A former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused Nigerian politicians of abandoning federalist principles once they attain power, despite campaigning with it.
El-Rufai spoke on Friday at an interactive session in Owerri, Imo State, insisting that Nigeria was founded as a federation.
It should be recalled that President Bola Tinubu’s political career has been hinged on “restructuring” and “true federalism”.
Also, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had promised to restructure the country and return it to true feredalism.
El-Rufai lamented that successive governments have adopted a centralised, unitary approach that undermines national development.
“This country was founded as a federation, but it appears that there are very few committed federalists in Nigeria. Recent experience would seem to suggest that federalism is a concept often touted by those seeking power who promptly forget about it once suitably empowered,” he said in his presentation titled ‘Moving forward together’.
He credited federalism with fostering inter-ethnic unity, democratic stability and socio-economic development during the First Republic, blaming the shift to centralisation in the 1970s for eroding these gains.
El-Rufai argued that the Federal Government has accumulated too many powers and resources but “does too much and too little well,” insisting that more responsibilities should be devolved to the states, including policing.
El-Rufai welcomed the 2023 constitutional amendment that moved electricity and railways to the concurrent list, allowing states to own and regulate entities in those sectors.
However, he called for further reforms based on the 2018 recommendations of the APC Committee on True Federalism, which he chaired.
“In moving forward together, we should strive to be a nation of merit, putting our best forward in the mighty effort needed for economic development,” he added.
