I looked and saw a strange thing emerging. It was a bright cool morning. The national anthem was playing on the radio. After that, this is what I heard a clear but sober voice say: Good morning Nigerians. Nations are built, not by cowards who wish things to work the way they have imagined them, but rather by heroes who know that nothing works until requisite efforts are applied. Nigeria is not working, not because it can never work, but because those who have the position, authority, and trust to enable it to work have become untrustworthy, incompetent, and timid. I would like to inform you that we have taken over. We are neither military people nor civilian; we are simply Nigerians who have decided to stand up when history beckons.
There are seven reasons why this intervention has become necessary:
1. The nation is adrift: The confusion that has set in because public officials such as members of the Federal Executive Council and the national assembly, who have the constitutional responsibility to prevent a vacuum in leadership, have rather chosen the path of anarchy as they have neglected and abdicated their duty under the constitution. A serious people cannot simply complain if they have the wherewithal to intervene and cure the situation. We happen to belong to this category.
2. The Nigerian has lost a voice. Public opinion is not regarded by Nigeria’s public officials. The votes of Nigerians don’t count. All these have consequences, not the least being poor governance; this is because a strong motivation for good governance is the consequence of the opposite—rejection by the people at the ballot.
3. The cry of injustice in the land has met only either shameless pretentious cosmetic approach or outright tyranny. The issue of resource control is not an economic matter, but a social matter; it is about justice. Inequality in state and local government creation has an indelible coloration of injustice. Egregious inequality in social wages is an injustice. Brutality of the Nigerian by the state police and other security services must be countered by the defense shield of justice. We are compelled to intervene because the cry of justice is becoming so faint, being swallowed up by the cacophony of injustice in the land. Constitutional demands for justice are either completely forgotten or ignored by Nigeria’s public officials. In the circumstances, refusal to intervene and stem the tide could be viewed as a transgression. We are therefore convinced by conscience and bound in the grip of urgency to act.
4. The nation is at the brink of complete social break down. The thousands of graduates being produced by our universities year-by-year are without jobs either because they are unemployable or the jobs are simply not there. Even governments at various levels have placed embargo on employment, without providing the necessary physical infrastructure that will encourage private investors to create the needed jobs. The few industries that brave all odds to keep operations going are daily being tempted by government to close shop. Factory workers are being laid off in their thousands; hundreds of thousands of companies are being de-listed by the Corporate Affairs Commission. The only response of government is sloganeering without results; empty promises, which by the deadline of fulfillment are rather being filled with excuses. Crime—unbridled crime is the consequence. Kidnappings, armed-robbery, hired-killings are on the increase. Government is to blame. We can’t hold our peace just because we must have “democracy”, which is not what we have anyway. Democracy is not a label that all nations must have. If it is simply a label, as it is by our common and present collective experience, then it is a fraud that we have all been engaged in; the content is something else. We have stepped in to discard the fake pack.
5. Our natural resources are ours to explore, exploit, and experience. Our oil reserves cannot be sold to foreign nations at a pittance. For instance, China can make the joke of offering a paltry 50 billion US dollars to buy 6 billion barrels of our crude oil reserves (approximating 8 US dollars a barrel!) only because they know that our rulers are the hirelings that they truly are! How can we build a nation and bequeath to our children a better future when our rulers are allowed, not only to steal what they presently should dispense for our common good, but have resorted to selling future generations’ commonwealth, so that our children will be under the yoke of the children of foreign nations? We have refused to accept that Nigerians have already been conquered and there is nothing we can do. We the Nigerian people have taken over in order to manage our affairs by ourselves, putting our national interest first. Besides, the present government of Yar’Adua has taken us by the throat, forcing down it sovereign debts. Now, our pile of sovereign debts is growing again, approaching the 4 billion US dollar-mark. The latest loan Nigeria has taken is one which attracts annual service and other charges of more than 1.2 percent, with a repayment period of 40 years! What does Nigeria need loans for when we the people have not seen what the government spends the tens of billions of dollars earned annually from crude oil sales alone, except to use about 50 percent of national budget as wages and allowances for less than 18,000 public officials. We can’t allow this to continue.
