constitutions it is our lack of willingness to follow due process.

And I ain't pro North or South by the way

Wetin you talk sef?

oyinkel:
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result" - Albert Einstein

It obvious to the blind and audible to deaf, that the present operational structure and system of the entity call Nigeria is a failed one, all effort to salvage the situation has proven abortive, therefore only the insane would insist on maintaining status quo.

In Pastor Adeboye's words "its either we restructure now or breakup"

Besides what is the point kicking out the military rule and retaining their operational document and structure?

Abi o!

Your last paragraph is a salient point!

favour32:

Wetin you talk sef?

My opinion.

If you no like am, sorry.

Jamiubond009:
The only man worthy of being called south west leader.Tinubu is a janjaweedi arselicker

IF you understand the game of politics ( you will not speak like that, politics does not answer to your emotions no matter how high it runs, no one answers to you when their interest is being threatened)

Deadlytruth:
Due process was killed when the 1963 constitution was abolished by the military in the sense that the military instituted the culture of disregard for a Sovereign constitution and the due process stipulated in it

We were already disregarding the constitution self...long before then (Ten percenters....)

The problem with Nigeria is not the constitution, or the laws, but the fact that we don't follow them...and not following them has been the issue long before 1963.

We have an imperfect constitution now...and the means to amend it. But many of us don't want to amend it...because it means hard work.

Besides...1963 is not the same as 2021. Nigeria is a different country , with a lot of different challenges. Going back to the old won't solve our problems

Lazynigerian1:


My opinion.

If you no like am, sorry.

Ok.....you correct...we go consider your opinion.

OfoIgbo:


Awolowo also helped to institute the unitary governance structure. When Ojukwu arranged for a confederation,. Gowon along with Awolowo were on the side opposed to confederation.

Thank God Ojukwu saw these things, many decades before a lot of people who are now wailing

I’m not trying to dwell on an argument or done tribal issue on this thread.

Okay let’s agree all the past leader failed. At least that will be fair to both sides.

constitution-review-akeredolu-backs-return-to-1963-constitution.



SECONDED AND SUPPORTED.

WHAT A SUBMISSION.

GOD BLESS AKEREDOLU

Lazynigerian1:


Which is in essence saying that the South west was not that developed. And that if only...

The truth is that, playing the what if game is really an exercise in futility. At the end of the day, the South West was a region dependent on revenue from exporting raw materials...

For an independent region that is less than 10 yrs old, western region performance was impressive. Numerous of her great feat cannot be repeated today. A region that established over 10 industrial estates, free universal basic education, 1st TV station in africa, built a skyscraper without any loan. If the system had remained, we would have made remarkable progress.
Dont undermine the achievement of a developing nation. Remember china is a developing nation, yet its becoming envy of the world.

Lazynigerian1:

There is a harsh reason why we have states...it is a long distance from the regional capital.

so is now that everything is centralised in abuja that things will be done on time? I will rather prefer my affairs are handled in ibadan than abuja.

Lazynigerian1:

And we got a lot of industries too under Army rule...and still have some industries now

Military rule didnt add anything to existing industrial estate. Rather, they ensured they went moribund because they focused on crude oil. The present unitary system was established by the military so that they can have the oil revenue to themselves. Now that they are gone, why should we continue with their retrogressive constitution.

Lazynigerian1:

Besides, my problem with industries in Nigeria...they are not exporting at all...because when all is said and done, Nigerians prefer to share money, rather than work for it.

The present unitary system makes it easy for Nigerians to share the money and u know it. Whether a state is productive or not, it will receive its monthly allocation from Abuja. As a Governor, why should I stress myself when I can be in dubai all year long and still have funds to run my state. Restructuring will eliminate that practice and some states will be forced to put on their thinking cap. Its either u prosper or perish.

Lazynigerian1:

Power does not work because it is not well funded...because 1) we don't let it be run profitably. Power rents until recently were below the cost of production..and even now, they are still below the cost of production. 2) 40% of Nigerians don't pay their bills. You think moving it to some concurrent list would change things?
Besides, telecoms and GSM works and has grown in Nigeria because telecom companies are allowed to set their prices...and can make profits.
If you don't let things make profit...they won't grow
Educaiton and healthcare...the same thing. We want UK and US standard, at tax rates that are too low, and at fees that are too low.You think moving it to concurrent list would change things? (Schools in the old regions were better because they were highly selective...if we did that now, people will cry out in protest. )

Your narrative on tax, tax, and more tax is well known on this forum.
If u think more tax will improve institutions, then u know nothing about governance. Power alone needs 100 billion dollars to revamp the power transmission according to Fashola. He also said we need another 100 billion dollars for infrastructure. Where do u think we can get that kind of money? The total wealth of nigeria is not up to 300 billion dollars and u expect us to cough out 200 billion dollars tax for just 2 institutions. wages in Nigeria very low and there's no way we can generate the kind of revenue needed for development from tax.
Besides, when we finally restructure. States that want to generate revenue by taxing their citizens to death will be free to do so. U should be happy with that, at least your theory can be tested.

