The decision of the Abia State government to expel non indigenes stirs controversy and shows the readiness of a State that styles itself as God's own State to flout God's basic injunction to love thy neigbour.
IT was a shocking action supposedly prompted by basic survival instincts. It was also shocking coming from a state priding itself as God's Own State. After all, God's basic injunction is to love your neighbor as yourself.
Indeed, the decision of the Abia State government to sack all non-indigenes in the state public service has again raised questions about the viability of many of Nigeria's 36 states given that economic considerations were primary to the decision.
The move has also raised questions on the enforceability of Section 42 of the Constitution which gives all Nigerians the same rights irrespective of state of origin. Abia's controversial expulsion of non-indigenes and indeed, indigenous women married to non-indigenes, came vide a circular HAS/S.0071/II/132 dated August 25, 2011 and issued by the Head of Service, Mr. G.C. Adiele.
Names of all non indigenes
The circular directed heads of ministries, department and agencies and Local Government Service Commission "to submit the names of all non-indigenes in their employ on or before September 1, 2011, failure of which or any connivance thereto shall attract strict sanctions by Government".
Entitled "Back loading on transfer of non-indigenes in Abia State public service to their states of origin", the Head of Service wrote: "I write to convey the approval of the Government of Abia State that all non-indigenes working in the public service of Abia State (including local governments) be transferred to their states of origin with effect from October 1, 2011. This policy does not apply to Tertiary Institutions in Abia State".
Though the circular was quiet on the matter of indigenes married to non indigenes it has since emerged that Abia women married to men from outside the State have also been thrown out of their jobs with a silent instruction that they should go and look for employment in their husbands' states.
The policy, Vanguard learnt, has also affected former members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC members who won appointment based on their meritorious service at the end of the NYSC service year in Abia.
One such example was given of a former NYSC member from Nasarawa State who after his service year was given automatic employment based on his meritorious service to Abia State. To concretise his roots in Abia State the man married an indigene of the State.
Today, he is among those affected based on the State's policy of exclusion of non indigenes from the state public service. Though the circular was silent on it, it has also emerged that Abia born women married to men from outside the State are also being rooted out from the public service. However, Abia men married to outside women are being spared, it was learnt.
The government has defended the decision and is in fact blaming the immediate past governor of the State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, who it accused of mortgaging the state's interest for his own political goals.
Chief Umeh Kalu the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in an interview with Vanguard equally blamed the recent increase in the national minimum wage and the exodus of Abia indigenes from the North as the reasons that compelled the decision.
He said: "I must tell you that the general public has been grossly misinformed on reasons behind the policy. Some years back, Abia indigenes in the civil service of some states within the Southeast and South-South geo-political regions, specifically Cross River, Enugu, Imo and the rest were sent back to Abia State including in some cases, the pension files of retired civil servants from Imo State.
"These returnee civil servants were absorbed into the civil service of Abia State even where there were no vacancies in order to save them and their families from the hardship occasioned by their sudden disengagement.
There were suggestions then that Abia State Government should equally disengage citizens from these neighbouring States working in our civil service in order to balance the scale. This suggestion as strong and reasonable as it was to check the over bloated work force was bluntly rejected by the former Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, who was bent on pursuing his now elusive bid for the Presidency of Nigeria.
In recent times, the wage bill of the State is nearing N1.8 billion and with the acceptance of Government to pay the N18,000 minimum wage bill, the wage bill of the State would in no distant time be in the neighbourhood of N2.5 billion and for a State with a monthly allocation of below N3 billion, one can imagine what crisis would evolve.
Recent crisis
"Furthermore, the recent crisis in Jos, Plateau State and Maiduguri has displaced hundreds of Abians who are back to the State and desire to be gainfully employed. The first law of nature is self preservation and what the Government has done is to seek for a way of attending to its problems as having a legion of unemployed persons would equally create some social problems for the State especially violent crimes."
His explanation nonetheless, the Abia government has come under withering criticism from a cross section of the polity including Ohaneze Ndigbo which has described the action as capable of destroying the fabrics of Igbo unity.
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has said that the State would not retaliate for the action taken by the Abia government. He described the action as "unique and sensitive"during a courtesy call on him by the National President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN. Okorocha also revealed that the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF has waded into the matter.
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This may be a very good thing for most states in the South-South who are overwhelmed by the influx of people from other states in search of employment in the public sector. I am not against their being employed by the private sectors of our economy. But, in state matters, there are sensitive issues which indigenes of a state should be purview to, exclusively.
When the rampage to create more states were initiated by the visionless military dictators, I questioned then about the viability of such state creations. Of course, I never received an answer to this question because the sentiments governing state creations were purely based on levelling the playing fields for those segments of our population who were denied access to progress; the least of which were mostly the minority tribes in the former Eastern Nigeria, and the Middle-Belt regions of the Nigerian Federation.
But, the enactment of the minimum wage law and the current action taken by the Governor of Abia State has now placed a human face in these sentiments. It has now transformed into economic reality, especially if the state has limited resources. The samw question arose about 7-months ago when the governor of Ekiti State touched on the issue of viability, given the limited resources of his state. In a country richly endowed with natural resources, it is appalling to observe that the payment of a minimum wage of N18,000.00 naira per month which simply translates into $120.00 (One Hundred & Twenty US Dollars) per month could break the backs of State Treasuries for paying its public employees monthly. Now, contrast this with the unrestrained spending sprees that our elected public officials spend each time they travel overseas, you'll then begin to wonder where our priorities lie.
What the good governor did in Abia State is so vitally important that this issue of priority setting and state viability should now take center stage in our public discourse: One of which is :"What constitutes an indigene?" How broadly or loosely can we define who is a Nigerian? Who should control the resources of the nation? To what degree should the Federal Government continue to stranglehold the resources of ALL the region or geopolitical zones? Why should any state be forced to create public employment for its non-indigene population?
