Why I would reject the Southeast Dev. Commission bill if I were a member of National Assembly – Tony Osborg

As written by Tony Osborg

If I were a member of the National Assembly, I would have joined others to reject the South-East Development Commission Bill. I will explain.

First, I don't believe that any federal interventionist 'development' commission can solve any regional development problem. This is why I have argued in the past that NDDC should be scrapped and the North-East Development Commission should not be created. The creation of these federal interventionist commissions negates the principle of true federalism.

Second, NDDC, for example, was created for a specific reactive purpose to appease the Niger Delta for the continuous raping of their region by the federal government. The North-East Development Commission is about to be created as a reaction to the damage done by the Boko Haram terrorists in the region.

What is the locus for creating a South-East Development Commission? If you say underdevelopment  in the region is the reason, then every region deserves to have a 'development' commission because every region is underdeveloped. How will such commissions be funded?

If you say the civil war of over fifty years ago is the reason, then it should not be called the South-East Development Commission Bill. The war was fought in the entire South-East and South-South of present day Nigeria. These are the issues that make the bill redundant.

Let us not forget that when we say 'Niger Delta', the South East is included in this so called Niger Delta. Legally, Imo, Abia, Ondo are all part of Niger Delta and very soon Lagos will become part of Niger Delta. It is therefore right to say the phrase 'Niger Delta' is a political creation for the sake of crude oil politics, just like the phrase 'South-South' which has no meaning in geography.

If the phrase 'Niger Delta' respresents 'oil producing', what does the phrase 'South East' represent and how holistic is the phrase to its purpose? How fair and reasonable is the argument?

This is also why I think it is stupid to create a 'North-East Development Commission'. If 'North East' represents every state attacked by Boko Haram, then Abuja and Lagos should also be included in the commission. Nigeria is a criminal state so stupid things happen always.

Let us not forget that the 1999 Constitution does not recognize regions (Niger Delta, North East, etc) but states (Abia, Kano, etc).

I understand why the federal government created NDDC; crude oil. I understand why the FG is about to create NEDC; Boko Haram, but I do not understand why SEDC should be created. At least, Biafra agitation is not about creating federal interventionist commission but a right to self-determination.

If we continue like this, we shall soon have SWDC, NWDC, NCDC and many more commissions. Interventionist commissions don't solve problems in Nigeria, they create further problems. Go to NDDC, find out and ask the people of Niger Delta if NDDC has solved any problem.

This is what I think the South East needs.

First, because Igbos are republicans in nature, the community based government  (CBG) as a last tier of government in their region will be the best thing to happen to their region.

The Igbo lawmakers (and every other lawmaker) should push for the abolishment of the LGA system and replace it with community based governments. The North will reject this anyway.

Community based government allows every community to have a government within its boundary. Whether the community is a village, town or city, there should be a government resident in the community, owned by the local people, funded by the local people and managed by the local people yet having constitutional powers and fiscal authority. This government should be in charge of the most basic things of life; security, basic education, water, electricity, etc. This is the foundation of true federalism. This is what every lawmaker should be debating about. This tier of government should actually be created by the state constitutions and not the federal constitution. Yes, our states need to have their own constitutions so we can democratize our state politics and weaken the excessive powers of our state governors. That is a topic for another day anyway.

If we can bring government to our localities, we have solved many of our problems in Nigeria. The next step will be funding, how will our community governments be funded. This is where the Igbos will be most advantaged. I guess you know why.

I oppose every move to create further federal interventionist 'development' commissions.

Most of the issues we discuss at the national assembly are actually issues for regional or state house of Assemblies.

If the South-East wants a development commission, an Hausa  or Yoruba lawmaker should not even be part of the debate, how much more opposing it.

It is like bringing up the Biafra Referendum Bill to debate and a Yoruba or Hause man stands up to debate or oppose it. For what na?

Let the people who will be affected by the Bill debate, fund and decide the fate of the bill. Once they have agreed, the national lawmakers have no right to oppose the resolution. These are all features of true federalism that we do not have in our system. If you are not part of the struggle, you have no right to oppose it. You can only pray for and influence the affected people to vote in favor of your opinion or choice. In Nigerian national assembly, you see an Igbo or Hausa man debating over an issue that only Ijaw lawmakers should be involved simply because everything is on the exclusive list. Crazy country.

A lot of the issues we discuss at the national assembly should not be debated there. For example, there are two ridiculous bills in the house of reps right now that seeks to amend the Constitution so as to provide free primary education and free pre-natal and post-natal treatment services for every Nigerian woman as a right. Some idiots want to put primary school and antenatal on the exclusive list. Why should such issues be in the federal (national) constitution? Why should such issues be debated at the national assembly? Unitary system?

When you understand how skewed and abnormal our unitary set up is, you will abandon every other struggle and focus on the restructuring struggle.

Our country is a huge joke. Our lawmakers are working hard to perfect the imperfection called the 1999 Constitution.

Let us unite to demand for the real change.

We must understand the difference between how things are working right now and how things ought to work in Nigeria. When we figure this out, we will see that most of these battles are needless battles and distractions.

#RestructureNigeria
#TrueFederalism
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