nigeria is a democracy

Nigeria is a democracy, practicing a federal, form of government.
Now being a federal govt the duties resources and responsibilities of the state are shared amongst different levels of government federal State and Local. Executive management of the countries resources is devolved to the president he appoints secretaries (not ministers as erroneously referred to in Nigeria) who rightly serve at his pleasure.
The Military corrupted the federal system and changed it into a de facto monarchy, where the president rules, how? Well the military brought in a unified command structure to the federation, all decisions were taken at the top; hence all resources had to be moved to the top and shared back down. So the King, sorry President controls the treasury, he get 100% of the taxes and then shares it as he proposes.

So the issues are not even the revenue sharing formula, nor the federation but the tax and spend powers that the federal level has usurped through the military. The federal controls Defense, currency, external affairs ok, but Health, Education? Come on! Corruption exists in part because allocations are seen as federal (hence nobody’s) money. If we paid taxes to out local councils and states, there is no way we will see the same councilor riding a jeep and not ask him questions.

What will solve the problem? 3 steps

1. Let the present allocation formula for excise duties, mining rights and royalties (all minerals, including Gold, Ore, Timber, Coal) go to the federation account and be shared out to Federal State and Local levels, but increase the derivation amount to 30%. Let me ask a question should Cocoa, Palm Oil and Cotton also fall in here?
2. Then let the consumption tax ie VAT be retained 100% by the states producing them. This is fair and equitable. So Lagos gets 100% of the VAT consumed in Lagos. What happens in Nigeria is that Lagos generates VAT; it is taken to the federation account. Then the FGN allocates a reduced portion of the VAT Lagos collected back to Lagos, who then uses it to build roads or fund hospitals. So let’s just cut out the federal middleman. It is unfair that states that have invested millions to repair roads like Lagos and have attracted investors should be shortchanged and lazy states are rewarded. Remember we cannot make the weak strong by making the strong weak. Only about 2 or 3 states out of 36 generate enough revenue to even pay salaries, let alone build roads. Almost 33 states are lazy, ie cannot survive without “Abuja” money.

3. Practice real fiscal federalism; give the states and local governments real powers for especially Education and Health. In the USA (where we copy our federal system from) the states and local govt fund 90% of the education cost through collection of sales and property taxes respectively. The federal govt can give grants, matching special funds and emergency spends, the federal govt can also set broad policy, invest in health prevention programs but cannot, cannot control education and health in states and local govts.
I want to throw the example of Lagos state to the forum, Lagos as a state enjoyed federal presence, the federal govt built roads, estates, hospital, airports. When the federal left, Lagos was left to care for all those assets, and was generating only N600m monthly in 1999. When Tinubu left he was generating N6 billion, I am not too sure but I think Fashola has generated N60 billion in 6 months. Lagos was sited by the World Bank as the state with only functioning public hospital scheme in Nigeria. Quality roads are being built, Bar Beach was reclaimed; remember all this was done when OBJ withheld the federal allocation to Lagos, necessity is indeed he mother of invention. Today Lagos survives without Abuja money even, though on all criteria they deserve most of the Abuja money (Population, Assets, etc). someone will say “Lagos was already developed” I say the leaders in Lagos have done a good job, do you know you can sit in your office, log unto a website and pay your PAYE taxes in Lagos, and a tax card will be brought to you, federal didn’t do that, Lagos did, they are fixing their problem. Some state can’t even pack rubbish, common rubbish from the streets.

If other states can look inwards, then maybe we can even just save all the oil money for our coming generation’s rater than blow it all in “Dubai”.
Our federation is here to stay; if we consider a confederacy (which means the different constituents will be sovereign or self governing) will the Lagos state go with Oduduwa State? Will Oil producing Abia and Imo states join Biafra? Will Ijaw and Urubro stay in one state? Will Tiv stay with Igala? Will Hausa stay with Fulani? A confederacy will certainly lead to the Balkanization of Nigeria. The federation is a good model, Na us spoil am,
It’s our problem, let’s fix it.