Agbakoba, former NBA president, outlines 3 simple ways Senate can restructure Nigeria

The devolution of powers from the Federal Government to State Governments is the simple way to restructure Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, maritime lawyer and former president of Nigerian Bar Association, has told the Nigerian Senate.

In a letter addressed to Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Agbakoba said devolved powers will help resolve the self-imposed complex issue of restructuring in Nigeria.

“In my opinion, the simple process of devolved powers can be by virtue of an enactment styled, Constitution Alteration (Devolution of Powers) Bill,” Agbakoba said in the letter.

Titled ‘A Simple Way to Restructure Nigeria by Devolving Powers’, the letter by the human rights activist explained that the political system best suited for Nigeria’s diverse nature and large size is a federal system but the challenge of what type of federalism has been the problem.

“Many proposals, including restructuring, have been put forward without success. I believe there is a simple solution. This is devolution of powers,” he said.

Explaining that the Nigerian constitution has two legislative lists- Exclusive and Concurrent, Agbakoba said the lists have 98 items of powers, of which the Federal Government exercises exclusive power over 68 items on the exclusive list.

On the other hand, the states in concurrence with the Federal Government, exercise power over 30 items on the concurrent list.

“But the States may only exercise power on the concurrent list, only if the Federal Government has not already “covered the field” on any of the 30 items. In effect, State Governments really have no power,” he said.

Read Also: Senate queries Lai Mohammed over N19m foreign trips during COVID-19

Agbakoba, therefore suggested to the Nigerian senate, the nation’s highest legislature, whose power is to make laws, that to resolve this, a committee may have to review the 98 items of power and assign what is best to Federal and what is best to the states, based on the principle of subsidiarity.

“I also suggest the Exclusive list and Concurrent list be renamed as the Federal Legislative List and State Legislative list. The Federal Government will exercise reserved powers. The States will exercise devolved power,” he said.

Haven worked with the Forum of Federations, Agbakoba asked the Senate to look into the diverse models of Federalism that has been reviewed by the Forum as it can be of assistance to the National Assembly.

“This will resolve the self-imposed complex issue of Restructure,” the lawyer said.

The recommended book which is the third on the three measures suggested to the Senate on how it can restructure Nigeria is titled: Federalism: An Introduction by George Anderson: A Collaboration Between Forum of Federation and the Nigerian Bar Association.