Constitutional Review: Fresh Case For Lagos Special Status

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Lagos State, southwest Nigeria had been the Federal Capital of the nation since Nigeria attained nationhood in 1960. Lagos, with a population of about 20 million is no doubt the most populous city in West Africa. As the former capital of Nigeria, the allure of city life has made many people move into the state.

Despite the movement of the nation’s capital to Abuja in 1991, the population of Lagos has not stopped growing. This is as a result of the viablity of commerce in the state. Lagos is the foremost commercial hub of Nigeria and the West African sub-region. This is why daily, people flock into the state.

The consequence of this is that the infrastructure in the metropolis has been stretched to the limit, while slums have sprung up in many places. Apart from this, 70 per cent of the nation’s income is generated in Lagos. The state houses the nation’s seaport and various federal facilities that generate income for the federal authorities.

Despite these, Lagos, as the former capital of the nation has been neglected. The federal government has continued to take much from the state and impoverish her people. There are lots of decayed infrastructure, while the budget of the state is not enough to meet the infrastructure challenge.

There has been pressure on the federal government to accord Lagos a special status as the former federal capital of the nation. What this means is that a certain fund should be allocated to Lagos for infrastructure development as the former nation’s capital.

Former governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the incumbent, Babatunde Fashola and several eminent personalities in Lagos and around the nation have been clamouring for a special status for Lagos, but the federal government turned deaf ears to this plea.

Two weeks ago, the South West public hearing on the 1999 Constitution review provided another opportunity for the clamour for a special status for Lagos. Eminent Nigerians from the Southwest, lawmakers and were at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja for the public hearing.

Prominent among them was the Senate President, David Mark, who gave justification for the need to accord Lagos a special status as the former capital of the nation. Some others at the event were the Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Ayo Agboola; Senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial district, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu; Senator representing Lagos East, Gbenga Ashafa, Senator Sola Adeyeye from Osun State and Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu I and stakeholders representing the various segments of the society.

Mark, while addressing the political leaders, civil society practitioners and human rights activists of the South West geopolitical zone, assured the people of Nigeria on the commitment of the National Assembly to produce a working federal constitution that would largely tackle strategic issues generating intractable conflicts between the federating units and principal institutions of the government. He said the Senate and House of Representatives “have no hidden agenda contrary to what critics have said. The only agenda the National Assembly has is to collect the aggregate of people’s views.”

But above all 36 items listed for deliberation, the demand that Lagos should be accorded a special status got a senatorial endorsement at the public session, which almost all the Southwest federal and state lawmakers attended. The endorsement was contained in the opening address of the Senate President, who said former capitals “are normally accorded special status the world over”.

Mark’s public acknowledgement indeed provides justification for a course, which Governor Babatunde Fashola, House of Representatives Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila; House Committee on Legislative Compliance, Moruf. Fatai-Akinderu and Ekundayo Bush-Alebiosu, among others have been aggressively pursuing ever before the first review of the constitution.

According to Mark, “when the call for special status comes up in Lagos State, the people of the state are not asking for anything out of the ordinary. But I am here to collect the views of the people. I believe Fashola’s view on the special status is the view of Lagos people. But we are not here to impose our views. We are all here to collate the views and review our federal constitution based on what people want.”

He said his canvassing for a special status for Lagos represented his own submission and that it was built on the federal practice in different countries of the world, mainly those that “have cause to change their capitals. All of you are conversant with New Delhi in India, Rio in Brazil and New York in the United States. I only know former capitals have special status in these countries.”

Mark’s reference to Brazil and India has a lot of implications. At least, it shows that Lagos is not asking for too much, being the economic capital of Nigeria. It also reveals that according special status to former capitals is a global practice, which denotes that Lagos case should not be an exception in any way. So, the insertion of the ‘special status clause’ in the next constitution will mark a turning point in Nigeria’s federal practice.

The Senate President expressed the commitment of the federal lawmakers “to ensure objective review of the 1999 Constitution. Nobody can say what will happen and what will not. When we collate views, we would review them and take the agenda. There are so many topics that people have discussed. We may not be able to take all of them in one single slate, which is going to be difficult if we indeed attempt to do so.

