Why I Seek Re­source Con­trol At Con­fab – Mike Ozekhome, SAN

You were re­cently quoted as ad­vo­cat­ing 100 per cent re­source con­trol for oil pro­duc­ing ar­eas at the on­go­ing Na­tional Con­fer­ence. Does this po­si­tion not con­tra­dict Sec­tion 80 of the Nige­rian Con­sti­tu­tion?

You were re­cently quoted as ad­vo­cat­ing 100 per cent re­source con­trol for oil pro­duc­ing ar­eas at the on­go­ing Na­tional Con­fer­ence. Does this po­si­tion not con­tra­dict Sec­tion 80 of the Nige­rian Con­sti­tu­tion?

The en­tire con­fer­ence it­self is ex­tra-con­sti­tu­tional. We are not hold­ing the con­fer­ence based on our con­sti­tu­tion; it is like the ‘Doc­trine of Ne­ces­sity’. Sec­tion 9 of the Con­sti­tu­tion only en­vis­ages amend­ment of the con­sti­tu­tion by the Na­tional As­sem­bly. The Na­tional As­sem­bly can­not make a con­sti­tu­tion; it is the con­sti­tu­tion that gives birth to the Na­tional As­sem­bly. So when we talk about true fis­cal fed­er­al­ism as ob­tains in Amer­ica, have you ever heard that the oil in Texas is con­trolled by the Amer­i­can govern­ment? No, it is con­trolled by pri­vate in­di­vid­u­als and com­pa­nies. True fed­er­al­ism means that each fed­er­at­ing unit con­trols its own re­sources. It was like that up to 15th of Jan­uary, 1966 when Ma­jor Chuk­wuma Nzeogwu played U out his first mil­i­tary coup. nder the In­de­pen­dence and Repub­li­can Con­sti­tu­tion of 1960 and 1963 re­spec­tively, each re­gion – Western, East­ern, North­ern and the Mid-Western Re­gion – that was cre­ated on the 9th of Au­gust, 1963 con­trolled their own re­sources. They took 50 per cent of their re­sources and paid 25 per cent tax to the Tafawa Balewa-led govern­ment at the cen­tre. The re­main­ing 25 per cent was shared by all the re­gions in­clud­ing that that have al­ready taken 50 per cent. That was how the late sage Obafemi Awolowo was able to give free ed­u­ca­tion to the Yoruba which makes them unar­guably the most ed­u­cated and so­phis­ti­cated race in Nigeria to­day. With that money he built the Lib­erty Sta­dium, the Western Nigeria Tele­vi­sion – the first tele­vi­sion sta­tion in Africa – the Obafemi Awolowo Univer­sity and the Co­coa House.

The en­tire con­fer­ence it­self is ex­tra-con­sti­tu­tional. We are not hold­ing the con­fer­ence based on our con­sti­tu­tion; it is like the ‘Doc­trine of Ne­ces­sity’. Sec­tion 9 of the Con­sti­tu­tion only en­vis­ages amend­ment of the con­sti­tu­tion by the Na­tional As­sem­bly. The Na­tional As­sem­bly can­not make a con­sti­tu­tion; it is the con­sti­tu­tion that gives birth to the Na­tional As­sem­bly. So when we talk about true fis­cal fed­er­al­ism as ob­tains in Amer­ica, have you ever heard that the oil in Texas is con­trolled by the Amer­i­can govern­ment? No, it is con­trolled by pri­vate in­di­vid­u­als and com­pa­nies. True fed­er­al­ism means that each fed­er­at­ing unit con­trols its own re­sources. It was like that up to 15th of Jan­uary, 1966 when Ma­jor Chuk­wuma Nzeogwu played U out his first mil­i­tary coup. nder the In­de­pen­dence and Repub­li­can Con­sti­tu­tion of 1960 and 1963 re­spec­tively, each re­gion – Western, East­ern, North­ern and the Mid-Western Re­gion – that was cre­ated on the 9th of Au­gust, 1963 con­trolled their own re­sources. They took 50 per cent of their re­sources and paid 25 per cent tax to the Tafawa Balewa-led govern­ment at the cen­tre. The re­main­ing 25 per cent was shared by all the re­gions in­clud­ing that that have al­ready taken 50 per cent. That was how the late sage Obafemi Awolowo was able to give free ed­u­ca­tion to the Yoruba which makes them unar­guably the most ed­u­cated and so­phis­ti­cated race in Nigeria to­day. With that money he built the Lib­erty Sta­dium, the Western Nigeria Tele­vi­sion – the first tele­vi­sion sta­tion in Africa – the Obafemi Awolowo Univer­sity and the Co­coa House.

