Against the rising agitation by various groups for a true fiscal federalism and the recent call by Northern Governors for a review of the derivation formula as presently constituted, the Edo Consultative Forum rising from an emergency meeting in Lagos, has called on the National Assembly, the Federal Government of Nigeria to give the regions a greater autonomy and space in the spirit of true federalism.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and made available to members of the Press by its Publicity/Media Director Mr. Matthew Ebatamehi Aramunde, the body regretted that Nigeria chronic instability is sorely and mainly a consequence of its failing experiment in Federalism faulting the situation where the creation of more States that is supposedly meant to bring governance to the grassroots, has unfortunately become an instrument that weakens the power of the federating units as the central government has practically subsumed the hitherto powers of the federating units.
The body blamed the Military whom it said claimed it was maintaining a federal structure, but implemented policies that encouraged Nigeria’s metamorphosis into a unitary state by not only donating power to the centre while weakening the constituent units, but also systematically abolished the 50 % derivation formula that was arguably the hallmark of the first republic.
Taking a swipe at some privileged Nigerians who fan the embers of ethnicity and who see the country’s commonwealth as their birth right to plunder and a privileged right for themselves and their family members and those of their cronies and political associates, it stressed that the unpatriotic acts of these element is another factor that is responsible for stagnation experienced by the Nigerian federation.
It then called on the Goodluck Jonathan administration to take a cue from countries like Britain, South Africa who though are not as ethnically divisive as Nigeria but has as their benchmark a well operated federal system where federating units operate and enjoy a substantial degree of autonomy of one another and of the central government in fiscal and general monetary and economic matters.
To fully attain a true federalism, the body contends that the government should ensure equitable distribution of national wealth, work towards the abolition of the onshore and offshore oil dichotomy as soon as practicable, encourage non-oil producing states to develop new revenue generating capacity in other sector especially agriculture and mining, work towards vesting 50% in the Federal Government after which a certain percentage of the said money is shared amongst the States and Local Government areas through the Federation Account and finally the government should work towards increasing the oil revenue allocated to oil producing states to at least 25-30%.