*Insists there can be only two tiers in Federation
*As Ohanaeze Ndigbo makes governor Nwannedinamba Ndigbo
By Kemi Kasumu
The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has said that local governments are absolutely under the control and ambience of the states, and that the only organ of the state empowered by the constitution to make laws for them is the state parliament.
The governor equally stated that Nigeria’s diversity was beautiful if limited to cultural diversity and the beauty therein.
Aregbesola stated these both at the courtesy visit and conferment of Nwannedinamba Ndigbo and Ezinne Ndigbo of State of Osun on him and the First Lady respectively by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, State of Osun Chapter in partnership with the Association of Ndi Ezeigbo N’uzo Ije (Diaspora) and the South East Council of Traditional Rulers at the 2016 Igbo Cultural Festival Tagged: Ode N’Igbo 2016 at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo.
The governor, who seized the opportunity afforded him by the occasion to call for state police system, held that the problems with local government administration in the country could be corrected within the laws of the states in Nigeria, adding that it was awkward for Nigeria to be the only federation in the world running a single police system, which he said was strange for the federal government and the constitution not to allow for police in the federating units of the country.
According to him, “Nigeria is not just a Republic, but a Federal Republic, a federal state is where every distinction of nationality is recognised, respected and honoured. None of the units of the Federation is therefore superior to the other. Every of the units are empowered by law to administer themselves under the general guideline of the constitution.
“Few things are awkward about federalism in Nigeria, Nigeria is the only Federating nation in the world where there is only one police system. Nigeria’s federation is strange to the extent that only one police force maintains law and order.
“In other federations, there will be a Federal police force and other federating unit police. Nigerian nationality and people must seek to correct this abnormality.
“Another anomaly that people, because of their frustration to some aspect of administration, are equally making mistake on, and need correction of, is that a federation has two tiers of government. There cannot be three tiers in a federation. The moment you have three tiers, you no longer have a federation.”
Aregbesola emphasised that the problem with the administration of local government in Nigeria could be corrected within the limits of the laws of the state in a federation.
He noted that it was not by assaulting the fundamental principle of federalism that the challenges and weakness being faced by the administration of local governments could be corrected.
The governor enjoined the Igbo community to join in the debate of whether the nation wanted federalism or unitary system of government, stating that Nigeria, like every other nation with different ethnicities, was blessed for her diversity which he described as beautiful, calling on all and sundry to see each other first as Nigerians.
He said, “We can be who we are without rancour and doing away with what can bring rancour. We should recognise our differences and avoid hurting one another.
“What will clearly eliminate the hate, the sharp clarity is having good government that will work hard to expand opportunities such that it is not your ethnicity that will determine your benefit, but your citizenship and your commitment to your work,” Aregbesola stated.
High Chief John Emeka, who led the traditional Igbo title holders in the South-West region to the occasion, commended Governor Aregbesola for his leadership style, stating that his clan had been monitoring the progress of the state before they decided to bestow on him the Igbo title.
Emeka described Aregbesola as a good manager of human and capital resources particularly as the nation currently was in recession due to the recurring drop in revenue in the state and Nigeria as a nation.
He said, “It is not by accident that we are honouring Mr. Governor and the wife with the conferment of Nwannedinamba Ndigbo of State of Osun and Ezinne Ndigbo of State of Osun respectively by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
”I want to use this occasion to call on all and sundry in the state to support the governor by paying all levies and taxes in his effort to transform Osun to a state where we will all be proud of within the South-West and Nigeria as a whole”.