The en­tire con­fer­ence it­self is ex­tra-con­sti­tu­tional. We are not hold­ing the con­fer­ence based on our con­sti­tu­tion; it is like the ‘Doc­trine of Ne­ces­sity’. Sec­tion 9 of the Con­sti­tu­tion only en­vis­ages amend­ment of the con­sti­tu­tion by the Na­tional As­sem­bly. The Na­tional As­sem­bly can­not make a con­sti­tu­tion; it is the con­sti­tu­tion that gives birth to the Na­tional As­sem­bly. So when we talk about true fis­cal fed­er­al­ism as ob­tains in Amer­ica, have you ever heard that the oil in Texas is con­trolled by the Amer­i­can govern­ment? No, it is con­trolled by pri­vate in­di­vid­u­als and com­pa­nies. True fed­er­al­ism means that each fed­er­at­ing unit con­trols its own re­sources. It was like that up to 15th of Jan­uary, 1966 when Ma­jor Chuk­wuma Nzeogwu played U out his first mil­i­tary coup. nder the In­de­pen­dence and Repub­li­can Con­sti­tu­tion of 1960 and 1963 re­spec­tively, each re­gion – Western, East­ern, North­ern and the Mid-Western Re­gion – that was cre­ated on the 9th of Au­gust, 1963 con­trolled their own re­sources. They took 50 per cent of their re­sources and paid 25 per cent tax to the Tafawa Balewa-led govern­ment at the cen­tre. The re­main­ing 25 per cent was shared by all the re­gions in­clud­ing that that have al­ready taken 50 per cent. That was how the late sage Obafemi Awolowo was able to give free ed­u­ca­tion to the Yoruba which makes them unar­guably the most ed­u­cated and so­phis­ti­cated race in Nigeria to­day. With that money he built the Lib­erty Sta­dium, the Western Nigeria Tele­vi­sion – the first tele­vi­sion sta­tion in Africa – the Obafemi Awolowo Univer­sity and the Co­coa House.

The en­tire con­fer­ence it­self is ex­tra-con­sti­tu­tional. We are not hold­ing the con­fer­ence based on our con­sti­tu­tion; it is like the ‘Doc­trine of Ne­ces­sity’. Sec­tion 9 of the Con­sti­tu­tion only en­vis­ages amend­ment of the con­sti­tu­tion by the Na­tional As­sem­bly. The Na­tional As­sem­bly can­not make a con­sti­tu­tion; it is the con­sti­tu­tion that gives birth to the Na­tional As­sem­bly. So when we talk about true fis­cal fed­er­al­ism as ob­tains in Amer­ica, have you ever heard that the oil in Texas is con­trolled by the Amer­i­can govern­ment? No, it is con­trolled by pri­vate in­di­vid­u­als and com­pa­nies. True fed­er­al­ism means that each fed­er­at­ing unit con­trols its own re­sources. It was like that up to 15th of Jan­uary, 1966 when Ma­jor Chuk­wuma Nzeogwu played U out his first mil­i­tary coup. nder the In­de­pen­dence and Repub­li­can Con­sti­tu­tion of 1960 and 1963 re­spec­tively, each re­gion – Western, East­ern, North­ern and the Mid-Western Re­gion – that was cre­ated on the 9th of Au­gust, 1963 con­trolled their own re­sources. They took 50 per cent of their re­sources and paid 25 per cent tax to the Tafawa Balewa-led govern­ment at the cen­tre. The re­main­ing 25 per cent was shared by all the re­gions in­clud­ing that that have al­ready taken 50 per cent. That was how the late sage Obafemi Awolowo was able to give free ed­u­ca­tion to the Yoruba which makes them unar­guably the most ed­u­cated and so­phis­ti­cated race in Nigeria to­day. With that money he built the Lib­erty Sta­dium, the Western Nigeria Tele­vi­sion – the first tele­vi­sion sta­tion in Africa – the Obafemi Awolowo Univer­sity and the Co­coa House.