6. The incompetence and derelictions of government officials over the years have imposed on Nigerians a false belief and an inconvenient acceptance that Nigeria cannot build and manage refineries; Nigeria cannot generate, transmit, and distribute enough power to ensure uninterrupted power supply; Nigerians cannot explore and manage their natural resources without external assistance; government-owned enterprises cannot be efficiently managed, and so the only solution is privatization. Why then have the same government officials, who are the custodians of those degrading notions, not outsourced and privatized governance and resigned? The time has come for all sons and daughters of our nation to reject those lies!
7. Colonial overlords came and explored and exploited our natural resources. They did the high-tech processing overseas, just to keep us in the dark about those matters. Almost 50 years after we got political independence, our home-grown Geologists, Engineers, and Scientists have not yet gained the confidence of our rulers. Consultancy jobs are still being outsourced, which can be done by the children of the land. Every now and then we hear of hundreds of millions of naira announced by government as consultancy fees for one project or the other. Who gets the money? We are so distressed that the dredging of the River Niger has become a money-guzzling issue just like the national identification card and Ajaokuta steel projects were. The federal government has just announced about three hundred million naira as consultation fee for the dredging of the River Niger. Is the construction work not supposed to have almost been completed by now? The Nigerian news media have gone to sleep. They have failed to remind the people when monies for certain projects have been announced many times over. They have failed to keep the count. They are watchmen who have gone into a deep stupor. We cannot be spectators of this ugly game of deceit and self-infliction.
Nigerians, the following are a few decisions we have taken for a start:
i. The national assembly is hereby dissolved.
ii. The current 1999 constitution has been discarded and outlawed.
iii. The current state structure ceases to exist. In it place we have the following six states :
a) NORTH-EAST; capital is Maiduguri (comprising the old states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, and Bauchi).
b) NORTH-WEST; capital is Sokoto (comprising the old states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, and Jigawa).
c) CENTRAL STATE; capital is Jos (comprising the old states of Plateau, Nassarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, and Niger).
d) SOUTH-SOUTH STATE; capital is Port-Harcourt (comprising the old states of Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross-river, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, and Edo).
e) SOUTH-EAST STATE; capital is Enugu (comprising the old states of Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, and Abia).
f) SOUTH-WEST STATE; capital is Lagos (comprising the old states of Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, and Ondo).
ABUJA remains the Federal Capital Territory.
iv. All the 774 local governments shall remain. However, the states shall have the power to create as many local governments as are administratively required. The federal government shall have no powers over such a matter. However, with respect to revenue sharing at the national level, only the States and federal governments are recognized.
v. Each town or city with a population of 1000 and above must have an elected Town (City) Chief or Mayor, whose tenure shall be 5 years (There shall be no term limit). The Mayor and elected Town council shall be responsible for revenue generation, physical planning, development and maintenance of the town, and town security. The jurisdiction shall not exceed 100 kilometer radius.
vi. All public officials in Nigeria (elected or appointed) must have post-secondary education.
vii. REVENUE: Each town shall keep 50 percent of all revenues generated; 30 percent shall be paid to the respective local government; and 20 percent to the state. 50 percent of all revenue obtained directly from natural resources (licensing fees, royalties etc) shall be kept by the state of derivation; 30 percent shall be paid to the federal government; and 20 percent shall be paid into the Nigerian Trust Fund (NTF) created by an appropriate law. Local government areas of derivation shall be given 20 percent of the state’s share.
Revenue from federal government’s investments shall be shared as follows: 50 percent shall be for the federal government; 50 percent shall be paid into the NTF kept with the Central Bank of the federation.
States, individuals, companies, and organizations shall be free to make contributions into the NTF. Amounts in the NTF shall be announced quarterly, and allocations from the NTF shall be in the form of intervention grants and according to an agreed formula between the six states and federal government.
