‘Constitutional Changes Must Address Injustice To Southeast’

Umeh Kalu, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Abia State, spoke to DEBO OLADIMEJI on the spate of insecurity in the country, constitutional amendment, economic integration and other national issues.

What do you make of constitutional review?

It is not out of place for Nigeria to ask for another amendment; there are issues that have been identified that are truly calling for attention.
Recently, we were at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, where my governor delivered a lecture and one of the topical issues that came up was the issue of state police. It is an issue over which people have been clamouring that there should be an amendment.
For example, in the United States (US), you have the state police alongside the federal police and they are given specific functions, they have their areas of jurisdiction.
For us in Nigeria, especially considering the security situation here, people are clamouring that there is the need to have a state police, while some were against it.
But I know that at the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, some few months ago, they asked the Attorney General in the states to look at the constitution, tinker with it and suggest areas that could be amended and the issue of state police should be one of them. The constitution, as it is, does not allow the state to have control over the Police.
The governor is referred to as ‘Chief Security Officer’ of the states, but he is neither here or there, as no state Commissioner of Police takes directives from him. Rather, they take directives from the Inspector General of Police, who resides in Abuja, even when security issues are very urgent issues that you may need swift intervention.

What other issues would you like to be included in the amendment?

You can equally talk about the issue of fiscal policy. The way the revenue allocation is being done now, if you ask me, is unfair to the states. The Federal Government is taking up so much, in terms of revenue and there isn’t much that they do at that level.
The state should have more funds and you can think about that during the constitutional amendment.
The Federal Government doesn’t have so much to do in terms of expenditure. We must have true federalism in this country.
If you ask me, 60 per cent should go to the state and the local government should have about 15, then the rest for federal. What we should leave for the federal to handle could be things like armed forces, customs, foreign affairs, etc.
That is why we have all these struggles for power at the centre; it is because of what people are trying to get there. If the states or regions are made stronger than the centre, you will see that the centre will become less attractive.
Some states are going through a lot of hardships. In terms of road construction or payment of workers salaries, most of these states have bloated workforce and if you don’t employ these people, most of them will turn to criminals.

Are you saying that the state should take over federal projects in their domains?

The federal government is quite far away from the people. For example, when people travel from Enugu through Umuahia to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, you see them cursing government, including state governments.
That is why you now see some state governors going out of their ways to reconstruct federal roads.
What I am saying is that it is not as if we don’t need funds at the federal level, but so much funds is being conceded to it and it doesn’t need all the funds. Some federal parastatals are even richer than states.
Talking about electricity, there are states that have been able to generate their own electricity, but can’t distribute, because the law on electricity is in the exclusive list of the construction.
There is also the issue of inequality of the states, and that is why the Southeast is clamouring for additional states in the zone, which I think is desirable, and we cannot get additional states in unless there is a constitutional amendment.

What about the issue of viability of the states?

All we need to do is put on our thinking caps. I don’t know which state in Nigeria has not got one natural resource or the other within its domains. All it takes is for the person at the helm of affairs to look for ways of raising revenue from such resource(s). Every state in Nigeria has its own potentials.
The most compelling issue now is that of addressing the injustices that is being meted to the Southeast and if that is done, it would be a step forward.

Don’t you think that there are more serious issues calling for attention?

The problems of this country are indiscipline and corruption, by extension, leadership, where we have not been very fortunate as a nation.
But for Abia and other states in the Southeast, I can tell you that things are looking up. Things are also looking up for Nigeria, although it might still be too early to judge President Goodluck Jonathan.
But for the one year he has been in power, if you ask me, he had laid the foundation. Let us see what happens in the coming years and see how some of their things are going to come up.
For example, in the area of power generation, I know so much has gone into the sector and the minister in charge is doing so much, from the report that we get.

What has changed in your state?

I can tell you that even power generation has improved, because the governor intervened and we got some money.
In Umuahia, we have been having about 18 hours electricity supply for the past two or three months, which is an improvement from what happened in the past.
Other projects are coming up, but principally, we must address the issue of corruption, as the money some politicians and civil servants are stealing could be used to better the lots of our people.

What should be done to check the spate of insecurity in the country?

It is unfortunate that we find ourselves in this situation.
At independence, anybody could live anywhere and we had Hausas in my village. In every remote village you go in the north, you found an Igbo man, either selling spare parts or whatever.
Jos was a place they called the Europe of Nigeria and there used to be foreigners doing mining business there. I am sure even most of the Igbos in Jos have left.
The worst of the violence is the Boko Haram menace and it is something that should be of concern to every Nigerian. We cannot grow, as a nation, in this situation of insecurity.
I don’t know the reasons for the fighting in the north, as we have been told that the Islam does not habour killing of innocent people.
The political leaders and traditional rulers in the north must rise to the occasion, because I am sure they know those responsible, who live among them.
If there are foreigners, they need the collaboration of Nigerians to operate within our domain. I have heard people say Boko Haram members are from Niger and Chad, but even if they are from these countries, as porous as our borders might be, they will still need Nigerians to work with them.
So, the federal government must rise to the occasion. We need to protect lives and properties, which is a primary duty of government and nothing will be too much to spend in that direction.
Today, you don’t talk about kidnapping in Abia and it took a lot of planning for the government to achieve that.

THE GUARDIAN