Every political, economic and sociocultural leader in Nigeria claims to be interested in reforms. They all make promises, give assurances. They all claim to be Born-Again (Christian) or Pro-Shariah (Moslem). They all point fingers at everyone else in the world other than themselves when answering the question of who is responsible for the lack of movement in so many significant issue areas.
For me, the day I know reform, restructuring and transformation has begun in Nigeria is the day we begin a concrete and irreversible process to:
(a) Consolidate the 36 States and 1 too-large Territory into a sub-national second-tier of 6 Administrative Regions and 4 condensed Territories (these smaller territories would fulfill both second-tier and third-tier functions);.
(b) Consolidate the 774 constitutional Local Government Areas and the dozens of unconstitutional Governor-created L.G.A.-equivalents into no more than 72 third-tier sub-national units (exclusive of the 4 condensed Territories which serve both second-tier and third-tier functions).
(c) Set constitutional limits to permanently right-size the legislative and executive components of the new administrative divisions, cutting by 50% or more the combined number of "elected" political officeholders (governors, parliamentarians, etc) unelected appointees political office (e.g commissioners, ministers, supervisory councilors, members of commissions/panels/advisory boards/etc, etc) and the respective political supporting cast of each of these officeholders (assistants, special assistants, senior special assistants, media officers, security votes, etc). For example, the size of the federal legislature should drop from 469 (360 in the lower house, 109 in the upper house) to 315 (300 in the lower house, 15 in the upper house), with a lowered ceiling on the salaries, perks and privileges of members, as well as the numbers of assistants, senior assistants, special assistants, senior special assistants and other hangers-on feeding out of the treasury trough
The three things mentioned above are only the beginning ... but without this beginning, nothing else will work. It is simply not possible to move forward under the present administrative structure. It is burdensome, an albatross on our necks.
Consolidation would not only make resources available for productive use, but would (much more importantly in my view) create a better platform at all three tiers for long-term planning and the optimal maximization of complementary economic potentialities.
I really do believe that this is the starting point (only the starting point, mind you, not the destination) for any reform, restructuring and transformation in Nigeria, so much so, that these first principles are responsible for the cynical approach my blog takes to Nigerian politics.
You see, if we enacted these three reforms, the number of politicians and political hangers-on directly supported by the public treasury by around half (50%) if not more. Inasmuch as criminal theft (a.k.a. looting, corruption or graft) is a problem, the greater problem to our fiscal health lies in the legal waste built into the system. Indeed, direct financial support of an excessive number of political operators is the lesser cause of legal waste; many more, so many more political patrons and clients are supported by the public treasury indirectly.
Hence my cynicism.
To expect the politicians to enact these reforms is like expecting them to commit financial and political suicide. The domains they control (from states and LGAS to ministries and commissions) are too fractured for effective, rational government. But direct control of a small pot of money is more appealing to them than having to queue up with thousands of other political jobbers for fiscal favours from someone else.
And can you imagine how powerful that someone else will be, what with his control of a bigger pot of money? This consideration is probably of paramount importance to them. If they were guaranteed that it would be them in control of the larger, rationalized entities, they would sign up for reform immediately! But all of them are already engaged in vicious, do-or-die political battles to control the existing LGAs, states and legislative/parliamentary constituencies; if you consolidate, then you merely increase the number of people with whom they would have to vie for imperial control of public resources. Part of the reason our states and LGAs were atomized in the first place was Big Men and warlords seeking to avoid having to contend with other Big Men and warlord by creating a small enough space upon which they could exert total control.
It puts me in a difficult position. I am a firm believer in something I know the political system will never produce. Concomitantly, I cannot in any way, shape or form deceive myself into supporting any of the politicians or political parties, because their many fake promises are simply impossible to deliver without enacting these three first principles.
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