In the North, Sir Ah­madu Bello, the Sar­dauna of Sokoto was able to build the Ah­madu Bello Univer­sity, and the fa­mous ground­nut pyra­mids of Kano, and founded the North­ern Nigeria De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, Dur­bar Ho­tel, Ham­dala Ho­tel etc. In the East, Dr Michael Ok­para was able to use the oil palm pro­duce of the re­gion to com­plete the Univer­sity of Nigeria, Nsukka, the Nnamdi Azikiwe Sta­dium, the Pres­i­den­tial Ho­tel, Enugu and Port Har­court; Met­ro­pol­i­tan Ho­tel, Cal­abar, Trans-Amadi In­dus­trial Lay­out, Port Har­court; the Obudu Cat­tle Ranch etc. In the Mid­West, Prof Den­nis Osade­bey and Den­nis Ti­marere were able to use the rub­ber, ply­wood and tim­ber in­dus­try of the old Mid-West to de­velop W the re­gion. hy is it that when oil was dis­cov­ered in the Niger Delta, you now have to trans­port oil by pipe-line from Warri and Port Har­court to Kaduna. I didn’t re­mem­ber hear­ing that co­coa, hides and skins and cot­ton were trans­ported by pipe-lines from Kano and Kaduna to my vil­lage, Agene­bode, in Edo State. Or that co­coa in the West was trans­ported to Ajaokuta or to Amichi and Uga in Anam­bra State. I didn’t hear that the palm pro­duce of the East­ern re­gion was car­ried to Kaduna, Kaura Namoda or Birn­inKebbi. That is what we mean by true and fis­cal fed­er­al­ism.

In the North, Sir Ah­madu Bello, the Sar­dauna of Sokoto was able to build the Ah­madu Bello Univer­sity, and the fa­mous ground­nut pyra­mids of Kano, and founded the North­ern Nigeria De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, Dur­bar Ho­tel, Ham­dala Ho­tel etc. In the East, Dr Michael Ok­para was able to use the oil palm pro­duce of the re­gion to com­plete the Univer­sity of Nigeria, Nsukka, the Nnamdi Azikiwe Sta­dium, the Pres­i­den­tial Ho­tel, Enugu and Port Har­court; Met­ro­pol­i­tan Ho­tel, Cal­abar, Trans-Amadi In­dus­trial Lay­out, Port Har­court; the Obudu Cat­tle Ranch etc. In the Mid­West, Prof Den­nis Osade­bey and Den­nis Ti­marere were able to use the rub­ber, ply­wood and tim­ber in­dus­try of the old Mid-West to de­velop W the re­gion. hy is it that when oil was dis­cov­ered in the Niger Delta, you now have to trans­port oil by pipe-line from Warri and Port Har­court to Kaduna. I didn’t re­mem­ber hear­ing that co­coa, hides and skins and cot­ton were trans­ported by pipe-lines from Kano and Kaduna to my vil­lage, Agene­bode, in Edo State. Or that co­coa in the West was trans­ported to Ajaokuta or to Amichi and Uga in Anam­bra State. I didn’t hear that the palm pro­duce of the East­ern re­gion was car­ried to Kaduna, Kaura Namoda or Birn­inKebbi. That is what we mean by true and fis­cal fed­er­al­ism.