Whereas, I personally applaud the efforts of the Abia State Governor, it is amusing to observe that the Ibo Communities are throwing sentiments into this very crucial issue of economic viability. This actually has nothing to do with being an Ibo, or being one's brother's keeper. This simply has to do with survival. It also shows the Federal Government's inability to attract investments into our private sectors whereby adequate jobs could be created in order to absorb our highly qualifies indigent members of our population who've been without jobs for far too long. The public sectors of our economy should not be converted into a Welfare Agency whereby our unemployed adult and youth population are absorbed specifically so as to appease the masses who otherwise could've done much better in the private sectors of our economy.
That jobs are not easy to come by, can actually be blamed on a federal government who lacks the ability and political goodwill to seriously work with the private sectors of our economy and the international investment communities to make Nigeria their investment destination. When foreigners see our politicians waste money on their shores and shop in such a way as if to imply that these resources are limitless, these foreign observers automatically conclude that it would be pointless going to an environment where the country's leading politicians are so wasteful, even when no one is watching. The word "austerity" simply should not be limited to the poor who has to manage and make do with the little they have. This word should be applied across the board to those who manage the affairs of our nation, even when no one is watching.
To illustrate this gregariousness, some members of the Oyo Legislators visited London recently and spent an inordinate sums of money to the tune of nearly N120-Million naira without any hesitation. Yet, Oyo State seems to be in dire-straits financially. N120-million naira comes to approximately $800,000.00 USD, that is (Eight Hundred Thousand US Dollars) for a simple visit to Britain. Britain may love to see Nigerians come their shores and spend this kind of money. But, how about such sums being earmarked for some bridges to be built in Oyo State, or how about using such money to pay public employees proper and adequate wages, or, how about using such funds to build housing for its indigent population, or how about using such funds to build libraries and stud them with books, computer labs, or building children's recreation facilities.
For me personally, in order for the government and the citizens of Nigeria to properly manage its resources, we must firstly begin to take responsibilities for ourselves. We must begin to take accurate counts on who should be counted as an indigene and who isn't an indigene. I can understand the need to fill jobs in a state where there a need for some highly specialized skills. The last thing any governor would do is to assume that just because we are all Nigerians, we therefore, owe ourselves the moral obligation to absorb everone that comes to our shores within our civil service. If the Federal Government wishes for this to take place, it must now seriously begin to define itself and/or, abrogate the Emergency Decree issued by Gen. J.T.U. Agwuiyi-Ironsi where the power of the Federal Government was created to supersede the powers of the State or the wishes of the various geopolitical zones in the country.
I am particularly heartened by the fight Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of the Rivers State is leading along with other state governors by trying to force the Federal Government from further encroaching into the use and access to the Excess Petroleum Fund whereby the Federal Government wishes to use these funds to create a Sovereign Wealth Funds. To me, this is a death trap as has been exemplified by events in the Euro Zones, specifically in Greece, Spain, Italy and many of other European countries. SWF have served as a depot where poorly managed governments go to dig for funds in order to cover their financially mismanaged economies. The question then remains: If the Federal Government is incapable of managing what it currently has, how would digging into the SWF in order to make it appear that it is using austerity measures change the reality of their financial ineptitudes?
It is about time this militarily imposed power on the Nigerian people is abrogated. It is also time we began to define who we are as a people. Is Nigeria a capitalist country of a socialist country? Thus far, there is no definable ideology with which to categorize Nigeria. On one hand, we appear to be a capitalist country, and on the other hand, we appear to be a socialist/democratic country. In the latter, the Federal Government seems to exercise undue ultra vires acts on its citizens without seeking a constitutional mandate to do so. It arbitrarily takes "emminent domain" postures by confiscating private lands without due process. In a capitalist country, governments encroachment into private properties are usually vigorously challenged in the courts. But, in our thuggish political economy, citizens' rights are always abused by the government. The government should not be allowed to freely do as it pleases with private properties. Nor should any state governor be forced to absorb redundant labour from other states, unless the cost of such absorption are covered by the Federal Government. But doing so, should not be done at the expense of crude oil yields from the Niger Delta. It is about time we began to encourage a full scale development of our various state resources. This would create the badly needed employment opportunities for those who have been displaced from regions where their services are no-longer required.
In summation, I am opposed to those who have riled against the Abia State Governor for calling a spade a spade, and for pointing out the 800-lb gorilla in the room. Many in positions of authority would like to look the other way and hope that this reality would disappear. Unfortunately, unless we address this issue now, we may yet miss a golden opportunity of finally defining the methodologies by which these politically inspired state creations could survive. We must never assume that many of these states which have now become parasites on the coffers of the Niger Delta and from which the Federal Government has become drunk simply on the possibilities that revenues from the Excess Crude Funds would continue to flow unabated. This expectation has bred in the government a sense of lackadaisical behaviour, thus resulting in its ability to not think creatively on investing in research and development on alternate means of survival and growing the economy.
The Abia State Governors sanitization of non-indigens in its public workforce would provide the badly needed threshold for a proper conversation on how best to manage the teeming Nigerian population who assume that invading others space is a good thing. It also should make us realize that we should begin now to invest in ourselves, our states and in our teeming human capital which we often neglect in search of a greener pasture somewhere else. The answer to our problems lie within our reach, but we are too blind to realize it or even see it. The Abia State Governor should actually be commended for making this an object of discourse in the whole nation, since our political leaders lack the will to confront these issues while burrying their heads in the desert sands.
Sir Mini,
The Nigeria of your imagination is the not the Nigeria I would want to live in.
Thanks