From what I read in the newspapers and heard during discussions in recent weeks, a lot of people, Southerners and Northerners alike, through ignorance of the facts of the issues in question have misconceptions about the restructuring being canvassed. They also don’t know why it is better to change from the presidential to parliamentary system, decentralize power and end the imperial and suffocating control of the Federal Government over the states. So, there is a need to let such people know the true position of things regarding the proposed changes. This is what those campaigning for restructuring, decentralization of power and parliamentary government and the press should be doing.
As I found out dialoguing with people, the major reason why Northerners in particular, both of the majority and minority ethnic groups, and some South -Westerners and South – Easterners are opposed to parliamentary system and decentralizing power is the belief that the governments of the oil producing states will be the ones to have control over the industry and will only have to pay tax. It seems this is what the people of the Niger – Delta also believe.
According to the non – South – South people the money of the Western, Eastern and Northern Regions was used in the 50s through the 60s to explore for oil. As a result, they are asking how the Federal Government because of true federalism will have to surrender what is the commonwealth of all Nigerians to the governments of the states where the oil is? But the truth is that if power is decentralized and we change to the parliamentary system, the Federal Government will still be in charge of the oil in the Niger Delta because it owns it on behalf of all Nigerians. It is if as in Lagos State, the governments or citizens of the Niger Delta explore for oil and succeed in the venture that they will be control of what is theirs and pay tax to the Federal Government.
What the Folawiyo Group of Companies did in Lagos State in exploring for oil is what the governments and companies owned by Niger Delta business men and women should have done. It beats my imagination that none of them did this, in a region where they are sure to find oil and not gamble in vain. Those who are clamouring for the decentralization of power and the parliamentary system of government are doing so because they feel it is better for the country, and I am one with them because it is what will give us Benthamism, instead of the prevailing despondency.
In the First Republic when we had true federalism or balanced federalism as some call it, regional governments had control over local government, they could do what they wanted with education, pay the salaries they could afford and had the power to create a police force of their own. But now, it is the Federal Government that controls all these and others in the overlord type of federal system we have been running since 1999.
About 14 or 15 years ago, the Lagos State Government felt it needed more local governments for faster development but the Federal Government of President Olusegun Obasanjo withheld its financial allocations because it said it had no power to do. As a result, it had to change their name to Local Government Development Authority. The revenue the states receive from the central government is not the same while the cost of living also varies from state to state. Is it therefore fair and reasonable for the centre to force all the states in the federation to pay the same salary to their workers? This is the major reason for the industrial crises in the country as the poor states cannot comfortably pay the salary imposed on them by the Federal Government.
To be continued next week


Happy 90th birthday Pa Okolo (2)

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Prince Benjamin Egwuatu Okolo went on voluntary retirement in 1985 after 34 years of service at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation which became Federal Radio Corporation in April 1978, as a Principal Studio Manager on Grade Level 12 and a salary of N8, 000 per annum. Which means from 1971 to February 1980 when I was a staff there he was on a salary that went up after promotion or annual increment from about N2, 000 – N5, 000 a year.
Yet, it was from the paltry pays he earned in those years that he trained his five children, four girls and one boy, in prestigious St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Campos Street, Lagos, reputable secondary schools, also in the city and the distinguished and popular Universities of Ibadan, Benin, Port Harcourt and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri and the University of Nigeria Nsukka. How he was able to do this and become a publisher today is a lesson to learn from.
He did shift duties of morning, afternoon and night. So, before he resumed or after closing from work, he would go around sourcing for advertisements for the Daily Times, West African Pilot, Daily Express and other newspapers in Lagos. He had only secondary education as a member of the 1946 – 50 set of the Christ the King College, Onitsha. But he developed himself reading journals on printing as a result after retiring in 1985 he was able to establish a printing company doing work for professional bodies like doctors, engineers, architects and others.
Next week’s lesson in the concluding part will be on the extremely laudable and inspiring things Prince Okolo’s children have done for him. You will be highly moved, want and pray that your offspring to do them for you.