In the North, Sir Ah­madu Bello, the Sar­dauna of Sokoto was able to build the Ah­madu Bello Univer­sity, and the fa­mous ground­nut pyra­mids of Kano, and founded the North­ern Nigeria De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, Dur­bar Ho­tel, Ham­dala Ho­tel etc. In the East, Dr Michael Ok­para was able to use the oil palm pro­duce of the re­gion to com­plete the Univer­sity of Nigeria, Nsukka, the Nnamdi Azikiwe Sta­dium, the Pres­i­den­tial Ho­tel, Enugu and Port Har­court; Met­ro­pol­i­tan Ho­tel, Cal­abar, Trans-Amadi In­dus­trial Lay­out, Port Har­court; the Obudu Cat­tle Ranch etc. In the Mid­West, Prof Den­nis Osade­bey and Den­nis Ti­marere were able to use the rub­ber, ply­wood and tim­ber in­dus­try of the old Mid-West to de­velop W the re­gion. hy is it that when oil was dis­cov­ered in the Niger Delta, you now have to trans­port oil by pipe-line from Warri and Port Har­court to Kaduna. I didn’t re­mem­ber hear­ing that co­coa, hides and skins and cot­ton were trans­ported by pipe-lines from Kano and Kaduna to my vil­lage, Agene­bode, in Edo State. Or that co­coa in the West was trans­ported to Ajaokuta or to Amichi and Uga in Anam­bra State. I didn’t hear that the palm pro­duce of the East­ern re­gion was car­ried to Kaduna, Kaura Namoda or Birn­inKebbi. That is what we mean by true and fis­cal fed­er­al­ism.

Look, be­cause of the over re­liance on this mono­lithic crude oil, which is a wast­ing as­set and the less than 300 tril­lion cu­bic feet of gas which we are flar­ing daily, we have now ig­nored to­tally agri­cul­ture and all the other min­er­als that are avail­able.

Do you know that Nasarawa State has the largest solid min­er­als de­posit: 36 from iron to gold, columbite etc? Do you know that it is fol­lowed by Plateau State with 32 min­eral re­sources? All over the coun­try there are min­eral re­sources. Have we ex­plored them? Why? Be­cause the 70 to 80 per cent of our rev­enue, we are all sit­ting down ex­pect­ing from oil and at the end of ev­ery month, all the 36 state com­mis­sion­ers of fi­nance and the FCT equiv­a­lent all grav­i­tate to­wards Abuja to take their fed­er­a­tion ac­count shar­ing. And many of the gov­er­nors use this as se­cu­rity votes. When it fin­ishes they come back to get more. No na­tion de­vel­ops like that.

Do you know that Nasarawa State has the largest solid min­er­als de­posit: 36 from iron to gold, columbite etc? Do you know that it is fol­lowed by Plateau State with 32 min­eral re­sources? All over the coun­try there are min­eral re­sources. Have we ex­plored them? Why? Be­cause the 70 to 80 per cent of our rev­enue, we are all sit­ting down ex­pect­ing from oil and at the end of ev­ery month, all the 36 state com­mis­sion­ers of fi­nance and the FCT equiv­a­lent all grav­i­tate to­wards Abuja to take their fed­er­a­tion ac­count shar­ing. And many of the gov­er­nors use this as se­cu­rity votes. When it fin­ishes they come back to get more. No na­tion de­vel­ops like that.

Ja­pan is one ex­am­ple of a coun­try that does not have a sin­gle drop of crude oil. Be­cause the new world is not about nat­u­ral re­sources, it is about hu­man re­sources. Yet Ja­pan is one of the leading economies of the world. We should be­gin to look be­yond nat­u­ral re­sources to hu­man re­sources. That is what is driv­ing the world. Amer­ica is al­ready look­ing for al­ter­na­tives through shale, so­lar en­ergy, palm ker­nel etc. You are go­ing to see that in the next few years no­body will touch your crude oil. Even if they will, it is a wast­ing as­set, which means S it will fin­ish one day. o this is the right time for Nigeria to be­gin to di­ver­sify its econ­omy. And this Na­tional Con­fer­ence must ar­rive at true fis­cal fed­er­al­ism. This means ev­ery­body will con­trol their re­sources and pay tax to the cen­tral govern­ment. So that the govern­ment at the cen­tre can take care of ex­ter­nal and in­ter­nal de­fence, for­eign af­fairs, cen­tral bank­ing, im­mi­gra­tion and cus­toms. And then the en­tire de­ci­sions of the con­fer­ence will be taken to the people of Nigeria in a pop­u­lar ref­er­en­dum or plebiscite. That is what will give the con­sti­tu­tion its le­git­i­macy, le­gal­ity, va­lid­ity, ac­cept­abil­ity and re­spectabil­ity be­cause power, sovereignty, as the pres­i­dent said in his speech at the in­au­gu­ra­tion, be­longs to the people.

