Nasir El-Rufai: Why Federal Government Should Allocate More Powers To States
Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, has called for Nigeria to return to its federal roots and devolve powers to the states as a means of spurring economic prosperity.
The former governor was the chairman of the APC Committee on True Federalism, a committee set up to address the longstanding debates on federalism. While the committee submitted its report in January 2018, El-Rufai, in a recent article first published in This Day Newspaper and shared on his official X account (formerly Twitter), argued that the resolutions reached by the committee should be implemented to spur Nigeria into productive and economic prosperity.
“For the sake of our country and its people, we need to put as much passion into effecting what has been agreed, even as we further debate that which is awaiting consensus or resolution,” El-Rufai wrote.
Before the January 1966 coup, which ended Nigeria’s first democratic rule and brought Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi as military Head of State, Nigeria practised a regional government where different regions were ruled by powerful Premiers. However, after the coup, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi sought to ‘unify’ the country through the Decree No. 34 labelled Unification Decree which dissolved the regional government.
“The patriots who negotiated our independence in the 1950s built a national consensus on federalism, with strong regions and a weak federal government,” El-Rufai said.
El-Rufai, who withdrew his interest in being part of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet after the Senate withheld his confirmation as a minister due to a security report from the State Security Service, has urged for an urgent return to true federalism, a system of government where the various states, created between 1967 and 1996, will be accorded more powers as the central government takes on a more crucial but limited role.
“Excessive centralisation has neither strengthened national unity nor encouraged a productive instinct. As I observed during a Chatham House talk on restructuring in 2017, ‘unitarist and distributive impulses did not accelerate the evolution of national unity nor encourage productive endeavour. Rather, it created a rentier economic structure.’ A federal restoration will help correct this,” he wrote.
Applauding the recent constitutional amendment passed by the 9th National Assembly in January 2023, which shifted some crucial responsibilities like electricity, intra-state rail networks, and establishing correctional facilities from the exclusive list of the Federal Government to the State government, El-Rufai said that more powers should be allocated to the States.
To curb soaring insecurity, El-Rufai advocated for state and community-level policing to enhance public safety.
“The weaknesses and inadequacy of a centralised police structure in a federation are painfully obvious. Government efforts to secure our people, their property, livelihoods, and communities would be enhanced by introducing additional law enforcement footprint at the state, local government, and community levels.”
Another key issue highlighted by El-Rufai is the status of local government councils. He termed it an anomaly that local governments receive direct funding from the Federation Account, advocating instead for state governments to manage and fund local governance.
“This country was birthed as a federation. The imperative of the moment is to restore a federal structure that challenges and rewards creative efforts by the states to build up their subnational economies and governance capacity and frees the Federal Government to better discharge its core responsibilities to secure the country, grow its economy, and be the leading voice of the Black race in international relations.
He added, “A unique opportunity beckons for the federal and state governments and the 10th National Assembly to further accelerate the evolution of a better-functioning federation within the next 12 months.”
