A Unitary
Dossier for a Unified Nigeria.
Proposed Ideas for Political and Economical
Change
By
Bankole Christopher Smart-cole (BSc)
Developed:
30 September 2014/ Researched Online: October 2013
© CC Publishers 2014
Note: Examples illustrated in this dossier have
been provided solely for the purpose of clarification on how my ideas can work
in Nigeria. They should not be mistaken as a comparison between Nigeria’s
history with other’s.
PREFACE
“Short,
Nasty & Brutish” – Thomas
Hobbes.[1]
If one was to dabble with the wordings from
the aforementioned quote, one would have the right to strongly imply that “long, nasty & brutish” is a more
gruesome depiction of the quality of life found in Nigeria. One would have the
right to say that because of the mis-management of the country from a federal
system of government, a vast majority of people still find themselves lacking
the necessary means to maintain subsistence.
It is for this reason that this dossier therefore
proposes that we turn things around by immediately switching from a Federal
Presidential Republic,[2]
to a Unitary, Directorial, Direct
Democratic, Republic State.[3]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
PART
A: Political Initiatives
1.0
A
Unitary State … 1
- 2
1.1
A
Directorial State … 2
- 3
1.2
Direct
Democracy … 3
- 4
PART
B: Economical Initiatives
2.0
A
Planned + A Mixed Economy = An Effective Welfare State … 4
- 5
CONCLUSION
3.0 The
Constitution & Nomocracy … 5
1.0 A Unitary State
A unitary system of government is a system
whereby the central government devolves power to its subordinate units.[4]
It is a system that ensures that no units’ ideology differs with the policies
of the main government. And in the case of Nigeria, is a system which could be
used to create equal economic/ political growth[5]
for all federal States.
For instance, in a federation like Nigeria, we
have a number of economically booming States which one could attribute to the
impressive leadership of a few like-minded governors.[6]
Some on the other hand, could attribute the failures of other States to not
just the foolishness of other governors, but to unforeseen circumstances (like the
emergence of a terrorist insurgency per se).[7]
Nevertheless, a fact would remain that if
Nigeria was to be united unitarily, then States which lacked behind in regards
to economical/ political success, would have no choice now but to enact
policies guided from the central government. Therefore, it wouldn’t matter if some governors were less corrupt than
others, because all that would matter is that if all governors were to be corrupt, then they still wouldn’t have a
say in any unitary matter; bearing in mind that it is now the central
government that initiates unitary policies for the whole country.
Therefore, if Abuja (the central government
in a Unitary State) said that as from now on, no household in the country
should make use of “house boys/ girls”,[8]
because that can be seen as a modern form of slavery, then Lagos (its subordinate
unit in that Unitary State), wouldn’t be able to defy that piece of unitary
legislation.[9] Plain
and simple.
An Example
of a Role-Model Unitary State:
Denmark: The
Danish unitary system is considered by many[10]
to be one of the most effective unitary systems of government in the world
today. It consists of measures utilised to ensure that geographical
mis-management of allocated resources never occur in the State/ local level.[11]
And this is what we need desperately for every State in Nigeria.
1.1 A Directorial State
A directorial or directory, is a body of persons who have
been chosen by the general populace to collectively spearhead the country has
both head of State and head of government.[12]
It differs tremendously from both a president[13]
and prime minister[14]
style government, as this system relies heavily on the expertise of a league of
equal members.[15]
A
directorial in a country like Nigeria for example can truly be effective, as
this can ensure that no form of negligence, complicity, or stupidity, ever
occurs when one president decides to forget who elected him or her in the first
place.
An Example
of a Role-Model Directory State:
1.2 Direct Democracy (Also
called Pure Democracy)
Is
the association of both government and public in the decision making process of
a country. It is the one and only true form of democracy in the sense that a
country isn’t governed by one false leader, but by the collection of followers
(the public) who opted out of choosing that leader in the first place.[18]
Direct democracy places the public’s well-being above others, and is also the
kind of democratic mechanism needed to check and balance any false
representative democracy in Nigeria.[19]
My own direct democracy will be based on the
public having 55 per cent democratic power, and government having 45 per cent parental power.[20]
This will mean that government will only have the right to overrule the
public’s decision when its parental supervision of the whole country is being
infringed.
For instance, the majority of people in
Nigeria who fall under that 55 per cent public power, can vote for a law which
criminalises the female prostitutes in prostitution. But it is a well known
fact that it’s really the male clients who oppress women in that so-called
industry.[21]
Therefore, the onus now at this point in time, would lie on the fatherly/
motherly supervision of government (in its 45 per cent parental power) to overhaul that decision made by the public.