Ja­pan is one ex­am­ple of a coun­try that does not have a sin­gle drop of crude oil. Be­cause the new world is not about nat­u­ral re­sources, it is about hu­man re­sources. Yet Ja­pan is one of the leading economies of the world. We should be­gin to look be­yond nat­u­ral re­sources to hu­man re­sources. That is what is driv­ing the world. Amer­ica is al­ready look­ing for al­ter­na­tives through shale, so­lar en­ergy, palm ker­nel etc. You are go­ing to see that in the next few years no­body will touch your crude oil. Even if they will, it is a wast­ing as­set, which means S it will fin­ish one day. o this is the right time for Nigeria to be­gin to di­ver­sify its econ­omy. And this Na­tional Con­fer­ence must ar­rive at true fis­cal fed­er­al­ism. This means ev­ery­body will con­trol their re­sources and pay tax to the cen­tral govern­ment. So that the govern­ment at the cen­tre can take care of ex­ter­nal and in­ter­nal de­fence, for­eign af­fairs, cen­tral bank­ing, im­mi­gra­tion and cus­toms. And then the en­tire de­ci­sions of the con­fer­ence will be taken to the people of Nigeria in a pop­u­lar ref­er­en­dum or plebiscite. That is what will give the con­sti­tu­tion its le­git­i­macy, le­gal­ity, va­lid­ity, ac­cept­abil­ity and re­spectabil­ity be­cause power, sovereignty, as the pres­i­dent said in his speech at the in­au­gu­ra­tion, be­longs to the people.

Ja­pan is one ex­am­ple of a coun­try that does not have a sin­gle drop of crude oil. Be­cause the new world is not about nat­u­ral re­sources, it is about hu­man re­sources. Yet Ja­pan is one of the leading economies of the world. We should be­gin to look be­yond nat­u­ral re­sources to hu­man re­sources. That is what is driv­ing the world. Amer­ica is al­ready look­ing for al­ter­na­tives through shale, so­lar en­ergy, palm ker­nel etc. You are go­ing to see that in the next few years no­body will touch your crude oil. Even if they will, it is a wast­ing as­set, which means S it will fin­ish one day. o this is the right time for Nigeria to be­gin to di­ver­sify its econ­omy. And this Na­tional Con­fer­ence must ar­rive at true fis­cal fed­er­al­ism. This means ev­ery­body will con­trol their re­sources and pay tax to the cen­tral govern­ment. So that the govern­ment at the cen­tre can take care of ex­ter­nal and in­ter­nal de­fence, for­eign af­fairs, cen­tral bank­ing, im­mi­gra­tion and cus­toms. And then the en­tire de­ci­sions of the con­fer­ence will be taken to the people of Nigeria in a pop­u­lar ref­er­en­dum or plebiscite. That is what will give the con­sti­tu­tion its le­git­i­macy, le­gal­ity, va­lid­ity, ac­cept­abil­ity and re­spectabil­ity be­cause power, sovereignty, as the pres­i­dent said in his speech at the in­au­gu­ra­tion, be­longs to the people.

And it is for the people to ex­er­cise their sovereignty through a new con­sti­tu­tion not the present De­cree No 24 im­posed by Gen­eral Ab­dul­salami Abubakar and his 28-mem­ber Pro­vi­sional Rul­ing Coun­cil (PRC). It is such a brand new con­sti­tu­tion that is said to be au­tochthonous or home-grown be­cause it em­anates from the people un­af­fected, un-tin­kered and un­al­tered by the Na­tional As­sem­bly.

And it is for the people to ex­er­cise their sovereignty through a new con­sti­tu­tion not the present De­cree No 24 im­posed by Gen­eral Ab­dul­salami Abubakar and his 28-mem­ber Pro­vi­sional Rul­ing Coun­cil (PRC). It is such a brand new con­sti­tu­tion that is said to be au­tochthonous or home-grown be­cause it em­anates from the people un­af­fected, un-tin­kered and un­al­tered by the Na­tional As­sem­bly.