Lazynigerian1:

Agricultuire....1) is mostly manual and subsitence. We have to import to make up. Less than 10% of our agric is mechanized.2) we don't have the guaranteed markets we had in the 1960's...take palm oil...we have far more competitiors than we had in the 1960's. As for cocoa...we went from No2 in the 1970's to No5 in 2014...if not lower.
Mining...is severely unregulated...plus no one knows if we can mine enough to produce for our country..plus we need large scale modern mines, not the small scale things.
As for ports....NPA needs to be run properly...plus we need to fix roads, rail, etc....

FG is in charge of the above, so direct your complaint to them. When western regions were in charge, agriculture fared very well and we earned good money from it. U even admitted we were top global producers during regional system of govt. Maybe its time we return agriculture and mining to the states. If the states see potential in it, they will invest properly.



Of course.

Lazynigerian1:

1. I am not a fan of Sir Bello...but he was a big fan of education...in additon to being an Islamist, and probably a tribal supremacist. Same for the Eastern leaders too...all regions did invest in education. But the biggest investments came in the 1970's...under Gowon and Murtala...and they were nationwide.

I never said other regions didnt invest in education. I wrote western region offered FREE education because universal basic education was a priority to the govt.

Lazynigerian1:

2.Western region could afford free education because not everyone was in school. (Most of the people of my parent's generation did not go to university. Most of my generation did... for example). Plus, most schools were not government owned. Today, no region or state can do free educaiton...there are far more people, and far more schools.

This is 2021, education priority differs. Nobody said we should implement regional govt policy. The point is let each state/region determine whats best for them and be allowed to chart their course without undue interference from the centre. Those who want to continue open cattle grazing should be allowed to do so. Those who want to focus on ranching should not be dissuade from it.

Lazynigerian1:

Or the state could not attract enough investment...plus how was the transport link to Lagos and the capital Abuja...and eslehwere in Nigeria?

states attract investment? do u understand the investment policy of this country? All investment is subject to FG policy, state can do nothing. That's why I mentioned Tinapa where FG govt custom policy killed the noble idea of a free trade zone.
Tinapa was meant to be a place where u buy goods without import duty. The aim is to attract visitors who will in turn enjoy and spend money on other side attraction in Tinapa- The dubai concept. Well, customs officials complained they will lose revenue and they lobbied the Presidency to kill it. And that was how TINAPA became a ghost town.

Lazynigerian1:

1.We have to pay more for power if we want power 24/7. It may sound patronizing to you, but it is the hard truth, and LORD KNOWS I HATE THAT TRUTH...if I had my way, we would have had free power.

But the stats don't lie. Power prices per kwh are below the cost of production per kwh..and the recent increases only apply to chaps getting power for 12 hours a day at least...plus 40% of people don't pay for power. One of the DIScos collapsed finacially because of low revenue. Most of the DISCOS are not earning enough to pay taxes.

And I am saying this not because I am excusing bad governance or the DISCOS (and I would be very annoyed if you think so ) but because it is the hard fact.

We have a functioning GSM because we paid the prices the evil GSM COMPANIES set. DISCOS are not allowed to set prices, people don't pay them, even meters people bypass...and you expect them to make a profit to buy what we need to improve things?

I perceive your understanding of the power sector to be very shallow. Power to a nation is of national strategic importance. Its not something u build for profit. U build it to drive industrialisation and development.
It cost an average of 1 billion dollars to generate 1000megawatt of electricity. 1000 megawatt can provide electricity for roughly 1 million people. Now guess how much it will cost to generate power for 200 million nigerians.
Power generation anywhere in the world is not designed to be a profit oriented institution. Govt invest massively and equally subsidize to ensure the sector remains viable. Leaving it solely to private sectors is a dead end venture and that's the outcome with Nigerian power sector.

Nigeria currently generates 10-15 thousand megawatt. Even if Nigerians pay x10 of current value for electricity, the revenue will be meagre and cannot be sufficient for any meaningful investment.
What we need is complete decentralisation of the power sector. Let the national grid be unbundled, stated that want to pull out and generate have their own IPP should be allowed to do so.

