Buhari wrong to refer restructuring to National Assembly – Agbakoba

A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has critisised President Muhammadu Buhari for referring the widespread call for the nation’s restructuring to the National Assembly and the National Council of State.
According to Agbakoba, Buhari’s approach was wrong because it was not in agreement with Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution, which vests the responsibility to restructure the country in no one else but the President.
“The President has delegated the responsibility to restructure Nigeria to the National Assembly and the National Council of State. But this responsibility cannot be delegated. Section 5 of the constitution vests the President with executive powers of the federation and these include the power to restructure Nigeria,” Agbakoba said on Tuesday.
The lawyer shared his views on the ongoing restructuring debate with journalists in his Ikoyi, Lagos office on Tuesday.
He said the political restructuring – regional autonomy, being canvassed from various quarters must be matched with improved economic and administrative governance.
He said, “Political restructuring is not enough, otherwise, the inefficiencies at the centre will simply be transferred to the new regions. Restructuring must address other connecting issues like the bloated size of the public service. Why should 80 per cent of the national budget be used to service three per cent of the population? The Orosanye committee reviewed 263 statutory agencies of government and asked government to scrap 102 agencies. Government should implement the Orosanye report immediately.
“Government should then focus on its core mandate, which is policy, execution and regulation and stay completely away from business matters. This will empower a new set of economic actors – civil society and private sector. This type of restructuring is critical for economic development.”
Agbakoba said restructuring must also involve creating a balance between the Federal Government and the states in terms of revenue sharing, mainly by giving the states control over the natural resources in their domain.
He added, “The second principle is the possibility to isolate hydrocarbons as it is for now crucial to the Nigerian economy and create transitional provisions to transfer ownership to oil-bearing states over a period but in the meantime, review percentage derivation.
“A third possibility is to demarcate onshore hydrocarbon to be left to the littoral states and offshore to the Federal Government.”
Agbakoba, who observed that discordant tunes were being sung about the country’s need for restructuring and the kind of restructuring needed, said the South must reach out to the wary North to allay their fears.
He said clarification must also be made between devolution of power and redistribution of power.
He said, “Redistribution is when power is rearranged between the federal and regional governments. Devolution relates to powers given up by the unitary government to the regions. Nigeria is a federation and not a unitary state.”