For this reason, the minority of people in
Nigeria who fall under that 55 per cent public power, can never be marginalised
by the majority; bearing in mind that it’s government’s parental power which acts as a watchdog towards others. This in
practice, is how my own direct democracy will take place, and is what’s needed
in establishing an equitable society for Nigeria.
An Example
of the one and only Role-Model Direct Democratic State:
Switzerland
2.0 A Planned Economy + A Mixed
Economy = An Effective Welfare State
A
planned economy in a unitary State (if Nigeria was to be), would simply mean
that issues regarding the production/ distribution of economic resources, would
be based on the formulation/ implementation by the central government to the
central public.[22]
For this reason, we would have a regulated economy which would be free from the
individual interests of private firms.[23]
Complemented
with a mixed economy[24], would
mean that the micro/ macro economics is not only overseen by the government,
but that corporations alike also still achieve profit motive.[25] Therefore,
if we were to enact principles from both a centrally
planned mixed economy, would
mean that we would realise our own “Nigerian
Welfare Model”. A model which encompasses the provisions to support each
and every citizen in times of universal healthcare, social benefits, and
unemployment aid.
Therefore,
for this reason (this welfarism), one shouldn’t be seeing an elderly woman on
the promenade hawking tomatoes at 10 at night. And one definitely also
shouldn’t be seeing a group of kids wiping car windows at 7 in the morning just
to get by. Why? Because the purpose of a welfare State, if established in
Nigeria, is to look after the ones who can’t look after themselves.
An Example
of some Role-Model Welfare States:
The Nordic Countries
3.0 The Constitution &
Nomocracy
For the political and economical
initiatives to work in the country, we must first look at the constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That’s just it! It is literally extraneous,
vacuous, and non-existent, and must be torn up and started from scratch. As for
nomocracy (the rule of law); it is a legal principle which states that law
should govern a State, and not subjective decisions from individual government
officials.
Hence, it is for this reason that proposals
should be made in establishing a new written constitution, which oversees nomocracy
in a legit judiciary, and deals with the actions of complicit leaders. And this
is what the country truly needs, un-complicit leaders.
Bibliography provided upon request.
Thank you.
Developed:
30 September 2014/ Researched Online: October 2013
© CC Publishers 2014
[1]
Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan (USA, JC Political
Science: Political Theory, 2013), 3207.
[2]
Adonis Hoffman, Nigeria: The Policy Conundrum
(Washington, Foreign Policy, 2009), 1.
[3]
Theo A.J. Toonen, The Unitary State as a System of
Co-Governance: The Case of the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Public
Administration, 1990), 282.
[4]
Chegg Study, Definition of Unitary System of Government (2014).
[5]
Michael
T. Rock, East Asia's Democratic
Developmental States and Economic Growth (USA, Journal of East Asian
Studies, 2013), 5 - 25.
[6]
Idem
[7]
Idem
[8]
Francesca Steele, The Plight of Modern-Day Slavery (London,
Redactive Publishing Ltd, 2008), 4 - 5.
[9]
Ram Manikkalingam, A Unitary State, A Federal State or Two
Separate States? (Sri Lanka, Social Scientists Association, 2003), 5- 34.
[10]
Denmark DK, Government and Politics (The Official
Website of Denmark, 2014).
[11]
Idem
[12]
Martyn Lyons, France under the Directory (1975), 120.
[13]
Ilona Maria Szilagyi, Presidential versus parliamentary systems
(Budapest, AARMS, 2009) 307 - 314.
[14]
Idem
[15]
Lyons, Supra n12, pg 121.
[16]
Andreas Ladner, Swiss Political System (Switzerland,
PolSys, 2011), 2 – 10.
[17]
Idem
[18]
Uwe Serdult, Direct Democracy in Switzerland and its
Discontents (Geneva, Research Centre on Direct Democracy, 2007), 4 -5.
[20]
Gerald Dworkin, Paternalism, 181 – 185.
[21]
8marts, The Effects of the Swedish Ban on the
Purchase of Sexual Services, (Denmark, 8marts.dk, 2012), 5.
[22]
Bob Goudzwaard, Centrally Planned Economies
(Transformation), 54 - 56.
[23]
Idem.
[24]
Sanford Ikeda, Dynamics of the Mixed Economy: Toward a
Theory of Interventionism (London, Routledge, 2003), 1 - 5.
[25]
Idem.
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