Nigeria now operates fatherism not federalism, says Akinwumi Adesina
- Akinwumi Adesina of the AfDB has given his opinion about the actual system of government Nigeria is operating
- Adesina said the country is now in a fatherism where states depend too much on the federal government
- The AfDB chief true regional development can only come when governors focus more on state resources than on federal allocations
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Akinwunmi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has alleged that Nigeria, with so much concentration in the centre, is practicing fatherism, not federalism as claimed.
Adesina made this claim on Tuesday, February 23, during a virtual inaugural lecture of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo, PM News reports.
The AfDB boss said that as a result of the monthly federal allocation, states abandon their resources and focus only on what they get from the federal government, leading to poverty in the midst of plenty and possibilities of economic growth and healthy competition.
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He went on to say that as a result of this trend, governors spend more time in Abuja than in their home states to oversee and engineer development.
Adesina, as a way forward, suggested that the only way for the country to realise true restructuring, states must depend less on the centre.
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His words:
“State governors now spend more time in Abuja than they do in their own states, seeking the monthly ‘federal manna’.
“Like a pendulum, ever moving from side to side in constant motion, so too has this unfortunate dependency become seemingly unstoppable.
“The truth, however, is that to survive and strive, states must become financially independent of the centre in Abuja.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday, February 11, released the report of the December 2020 disbursement of the monthly allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
According to the NBS, FAAC disbursed the sum of N601.11bn to the three tiers of government, that is the federal, state, and local governments, in December 2020 from the revenue generated in November 2020.
Onyirioha Nnamdi is a graduate of Literature and English Language at the University of Lagos. He is a Politics/Current Affairs Editor who writes on news and political topics for Legit.ng. He brings into his reporting a wealth of experience in creative and analytical writing. Nnamdi has a major interest in local and global politics.
Source: Legit.ng
