Nigeria @60: Fraudulent Federalism drawing Nigeria backward – Says Ohanaeze
The socio-cultural organization Ohanaeze Ndigbo has described Nigeria’s present federalism as fraudulent and faulty.
The acting Secretary General and National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, Chief Uche Achi- Okpaga disclosed this in an interview with Punch correspondents, Punch quoted him as saying that the fraudulent practice of federalism in Nigeria was the cause of the nation’s backwardness and the lack of development within the country.
In his words, he said “If you are talking about federalism, it is a collective agreement that exists among federating units and in the case of Nigeria, the federating units have to do with the Federal Government and the 36 states, and the Federal Capital Territory as is captured in the constitution.
“But here, the Federal Government lords it over states and the Federal Capital Territory. Virtually everything is on the Exclusive List and you are still calling it a federation.
“What has a federation got to do with education? What has it got to do with agriculture? What has it got to do with water resources among others?
“The federation should concern itself with foreign affairs. It has to do with the economy; it has to do with some specific issues that should be handled by the Federal Government but here everything is taken over by the Federal Government.
“Even on the Concurrent List, the states and the local governments are virtually out and you are still calling it a federation. It is faulty and fraudulent.”
He continued by saying “We are not observing federal character in Nigeria. It is just in principle. In practice, it doesn’t exist. Do you know that appointments are no longer advertised? Check lucrative agencies and parastatals, you can hardly see them advertised.
Nigeria Ports Authority; when last did you hear them advertise for jobs? But they employ every time. The only one you see is police recruitment. Customs only advertise for junior officers and in the course of recruitment, people just go and lose their lives”.
“At the top echelons, you can’t hear them recruit. You can’t see the adverts because one particular section of the country will fill the empty positions with the people from their area and the problem will still continue,” he stated.
Nwada Ugochinyere Onyechere reporting, Obinwannem News