Lazynigerian1:

And corruption is still a bad problem because our government relies on revenue from selling raw materials and sharing the same revenue...not from attracting productive inudstries...like serious nations do.


I am saying all this because I am tired of hearing Nigerians saying that when we restructure...we will develop. They remind me of a fat person saying 'When I move into my new house, we will develop' Meahwile, an election in Abia state attracted too few voters because lack of itnerest...then we wonder why we have Buharis, and company ruling us.

Corruption is not the problem with Nigeria. China is more corrupt than Nigeria, take it from me. In UK, Paracetamol cost 10 pounds under NHS, something u buy for 90pence in TESCO.
Restructuring is not a promise to EL DORADO, nobdy promised that. Restructuring is a pathway to self determination, inward looking, resource control and end to blame game.

Restructuring; the only Hobson's choice for Nigeria!

Very nice indeed

Deadlytruth:

Aburi Accord was an illegality and a purely military document just like this present 1999 constitution. It lacked the seal of the people's sovereignty. Can you please mention the name of the person who represented your federal constituency in Aburi during the sitting? Aburi Accord wasn't a constitution but just an assortment of agreements poorly thought out and hurriedly compiled by soldiers who have no deep knowledge on how to make laws through the universal legislative principles and process. Can you defend the fact that Aburi Accord had nothing on elections and democratic governance? It was just a seven point agreement among soldiers regarding how they were going to share power among themselves across regional lines

Elections and democratic governance? Those things dont exist in military rule

Sure, Akeredolu needs to join forces with Igboho, Igboho needs to assure Akeredolu protection with his metaphysical power.

While we send the fraudster Ganiu Adam to meet Afonja.

LegendHero:


Yeah the military led us to where by are by abolishing that constitution. It’s a joint enterprise by Ironsi, Gowon who nailed the semi-final coffin, and even 1999 constitution is just another wahala on its own by those same military.

If you look critically at the Decree 34 that abolished the federal system which is the genesis, you will see that everything Federal was removed from the constitution.

--The 2. (1a) The Federal Military government will be known as National Military Government

The Federal Executive Council will be known as Executive Council.

--The 2. (1b) The Federal Capital Territory will be known as Capital Territory

They should just return the Federal back now and make it a true federalism, devolution of power, revenue sharing, state policing (infact not only police, the state should take over a lot more of what the FG is controlling), and etc.

With military rule, the existing constitution is always suspended. What is important however is that Ironsi was the only military ruler who kept Nigeria as close to the 1963 constitution as possible

Ironsi met 4 Regions, he kept 4 Regions

Ironsi met resource control, he kept resource control

Ironsi met fiscal federalism, he kept it

Gowon came in and met the same 4 Regions, he abolished all 4 Regions and created 12 states

Gowon met resource control, but resource control disappeared under Gowon

Gowon met fiscal federalism, he used decree 14 to reverse it


Ironsi did not even do 1% of what Gowon and other Northern military leaders did

Lazynigerian1:


We were already disregarding the constitution self...long before then (Ten percenters....)

The problem with Nigeria is not the constitution, or the laws, but the fact that we don't follow them...and not following them has been the issue long before 1963.

We have an imperfect constitution now...and the means to amend it. But many of us don't want to amend it...because it means hard work.

Besides...1963 is not the same as 2021. Nigeria is a different country , with a lot of different challenges. Going back to the old won't solve our problems

.
The ten percenters narrative was more of a camouflage for an ethnic cleansing agenda which the coupists had up their sleeve. If not how come a lot of innocent army officers who were never involved in bidding for contracts talkless of demanding 10 percent kickback got killed in that coup purportedly aimed at ridding the country of the so-called 10 percenters? Mind you that that constitution had clearly spelt out punishment for official crimes unlike the present one that is ambiguous as regards that and encourages something worse than 10 percent.

gidgiddy:


With military rule, the existing constitution is always suspended. What is important however is that Ironsi was the only military ruler who kept Nigeria as close to the 1963 constitution as possible

Ironsi met 4 Regions, he kept 4 Regions

Ironsi met resource control, he kept resource control

Ironsi met fiscal federalism, he kept it

Gowon came in and met the same 4 Regions, he abolished all 4 Regions and created 12 states