“Since 1999, my idea has been that if we try to chew so much at a time, nothing will happen. But we would take time to prioritise all the issues and then the ones we could take we would take. I would suggest humbly and innocently that any amendment we are making must take two critical issues into consideration. Any amendment that will improve security should be prioritized. Any amendment that will bring development nearer and quicker to the people must be seen as a priority.

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“There are a lot of issues we want to discuss. There are issues we should address from a patriotic and nationalistic point of view not only a selfish point of view else everyone will want to have his own local government, but the essence of this meeting is to allow Nigerians participate fully in the amendment so that the slogan that the military bequeathed to us a constitution will no longer be there.”

Governor Fashola, on the issue of a special status for Lagos as a former Federal capital, emphasised that as far as the State is concerned, its strategic importance and contribution in terms of Gross Domestic Product, GDP; political, social and economic development cannot be argued in any way.

He said only very few people could be counted who did not call Lagos their first or second home because “Lagos is the place where one would come across somebody who looks like him, who has his tribal marks, who dresses like him, who eats his kind of food and speaks his kind of language. Once anyone comes into Lagos, he will indeed see somebody from his state.

“Over and above this was the former Federal Capital of Nigeria that has been on its own. I think in the national interest, Lagos now deserves to be treated as a special state. I do not say it because of Lagos but because of Nigeria. This is where all of the food producing regions sends their food. This is the market for the whole country. This is also the point from which majority of imports that come into this country enters from the Port. If this state does not prosper, prosperity will be difficult for many parts of the country,” he explained.

The governor expressed optimism that the logic and enlightened self interest would see those saddled with the task of the amendment taking decisions that would ultimately benefit not only Lagos but the whole of Nigeria.

“This is everybody’s home, people proudly say this is my state, Lagos is my first home, and this was where I was made. So in that enlightened self interest to protect your investment, to protect yourself, to protect your people here, vote for the special status for Lagos so that we can secure our future.

“Special status for Lagos means provision of financial support for the infrastructure and assets that have been built in the state when it was the Federal Capital territory. In other jurisdictions where capitals have moved, there have always been that special support by way of funding for the old capital,” he stated.

Fashola also canvassed for true federalism as the only option for the country, adding that it is only through the federal arrangement that the diversity of Nigeria could be harnessed, saying that “we are a people so diverse and yet one people, and the best way would be therefore to allow each individual state to develop at its own speed, according to its own resources, according to its own ability in a way that the prosperity of the State can become the prosperity of the Federal Republic.”

On the issue of fiscal and federalism, the governor said devolution of powers makes eminent sense because it is the only way that the diversity of the nation can become fully expressive, adding that issues like Police must come under two heads which are the devolution of powers and also under the debate of national security “because as the situation is today if the people continue to live in fear, there is very little the government can do.”

“My advocacy for State Police does not mean it would exist without federal component. But clearly, the centre has been unable to recruit enough personnel to distribute across the States.  It is unable to fund sufficiently what it currently has and there are state laws relating to local issues that even the Federal Police is not bothered about anymore. They are concerned with higher issues.

“Years ago, the most important item was armed robbery but now has a rich menu of kidnapping spiced with terrorism. So where is the capacity to deal with issues that affect women, like rape? They are crimes that are better left at local level for states to deal with,” he stated.

Fashola also advised that the issue of more states and more regions must be looked into by balancing the agitation with the realities of available finances, saying while Nigerians are strong in their views on the one hand that too much money is being spent in running government, if more states are created, it means more money to governance. At the public hearing, the Ijebu State Movement canvassed for the creation of Ijebu State from the existing Ogun State while the Lagoon State Movement called for the creation of Lagoon State from the existing Lagos State.

On this issue, Fashola offered an advice, which he said, should “be looked at by balancing the agitation for the creation of more states in any part of Nigeria with the realities of our finances.

“The people of Nigeria are strong in their views that there is too much money being spent in government. Therefore let me advice that the constitution does not create any organ without responsibilities. With responsibilities come personnel. With personnel comes funding. So if we decide to create more states and more regions, it could mean more money going to government.”

Chairman of the South West Zone of the public hearing of the amendment of the1999 Constitution, Senator Ganiyu Solomon said the committee would ensure that every opinion counted as the process continued with this zonal public hearing, enjoining Nigerians to show every sense of responsibility, decorum, patriotism and open-mindedness in the exercise and approach it not only with the present in mind but also with an eye on the future.

—Kazeem ugbodaga

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