As I have already said in the Part 1 of this article, the Nigerian Constitution is not only a 419 constitution, but equally insulting. Take for example the Resource Allocation Formula, without any exaggeration, and with all seriousnes, it is a constitution of "MONKEY DEY WORK, BABOON DEY CHOP." Most likely, the British helped the north to smuggle this in.

 According to the constitution, resource allocation to states are based solely on population of its citizens, and not on their economic activities. The interpretation of this is that, if for example, Lagos state has the same population, nevertheless they both receive equall amount from the Federal Government irrespective of the fact that Lagos state has 20 times more engineers, 15 times more medical doctors, 20 times more lawyers, 30 times more professors, 15 times more accountants e.t.c.than Kano state. As far as resource allocation is concerned, what our constitution is saying is that if a Lagos father who knows the value of education struggles - out of his meagre earnings -  to train all his five children to the university level,  nevertheless he or his state is equally compensated like a Kano father with 5 children too; two of whom completed only primary school, one only secondary school, one a stark illiterate who beg for arms on the street, and only just one managed to study to the university level. You don't need a ph.D to understand and agree with me that all things being equal, "there is a direct correlation between level of productivity, development and education. The more and better people are educated in a society, the more goods and services they produce leading to a higher G.D.P. and G.N.P. respectively, provided the necessary facilities are on ground. But, our constitution and government are telling us that as far as Nigeria is concerned, that is irrelevant. To them, it is the quantity or number that matters, and not their quality. In essence, the drafters of our constitution   are saying that if I, as an indigine of Lagos state, (since my mother is from Lagos and my father is from Ile-Ife, the Cradle of Yorubaland, in a way, I can claim Lagos) by the virtue of my good education and entrepreneurship, work harder, faster and give more to the country, at the end of the day, I still get equally rewareded like a Kano indigine who never bothered going to school and lives on welfare. It is just the same  as saying that the senior executive of a company earns the same with the cleaner, despite the fact that their contribution to the company are completely different. Where is the fairness here?

 Why is the allocation not based on criteria like number or percentage of graduates compared to the population, productivity, percentage of small and medium scale enterprises, percentage of self-employed people e.t.c.? Our government and constitution have given the predominantly polygamous, lazy, least educated, backward, unproductive, parasitic, religious fanatics, smpathisers of Ben Laden and descendants of Othman Dan Fodio northern muslims the carte blanch to enjoy themselves to the fullest, have as many children as possible, without bothering to educate them or make them productive and useful to themselves and the country. They are rest assured that they will be taken good care  of by the oil resources in the south, at the expense of the bonafide owners of the resources. There is no competition whatsoever for resource allocation. The only criteria and competition is the number of children you can father. I was just wondering if we are that generous, why not merge Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroon, and perhaps other African countries with Nigeria too?

 That's not all. The same constitution  says that the more the population of a state, the more representatives it will have in The Senate and House of Representatives, What does this mean? What this means is that Kano state for example with the highest population in the country; if we assume that the result of the census was not manipulated, will have much more representatives and senators than Bayelsa, Delta and all other oil producing South-south states combined. What is the implication of this? The implication is that based on their voting power, Kano state can connive with other northern states and easyly block any proposal in the interest of the oil producing states  (who unfortunately are minorities) and Nigeria in general, but not in their own  selfish interest.

 You want a concrete example? I will definitely give you one. Supposing that a very important and sensitive issue like the amount of oil and gas revenues to be retained by oil producing states is being discussed. It is obvious that the oil producing states will want to keep or retain the largest percentage that is possible from their resources in other to develop their own territitory. This is normal and fair since these resources belong to them in the first place, and not to Nigeria or Nigerians. Therefore, they have the full  right to use as much as possible - if not all - of their resources for their own development. Afterall, provided you have conscience, you don't expect Nigeria to grow with their  resources while they wallow in abject poverty. Do you?  However, it is obvious that the more percentage of the oil revenues the oil producing states keep for themselves, the lesser the  northern states get for their development, and  the lesser their lazy, good-for-nothing and redundant retired/serving military generals  will have the opportunity to steal. Isn't it? So, what do you have? You have conflict of interest.

 So, after much discussion, arguements, deliberations and presentation of papers on this volatile issue, it is put to vote. Afterall, it is democracy. Deep in your, how do you expect Kano and other norther states to vote? Your guess is as good as mine. Ofcourse, they will vote enmass for the retainment of the smallest percentage as possible for the oil producing states. What is the conclusion? The conclusion is that defacto, the oil producing states are a colony of Nigeria simply because they are not only being marginalised but they have no say nor influence on an  issue which directly concerns them and  is of life importance. They have no say in working out the terms of agreement on how their oil will be explored, including the financial terms. They have no say in deciding what kind of technology should be used for exploration that will ensure least pollution and damage to the enviroment. They have no say in deciding what amount of compensation they are entitled to due to the pollution of their land, water and air.They have no say in deciding what amount of fine or compensation the oil companies have to pay for violating some stipulated international norms or standards for oil exploration, which may result in larger pollution and/or very serious health problems/hazzards. They have no say in deciding what kind of special medical programmes and life insurance packages the indigines are entitled to due to the fact that they are permanently exposed to polluted air. They have no say in deciding how many schools, hospitals, recreational centers and factories will be built for their respective communities by the foreign oil companies. They have no say in deciding how the farmers and the indigenes in general who lost their land as a result of oil exploration or other constructions/installations  related to oil drilling will be compensated.  They have no say in deciding the number or percentage  of  their indigenes that must be employed by N.N.P.C  and foreign oil companies. They have no say in deciding what kind of special medical service the indigines should be entitled to incase they sustain injury in the course of working for the oil companies. They have no say in deciding how the indigenes will be evacuated and compensated incase of natural disaster like flood, earhtquake, pipe explosion, fire outbreak, e.t.c. which may result due to the  drilling of oil. They have no say in deciding how foreign oil companies and their workers - of various nationalities and cultures,  conduct themselves and their affairs in the community and with the local people in order to proove that they respect their culture, customs and the people that leave on the land. They have no say in working out  the modalities for resolving conflicts between foreign oil companies, their multinational workers and the local people, incase of occurence. And last but not the least, they have absolute no say in deciding what amount of dollars or percentage from the cost of each barrel of oil lifted  by the oil companies thay are entitled to.

