Nigeria grew fastest under a regional development framework. The state-level model of today is weak to do great projects. Awolowo, Okpara, and Bello* were able to do great things because they used economies of scale in their playbooks. No state in Nigeria except Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta can fund any decent capital project today.
Lagos state budget is hitting N1.8 trillion, well ahead of Kano State’s budget which is less than Imo State’s N592 billion.
So, if you expect say Kano to build transformational projects to support its HUGE population, that will not come. But if you have a Northwest regional development strategy, that becomes possible. Regional based development is the future for Nigeria and we need to push leaders to organize as such.
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As you do that, you need great leaders like the governorship class of 1979 across Nigeria. The governorship class of 1979 is the Greatest Class in the history of Nigeria. From Mbakwe of Imo State to Rimi of Kano to Jakande of Lagos, reading about them is delightful. And if you check their account balances, they did great things without external debts. The honesty in the land enabled them to tap into the wealth of their fellow citizens. The Peoples Club of Aba was Mbakwe’s IMF and World Bank, as he used them to raise funds to advance the state.
Can we Make Nigeria Great Again?
Comment on feed: Regional government may not be feasible again. Our best option is true fiscal federalism.
My Response: You can have that at the state level and do major projects regionally. For example, even with fiscal federalism, Cross River may partner with Akwa Ibom to build a deep seaport. They are not exclusive! In the US, New York and NewJersey have fiscal federalism but they jointly developed their ports system.
Nigeria grew fastest under a regional development framework. The state-level model of today is weak to do great projects. Awolowo, Okpara, and Bello* were able to do great things because they used economies of scale in their playbooks. No state in Nigeria except Lagos, Rivers,… pic.twitter.com/jHhnY6gOcX
— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) March 2, 2024
*not all in the photo
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We created plenty states to bring ‘development’ closer, but we ended up expanding our greed and cost of governance. Even many more people are agitating for more states to be carved out, because no tribe or clan wants to be a ‘minority’ within a state, everyone wants to be ‘majority’ and in charge of political offices and benefits.
The first question to ask is, as a people, are we development inclined or dominance inclined? It’s a critical question. The second question is, are we service-oriented or money-oriented? It’s another fundamental question. The answers to both questions if correctly understood can spur us to take the right course.
We cannot develop as a people just because we can propose and advance wonderful ideas, those things are largely meaningless if we don’t understand our traits and idiosyncrasies as a people. Any solution that is not derived from the fundamentals is no solution, so the starting point is to embark on a journey of discovery, to have a firm understanding of who we are.
The immense capabilities to execute are within reach, but we must first discover ourselves. Until then, no chance.