By Henry Akubuiro

My Public Service Journey, Klamidas Communications Ltd, Abuja, 2019, pp. 456.

Can Nigeria overcome its present challenges with a restructured super structure? Retired permanent secretary in the Presidency, Bukar Usman, thinks the solution to the structural poser lies somewhere else, in simple things we tend to overlook, as stated in his expository book, My Public Service Journey: Issues in Public Service Administration in Nigeria.  

Writing on “Issues and Challenges of Restructuring Nigeria”, Usman reminds us that the 1999 Nigerian Constitution provides for necessary steps that must be taken and adhered to in amending its provisions, but it “is the perceived difficulties in compliance with those provisions that tend to make some people want to circumvent the process by condemning the existing constitution altogether as a product of a non-democratic process.”

Arguments for restructuring, he notes, are anchored on certain misgivings and perceptions in form and style of governance; perceived intolerable imbalance in the federal structure, as currently constituted; imbalance in appointments and imbalance in the distribution of resources. Its advocates equally perceive the system of governance in practice as unitary to their yearnings for federalism. Thus, some have proposed a return to the 1963 Constitution, for it was the only constitution negotiated by our revered civilian political leaders, with the three regions (and later four) recording unmatched developments within the rather short time they were operative.

Another campaign by the advocates of restructuring, says the author, is that the 1999 Constitution currently in operation was handed down by the military and a carryover of the unitary system of governance imposed by military-style governance. Hence, they call for a re-enactment of “true federalism” and true “fiscal federalism”, like what obtained in the 1960s which left the component regions of the federation with sufficient resources to perform.

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The author reminds all that similar agitations like the current clamour for restructuring led to the balkanisation of Nigeria into states to redress perceived imbalance that might jeopardise the existence of the nation.

While it may be necessary to occasionally undertake a critical self examination in nation-building, Usman contends that it’s unrealistic to prescribe the structure of Nigeria of 1963 to Nigeria of today, let alone the future, because the country has undergone a lot of irreversible metamorphosis since again.

He writes: “The population size has increased manifold. The proportion of the contribution of agricultural commodities to revenue of the component units has drastically changed…. Socio-cultural and political dynamics have inflicted permanent changes. The shoe size of 1963 can no longer fit Nigeria of today and, most likely, Nigeria of the future. Regardless of the nostalgia for the 1963 Constitution in the mind of many of the agitators, the structure, systems and practices of that era cannot realistically be superimposed on the existing structure” (p.199).

What is the way out? Usman offers: “The answer to the restructuring question lies more in collective self examination, in fundamental change of attitude, and in a public-spirited approach to public administration by the current operators of our constitution” (p.200). Nigeria, the largest black nation on earth, he adds, can be administered properly by a more ethical, transparent and accountable leadership at all levels. Again, there is an urgent need to uplift the living standard of the citizenry, and “this calls for a more judicious use of God-given resources.”

While there is need to put in place measures that will ensure our current leaders exhibit the right attitude in the performance of their functions, Usman says the more urgent and fundamental need is to work out a way of inculcating and sustaining in the younger and future generations patriotic zeal that puts service and loyalty to country above selfish and parochial inclinations.

The author reiterates that it’s not the structure that is to blame for the nation’s woes, and, even if Nigerians come up with a new constitution and choose to operate outside the letter and spirit of that constitution, as is currently the case, the result would be the same. Therefore, “the solution to some of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political problems greatly lies more in a much-needed change of attitude to governance by the operators than in restructuring of the country.”