President Tinubu and the Unfinished Business to Restructure the Federation
By Tunji Olaopa One of the fundamental diagnoses of the Nigerian state is that its constitutional framework for governance is at variance with its plural reality. In other words, the
President Tinubu and the unfinished business of restructuring Nigeria's federation present a significant challenge for the administration. The Nigerian Constitution, which recognizes Nigeria as a federation with federal, state, and local tiers of government, remains structurally centralized, denying the realities of the country's plural reality. This anomaly has led to a stagnant local government structure since the Ironsi administration and hindered democratic governance since 1999.
The Tinubu administration recognizes the need for restructuring to address these issues and bring about impactful democratic dividends at the grassroots level. One of the key reasons for this agenda is Tinubu's ideological attachment to the task of restructuring the Nigerian governance system, even before becoming president. The administration's policies, such as the creation of the Ministry of Regional Development, six regional development commissions, and the push for state police, demonstrate a commitment to decentralization and the decentralization of power.
The establishment of the Ministry of Regional Development and the six regional development commissions aims to instigate socioeconomic and infrastructural progress across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones. These measures facilitate policy convergence and divergence, enabling harmonization and the creation of economic corridors and growth poles.
Moreover, the government's push for the creation of state police and the amendments to the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act signify a move towards decentralizing power and ownership of natural resources.
The Tinubu administration's emphasis on incentivizing subnational elements and entities to invest in their regions is crucial in unlocking the governance potentials inherent in a true federalism. The objective is to install a framework of structurally permanent competitive federalism among the federating units and regions. By piecemeal legislative approach, the administration aims to privilege decentralization through gradual policy advancement, connecting federalism to developmental local governance.
This strategy recognizes that democratic governance becomes meaningful when local governance is empowered, and local governments constitute the framework for testing the transparency and responsiveness of government institutions.
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