Eric Teniola
Sunday May 24th was the 54th anniversary of the promulgation of decree number 34 by Major General Johnson Thomas Umanakwe Aguiyi Ironsi. Few people remembered. It was the decree that transferred all the autonomous power of the four regions then to the centre. The regions then were Northern Region, Eastern Region, Western Region and Mid-Western Region. Decree 34 came into force on 24th May, 1966. Under it, Nigeria formally ceased to be a Federation and was renamed the ‘Republic of Nigeria’, the Federal Executive Council became the ‘National Military Government’, the Federal Executive Council became simply the ‘Executive Council’ and Lagos the ‘capital territory’.
The Regions were formally abolished, but the Provinces (the next largest administrative division below the Regions) were grouped into ‘the Northern Group of Provinces’, the ‘Eastern Group of Provinces’, etc. These Groups corresponded exactly with the previous Regions and the four Military Governors continued in office administering the same area as before. The Military Governors however lost the power to incur expenditure on their own responsibility without prior consent. The federal and regional public services were unified into a single ‘National Public Service’. Control over the most senior posts was centralized. The power to appoint and dismiss ‘ persons to hold or act in the office of permanent secretary to any department of government of the Republic or any other office of equivalent rank in the National Public Service’ was vested in the Supreme Military Council. The National Public Service Commission was to be consulted before any such appointments were made. The power to appoint, promote, dismiss, and discipline in relation to all other administrative posts was vested in the National Public Service Commission. This power was delegated except for the most senior posts to Provincial Public Service Commissions. The power to appoint the members of the Police Service Commission was vested in the Head of the National Military Government (under Decree No. 1 it had been in the Federal Executive Council).
There was this fear among Northern elites especially among those of them in the civil service at that time that a unitary system of government will lead to the domination of the Federal Public Service by the Easterners. The fear was grounded on the assumption among the Northern elites that under Decree No. 34, they will lose out and that the Easterners will exploit, dominate and control the entire public service. Ironically, the reverse is the case in today’s Nigeria. Decree No. 34 was the albatross of General Ironsi. And that was one of the reasons why he was killed.
To further cement the mighty powers in the centre the military in 1978 and 1999 established those powers in the exclusive legislative list in the constitution. Today, no doubt those powers have been abused, hence the urgent demand for restructuring. If not for the obloquy or rather the scurrility of the mighty power in the centre under the guise of ‘this is our turn’ syndrome, there would not have been a demand for restructuring.
If we talk about restructuring today, it was caused by decree 34 and its exploitation. Restructuring is a protest demand on the mighty power of the central government and its exploitation. Restructuring is a legitimate protest of the inequality that exists in today’s Nigeria.
Every Head of State or President or even the Head of Interim Government that have headed the central government since 1966 have failed to return the power back to the regions. If not for decree 34 maybe and just maybe we could have been in the same shoes like Switzerland, Belgium, Serbia or Netherlands whose regions or groupings are sovereign. To add more to the mighty power of the central government, General Yakubu Gowon in 1970 promulgated decree No. 13 with the effect of shifting the bulk of the federally collected revenues to the Federal Government.
Thus, the States got only 60 per cent instead of 100 per cent of export duty revenue, 50 per cent instead of 100 per cent of duty on motor fuel, and 50 per cent of excise duty revenues. The balances went to the Federal Government, which also got 5 per cent of mining rents and royalties taken out of the 50 per cent that went to the States by derivation.
For the shares among the States, this decree explicitly adopted a two-factor formula giving equal weight to the principles of population and equality of States. Whether the States were satisfied or not could not readily be identified in view of the command structure of the Military Government. In 1971 the same General Yakubu Gowon promulgated decree No. 9 which gave total revenue from the offshore oil production to the central government. The present might of the federal government has its root in decree No. 34 of General Aguiyi Ironsi.
When General Ironsi promulgated the decree he also banned the 82 political parties that existed before the coup of January 16, 1966. In the decree, General Ironsi also banned the following tribal and cultural associations. They were Borno State Union, Egbe Atunlase Ibadan, Egbe Igbomina Parapo, Egbe Omo Oduduwa, Egbe Omo Olofin, Egbe Omo Yoruba, Egbe Yoruba Parapo, Ekiti Northern, Ibadan Parapo, Ibibio State Union, Ibo State Union or Ibo Union, Ibo Youth Congress, Ibo Youth League, Idoma Tribal Union, Igbira Tribal Union I and II, Ijaw Progressive Union, Kajola Society, Lagos Aborigines Society, Oganiru Society, Okaa Society, Oshun Parapo, Otuedo, Oyo Parapo and Yoruba State Union.
On May 26, 1967, the Military Governor of the then Eastern Region, Lt-Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu addressed the joint meeting of the advisory committee of Chiefs and Elders and the consultative assembly of the Eastern Region in Enugu. He declared on that day “the ill-fated Decree No. 34 was promulgated after it had been discussed and approved by General Aguiyi-Ironsi’s Supreme Military Council . No doubt, the ghost of Decree No. 34 is still haunting us till today. Whatever merits that influenced the promulgation of that decree, have now turned to demerits. The decree has been exploited and abused. Restructuring then becomes inevitable.