ECONOMIC DEVOLUTION: ROBBING DOKUBO TO PAY DASUKI.
While most Nigerians desire a political restructuring of the moribund and malarious entity dubbed Nigeria, His Eminence Saad Abubakar, III has called for economic devolution. Specifically, he wants the dams in Northern Nigeria built with Dokubo’s resources transferred to Dasuki’s people. While Dasuki’s people are farming year round and reaping the benefits, Dokubo’s people’s land is deforested by flaring of gas, their environment devastated by pollution, and their people deprived of simple means of livelihood.
This is Economic Jihadism and must be resisted by all well-meaning Nigerians, North and South. The oil producing South South and South East continue to be marginalized whilst their resources are transferred to private individuals as oil blocks. The North owns eighty percent of these oil blocks. The paltry revenue accruing to the Federal Government is used to further develop Northern infrastructure.
According to His Eminence, these facilities built with oil money from the South should be transferred to the North free of any encumbrance. This is wealth transfer by fiat!
Since Religious Jihadism did not make it to the South South and South East, the Sultan wants to use Economic Jihadism to subjugate those areas. He is in for a rude shock; there will be no economic devolution without political devolution followed by asset sharing based on derivation. Consequently, users of the Shiroro dam in Niger State and Goronyo Dam in Sokoto State may have to pay “tithes” to Dokubo’s people to use the waters of the dam. If this is the economic devolution that the Sultan is talking about, every well-meaning Nigerian should support him.
The Sultan also urged Federal Government to ensure early completion of Minna to Suleja road and Ilorin to Kaduna federal roads. However, the Sultan who lived in the South East in his formative years and is aware of the crumbling and dilapidated Niger Bridge has not called for the construction of a second Niger Bridge.
Finally, the Federal Government of Nigeria must use the principle of fairness, equity, justice, and proportional derivation in economic devolution and asset sharing during the restructuring of Nigeria.