 Undoubtedly, the Niger Delta people and other oil producing states were not involved in discussing the above mentioned issues; if at all they were ever discussedid by the federal government. Now, fellow Nigerians, I am asking you, and please answer with your conscience. Will you call what is happening in The Niger Delta democracy? Isn't this a mockery of democracy? Don't you think that what is happening in the Niger Delta in general is inhuman? Don't you think that the people that the oil belongs to should not only benefit most from it, but equally have a major say in it? Don't you think that we are being ruled right from independence by  wicked, evil and insensitive people? Without any exaggeration, there is no difference whatsoever between  how the northern rulers, and the federal government in general have been treating the Niger Delta peoplet since independence, and how the white supremacists treated black  South Africans  during the regime of apartheid. Don't you think that this cliche that have imposed themselves on us through the barrel of the gun, and fraudulent election, since independence,  should be destroyed with any means possible, and as soon as possible?    

TO BE CONTINUED ...


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Robot  # 1 | 31.03.2007 09:01

Why is the allocation not based on criteria like number or percentage of graduates compared to th...Read the full article.

Nonyellum  # 2 | 31.03.2007 12:25

So brutally honest, it hurts. Change must happen in my lifetime. And I'll be an active participant.

Oseitutu  # 3 | 01.04.2007 16:34

Bode has touched most of the truth but all the same I beg to disagree to some extent the aspect of resource allocation. One of the guiding principles of socialism is 'From each according to his abilities and to each according to his needs'. Nigeria is not a socialist state, but you will agree with me that if we are to eventually erase the lop-sided nature of social development and infrastructure in our country, we should have innovative means of balancing allocations. States generate revenue through their economic activities viz-a-viz taxes etc. Federal allocations are generally from national resources and nationally generated revenue.It would be unfair for say states that do not have oil or any natural mineral to be starved of the nation's wealth (Louisiana!!Rings a bell?). Since allocation is based on population and representation is based on population, that seems to be the real democracy in a Federation not Con-federation. Why should say a rich business man in Ile-Ife have more say as to which way Ile Ife than the palm wine tapper simply because of how much wealth God has blessed him with? ALL MEN (and women-some may not agree) are created equal, chikena! Let their representation be proportional to their numbers. Think about AGMs and Proxy. Your voting power depends on how many shares you have not your pedigree or what your father has done for the company. Do not let our personal interests becloud our judgement of right and wrong. With equal allocation of resources according to population, one day it will become wiser for the PhD holder to go to the low-skills state since he may get paid more and cost of living will be less. Eventually everything balances out and there will no longer be bad-belle from any quarters because every corner will have as much skilled human resources as the other. The tory long but I still think the efforts put in by the lawmakers was worth it with the document called constitution which they produced. I am sure by the time we get to our 5th or 10th ammendment, we will be closer to perfection than even the ancient Greek. Oseitutu

oguzie j.j.  # 4 | 01.04.2007 17:33

The beauty of democracy is the one we are seeing here, ability to delibrate on our pasts and present a better solution to the future. If not for 35 years of waste by the military in our national life as people, we wont be where we are today still discussing about constitutionalism and resourse management and distribution in a good working federal system of govt. I will only admonish that we shouldnt think about the imposibilities i.e getting a perfect working constitution only in a democracy that is only 8 years old. There is no perfect system of govt in any known democracy but suffice me to say that based on our dynamics as a country of many nationalities, the federal system of govt seems more adequate to our challenges as a cosmopolitical, multi ethnic and multi national, pluralistic and multi religious nation like Nigeria presents. Good democratic culture can only be sustained in a prolonged constant adherence to dialogue with effective checks and balances that people oriented democracy gives. Lets face the truth revenue allocation is a serious challenge to a good and effective democracy anywhere in the world but it will only be addressed by continous delibration, dialogue and consultation with the participation of all stakeholders without eny esclusion of the majority, minority, the haves and the have nots but more espescially the strong supporting the weak without much unneccesary compromise that the giver must lose his all in other to sustain the weak. I have always approved of a good revenue sharing mechanism and fair allocation of resources taking into consideration that its the turn of the N/Delta today, tomorrow it could be the turn of any other region in our nation but let it be remembered that before the advent of oil, other regions where contributing so much to sustain the Niger Deltans region and other weaker regions then. It should not be seen as asking too much by the people of the Niger Delta when they ask for a better revenue allocation from the federal but this could be achieved without trying to cause much harm to our hard earned democracy which has brought many liberty to our people whereby this nationalities of people want a better share of democratic dividends which is also their democratic rights. It should also be noted that this present constitution was drafted all in hurry to let the military go away from our political life but lets us remind ourselves that the best constitution ever drafted by men is yet to emerge in any known nation and ours should not be an exception. Our constitution is a fragile one that is designed to accomodate constant reviews and amendments where neccesary and where applicable. Rome like they say wasnt built in a day.