All sea and airports built by the federal government shall remain the assets of all the people of Nigeria, and revenues generated by the ports shall be shared as earlier prescribed for federal investments
Determination and collection of taxes shall be by Town councils under the leadership of respective Mayors. They may enlist the assistance of the local, state, or federal governments as they choose. But there shall be no multiple- taxation in Nigeria.
viii. We have composed a Truth and Recovery Commission (TRC) which shall operate under an Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Act, which shall be in place in the next one week. Members are people of proven integrity who have never been in government. All men and women who have ever served in government are hereby directed to submit their traveling documents (normal and diplomatic passports) to the nearest police station and sign and collect a deposit form that has already been designed for the purpose. They are forbidden to travel outside Nigeria until they have kept their appointment with the TRC. Details shall be announced in the next 24 hours. Should any former public official be allowed to travel outside of Nigeria through seaports, airports, or land borders without first being cleared by the TRC, the chief supervising Immigration official of the route shall be prosecuted whenever this comes to knowledge, under an Emergency act. An Emergency Act Regime (EAR) shall be put in place in the next one week.
ix. Importation of generators is banned one year from today. In the interim, each unit of generator imported shall attract 50 percent tax, which will be invested in building of Electricity power plants. Furthermore, importation of all luxury vehicles is banned one year from today until Nigerian-made automobiles find markets overseas. Only utility vehicles for production purposes shall be allowed into the country. One year from today, only locally assembled vehicles shall Nigerians use. If we cannot design, manufacture, or assemble automobiles, we had better ride on the back of animals. Design and construction of refineries shall commence one week from today. Besides, each state must embark on its power project; but no state shall invest in less than three sources of energy. Executives of the six states shall be announced within 24 hours from now.
x. Each federal university shall receive a Renaissance grant, which shall be targeted at enlarging student capacity and improving on quality of teaching and research. The leadership of each of the federal universities shall within the next one week furnish the National University Commission (NUC) with a vision and mission statement, together with a revenue generation plan. 10 billion dollars shall be set apart for those universities. Transparency in the managing of the funds shall be aided by the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill, which I have already assented to; the Act shall be included in the EAR. Details of the Education Renaissance shall be provided by the Education Minister, who shall be announced in the next 48 hours.
xi. In order to guide the federal government, there shall be convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to frame a constitution of the people. Representatives shall be chosen by various interest groups and elected by the people to examine the various proposals we have received at different periods of our nationhood and receive new proposals. Details shall be announced in the next one week. The SNC shall start off in the next three months, and sit for at most nine months. Its outcome shall be taught to the people within one year and then put to a referendum.
xii. Before a new constitution of the people is made and passed through the vehicle of a referendum, the EAR shall establish a People’s Court (PC), which shall comprise one representative from each ethnic nationality; one student representative; representative of labor; representative of the disabled; and one representative from each of the Armed forces. The PC shall be responsible for lawmaking on per diem basis. Once the constitution of the people is passed, elections as prescribed by the new constitution shall be held within one year. The PC shall be dissolved 24hours before the swearing in of the new president, state governors, state and national assemblies. It must be noted, however, that Nigeria shall not have a bi-cameral legislature. There shall be a House of Representatives whose representatives shall be according to ethnic nationalities, and shall serve only part-time and remunerated on per diem basis.
xiii. Importation of foods such as rice and beans is hereby banned. A Green Belt project that will involve members of the Nigerian armed forces shall be launched. Details shall be worked out within few weeks. If Nigeria must import food at all, it will be by choice (because we want variety) and not by necessity. The Land Use Act is hereby abrogated. People must own their land and claim royalties on whatever resources may be discovered on their property. If government needs right of way, it must be understood that the owners of the land have rights and can negotiate terms that are beneficial. The nation belongs to all of us. Sacrifice cannot be extracted from anyone; then, it would be oppression. Nigerians love their country and would give up what they feel is in the public interest. But that is a choice we all must be allowed to make.
Nigerians, I shall address you tomorrow on our common task as we together shape our nation. Appointments shall be announced soon. Thank you.
What have I heard? Keep tuned!
Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria and President of the Nigeria Rally Movement (www.nigeriarally.org)
TEL: 08055024356; Email: [email protected]
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