What struc­ture of fed­er­a­tion would you rec­om­mend?

I think we must go back to the re­gions we had be­fore or at most eight re­gions. And the Mid­West­ern re­gion com­pris­ing Edo and Delta be carved out from the South South. I be­lieve the 36 states struc­ture is too ex­pen­sive to main­tain. I be­lieve in state po­lice.

The pres­i­dent warned del­e­gates against dis­cussing the unity of Nigeria, which has been crit­i­cized. What is your take?

In the in­au­gu­ra­tion speech of the pres­i­dent, all he harped upon was the unity in di­ver­sity of Nigeria and Nigeria’s dis­parate cul­tures, tra­di­tions and reli­gions. I don’t un­der­stand it that the pres­i­dent re­ferred to any ‘no-go ar­eas’. All he said was to make the con­ver­sa­tion pos­i­tive. I think that that speech was the great­est speech he had given since he as­sumed of­fice.

In the in­au­gu­ra­tion speech of the pres­i­dent, all he harped upon was the unity in di­ver­sity of Nigeria and Nigeria’s dis­parate cul­tures, tra­di­tions and reli­gions. I don’t un­der­stand it that the pres­i­dent re­ferred to any ‘no-go ar­eas’. All he said was to make the con­ver­sa­tion pos­i­tive. I think that that speech was the great­est speech he had given since he as­sumed of­fice.

How would you as­sess the process of se­lec­tion of del­e­gates to the con­fer­ence?

I be­lieve it was fair. How was it fair? The federal govern­ment has about 47 as its share; the rest was given to crit­i­cal seg­ments of the so­ci­ety. For ex­am­ple the civil so­ci­ety met and took their own. My people of Afe­mai now met and took me to rep­re­sent them but mys­te­ri­ously, sur­rep­ti­tiously, some people went be­hind and re­moved my name and put an­other per­son. I learnt that Mr Pres­i­dent heard that and felt that I should be a party to this con­fer­ence. So my name was added as a federal govern­ment’s del­e­gate. So I be­came an ad­den­dum of S the federal govern­ment. o, I be­lieve by telling the var­i­ous groups like gov­er­nors, po­lit­i­cal as­so­ci­a­tions, NLC, eth­nic na­tion­al­i­ties, NBA, trade unions, NMA, NUJ, women so­ci­ety, Youth Coun­cil of Nigeria etc. to take their people is demo­cratic enough.

I be­lieve it was fair. How was it fair? The federal govern­ment has about 47 as its share; the rest was given to crit­i­cal seg­ments of the so­ci­ety. For ex­am­ple the civil so­ci­ety met and took their own. My people of Afe­mai now met and took me to rep­re­sent them but mys­te­ri­ously, sur­rep­ti­tiously, some people went be­hind and re­moved my name and put an­other per­son. I learnt that Mr Pres­i­dent heard that and felt that I should be a party to this con­fer­ence. So my name was added as a federal govern­ment’s del­e­gate. So I be­came an ad­den­dum of S the federal govern­ment. o, I be­lieve by telling the var­i­ous groups like gov­er­nors, po­lit­i­cal as­so­ci­a­tions, NLC, eth­nic na­tion­al­i­ties, NBA, trade unions, NMA, NUJ, women so­ci­ety, Youth Coun­cil of Nigeria etc. to take their people is demo­cratic enough.

The NBA has boy­cotted the Na­tional Con­fer­ence be­cause of the sin­gle slot al­lot­ted it, what is your opin­ion on it?

Well as a NEC mem­ber of the NBA, I can­not de­part from what the NBA has said. Al­though there are enough lawyers, some of us, eggheads who will still be there to pro­tect the in­ter­est of the NBA, but that does not mean we are rep­re­sent­ing the NBA of­fi­cially. It will be doc­u­mented that NBA boy­cotted the con­fer­ence be­cause they felt, and rightly so too, that it will be ridicu­lous and lu­di­crous for NBA in a process that will re­quire a lot of le­gal regime to have been given just one slot like other pro­fes­sional bod­ies. The NBA is not just an­other body. I sup­port the NBA pres­i­dent, the NEC and the NBA.