Lest the federating states hinder Buhari’s reforms

Also published in Daily Trust

Though the ongoing anti-corruption measures and economic reforms pursued by President Buhari will certainly take some time to gather enough momentum to check the deep-rooted culture of corruption, impunity and mediocrity, which have been effectively institutionalized in the country over the decades, the rate at which various federal government ministries, departments and agencies fall in line with the new reform policies is pretty encouraging.

After all, these reform policies and measures, which continue to slowly but steadily take root, are apparently designed to gradually erode the accumulated mess in the country, in a measured but sustained manner to eventually eradicate it and establish a sustainable culture of transparency in the country’s public and private agencies and establishments.

Unfortunately, however, while the federal government pulsates with such anti-corruption and economic reform measures, which have already begun to result in the improvement of revenue generation and delivery of some crucial public services in the country, there appears to be foot-dragging, if not blatant reluctance, by almost all the state governors in the federation, to complement President Buhari’s anti-corruption drive. They simply don’t seem to be enthusiastic enough to introduce and vigorously pursue similar strategies to tackle the menace of corruption in their respective states.

Perhaps, with the exception of Kaduna state governor, Nasiru El-Rufa’i who is so far showing some serious-mindedness in this regard, notwithstanding the controversy trailing his public land reclamation measures, which, in any case, serve the public interest, there are hardly any encouraging indications from the other states, so far.

Anyway, obviously considering the exclusive constitutional rights for states and local governments to manage their respective statutory allocations from the federation account, their respective internally generated revenues and other resources within their respective geographical boundaries and constitutional jurisdictions, their continued apparent apathy towards the ongoing anti-corruption measures at the federal level would definitely undermine President Buhari’s drive to tackle corruption in the country, and would greatly hinder his government’s efforts to deliver the much needed change for which Nigerians elected him and rightly expect him to deliver accordingly.

This is even though, the scale of corruption at state and local government levels, and the amounts of public funds stolen there, are extremely insignificant compared to the staggering amounts of public funds stolen at the federal level for obvious reasons. Besides, contrary to what obtains at the federal level, the bureaucratic illegalities and procedural manipulations through which public funds are stolen at the state and local government levels aren’t that complex, after all.

Yet, in view of the sheer amount of ridiculous illegalities perpetrated by the majority of government officials at the state and local government levels, which practically amounts to primitive plunder of public funds with blatant impunity in their respective states and local governments, the states and local governments can’t obviously provide adequate grassroots economic infrastructure necessarily needed in order to complement the federal government-provided infrastructure and crucial public services that are expected to create viable economic opportunities and encourage entrepreneurship.

However, while this underscores the indispensability of adequately engaging the state governments in the ongoing Buhari-led anti-corruption drive, achieving it could be quite challenging due to the relevant constitutional constraints. Because, the federal, state and local governments are appropriately accorded some exclusive jurisdictions, and this by implication means that, the state and local governments aren’t always necessarily bound by some federal government policies including some anti-corruption measures, of course. 

Therefore, while President Buhari makes use of his powers as President within the limits imposed by the constitution to get the state governments appropriately engaged in his war against corruption, anti-corruption activists, organizations, individuals and the general public in various states in the federation must not relent in their efforts to sustain pressure on their respective state governors to pursue similar anti-corruption strategies that President Buhari is currently pursuing in his mission to unshackle the federal government from the shackles of corruption. 

Nigerians should for instance, challenge their respective state governors to prove their supposed commitments to fighting corruption, by conducting independent and in-depth probes into particularly the acts of monumental plunder of their respective states’ treasuries over the years, with a view to retrieving the stolen funds and prosecuting the culprits appropriately. 

They should also demand for stringent measures to plug revenue leakages in their various states, which should include, among other things, the creation of a Treasury Single Account (TSA) to maximize revenue generation from all revenue generating government ministries, departments and agencies in various states of the federation.

Now that there is a non-corrupt and trustworthy person at the helm of affairs in the country, who is also undoubtedly committed to fighting corruption, intellectuals and anti-corruption activists’ mission in various states in the country has been made quite simple. Because they now need not to make any efforts to come up with anti-corruption theories that may not be workable in today’s Nigeria, after all.

Instead, all they have to focus on now is to put and sustain pressure on the state governors to emulate President Buhari in his ongoing drive against corruption at the federal level. In other words, the state governors should be challenged to prove their supposed intolerance towards corruption and their professed readiness to tackle it, by pursuing, in their respective states, exactly what President Buhari is pursuing at the federal level with respect to war against corruption.

Meanwhile, residents of each particular state can, and indeed should, assess their governor’s performance in this regard according to the extent of his verified commitment to act like President Buhari in his state, and of course according to the amount of his proven achievements in this regard. This also shouldn’t only determine whether he should or shouldn’t be re-elected, but it should also determine his political future, for that matter.