Gowon met resource control, but resource control disappeared under Gowon

Gowon met fiscal federalism, he used decree 14 to reverse it


Ironsi did not even do 1% of what Gowon and other Northern military leaders did

Ironsi met autonomous regions but broke them into powerless provinces over which he appointed military governors whom he asked to be reporting to him at the center. Such a centripetal arrangement was unitary system and a negation of federalism which is a centrifugal arrangement in practice. On getting to power Gowon started the process of abolition of Ironsi's centripetal decrees and restored the adjective 'federal' to the country's official name, abolished Ironsi's provinces and more before Ojukwu began to insist on confederalism which was all together strange to Nigerians and that was what made Gowon halt his refederalization of the country to treat Ojukwu's war threat. Mind you that Ironsi killed resource control by unifying the civil service into one.
The states Gowon created were far more autonomous than the provinces Ironsi created hence the creation of states by Gowon didn't detract from federalism. In fact federalism is not the existence of more or fewer subnational units but the degree to which they are autonomous. Under Ironsi autonomy was zero hence he killed federalism.

gidgiddy:


Elections and democratic governance? Those things dont exist in military rule

Aburi Accord was supposed to be a new constitution on how Nigeria was going to be governed post military intervention in the scheme of things. Recall that its major objective was to go and undo Ironsi's offensive decrees and thereby return the country to status quo ante of decentralized democratic rule. So why should the final agreement therefore be silent on the issue of return to democracy?

Deadlytruth:


Aburi Accord was supposed to be a new constitution on how Nigeria was going to be governed post military intervention in the scheme of things. Recall that its major objective was to go and undo Ironsi's offensive decrees and thereby return the country to status quo ante of decentralized democratic rule. So why should the final agreement therefore be silent on the issue of return to democracy?

Military do not make constitution, they make Decrees. And Decrees only last while there is Military rule. The Aburi accord stated several times that what was agreed was only for the "period of military rule"

What many people dont even know is that the Aburi accord decentralized government even more than the 1963 constitution. That agreement actually gave the Regions the right to have its own military

Deadlytruth:


Ironsi met autonomous regions but broke them into powerless provinces over which he appointed military governors whom he asked to be reporting to him at the center. Such a centripetal arrangement was unitary system and a negation of federalism which is a centrifugal arrangement in practice. On getting to power Gowon started the process of abolition of Ironsi's centripetal decrees and restored the adjective 'federal' to the country's official name, abolished Ironsi's provinces and more before Ojukwu began to insist on confederalism which was all together strange to Nigerians and that was what made Gowon halt his refederalization of the country to treat Ojukwu's war threat. Mind you that Ironsi killed resource control by unifying the civil service into one.
The states Gowon created were far more autonomous than the provinces Ironsi created hence the creation of states by Gowon didn't detract from federalism. In fact federalism is not the existence of more or fewer subnational units but the degree to which they are autonomous. Under Ironsi autonomy was zero hence he killed federalism.

First they said Ironsi abolished the Regions, now they say he only made them weak. I still wonder how Ironsi made the Regions weak when he allowed resource control? The greatest thing any Region can control is its resources. How does a unified civil service affect Resource control if the Regions are controlling their resources, paying the agreed tax to centre and keeping the bulk of what accrues on their land? What makes you federal is when you control your resources and pay the centre. When the centre controls your resources and pays you, you are only federal in name only. I laugh when people say that Ironsi took out 'federal' and Gowon brought it back. Nigeria is still answering 'federal' but nobody is controlling their resources. So whats the point? Its better that Ironsi took out Federal but allowed resource control, than Gowon who bought it back but took away resource control

What Province did Ironsi create? He met 4 Regions, he left 4 Regions.

Gowon came in, abolished all 4 Regions he inherited from Ironsi, created 12 states(6 of which he gave his Northern Region), took away resource control and abrogated the revenue sharing formular agreed at independence. Gowon was the person who kept Nigeria where it is today for had he not abolished the 4 Regions and resource control, Nigeria would have have been able to go back to the 1963 constitution after military rule

Ironsi did not do 1% of what Gowon did. The only problem Ironsi had was that he was Igbo man while Gowon was a Northerner. When your a Northerner, you can get away with daylight robbery.

ednut1:
Was Nigeria an el dorado in 1963

Yes, it was for us in the SW.

EmmyDJourno:
The Southern Governors need to stand strong against this Northern hegemony

The present system if not changed would consume us all

This Country must return to the structure that encourages comparative advantage in all regions

We in the South want progress and development if the North want to keep giving birth like Rats and not educate their own, it is their business

Na North abolish 1963 constitution?.
Even North was doing well on their own, especially in agriculture.