Says economic reforms necessary but insufficient
Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, has stressed the need for restructuring Nigeria’s governance system to achieve economic growth and development.
Agbakoba, who stated this in a statement yesterday, tagged, ‘Two Years Assessment of President Tinubu: The Political Governance Fundamental’, stated that the current unitary system disguised as federalism was a major constraint to economic progress.
Agbakoba advocated genuine multilevel governance, where each tier of government would have meaningful autonomy and responsibility. According to him, it will create multiple entry points for economic participation, allowing entrepreneurs to access services and build businesses through local institutions.
To achieve this, Agbakoba recommends executive actions, legislative reforms and administrative restructuring. Agbakoba also called for constitutional amendments to clearly define legislative powers for local governments and states, and to empower sub-national governments to take on more economic policy, saying it would also unleash the economic potential of Nigerians and promote broad-based economic participation.
Specifically, he called on the National Assembly to prioritise legislative reforms that would devolve powers and promote fiscal federalism in Nigeria, saying this is crucial for the country’s economic growth and development.
Agbakoba recommended that the National Assembly utilise Sections 4(1) and 315(1)(a) & (4) of the Constitution to replace the 1999 Constitution and create a new legislative list for federal, state and local governments. He noted that this will empower subnational governments to take on more economic policy and promote broad-based economic participation.
According to him, the President can devolve specific functions to state and local governments through executive orders, while the National Assembly should prioritise devolution of powers and fiscal federalism.
The senior lawyer urged President Tinubu’s administration to embrace fundamental governance restructuring, warning that without functional political governance at all levels, economic interventions would continue to produce disappointing results.
While commending President Tinubu’s economic reforms, describing them as “necessary” Agbakoba said it was “insufficient” to achieve their intended impact.
Agbakoba noted that while the removal of fuel subsidies and deregulation of the foreign exchange market were courageous decisions, they might not produce optimal results due to Nigeria’s flawed governance structure.
According to Agbakoba, economic reforms operate within political systems, and when those systems are fundamentally flawed, even the best economic policies produce suboptimal results.
He cited the example of fuel subsidy removal, which was intended to free up resources for productive investment, but might not be effective if state and local governments lacked the capacity and autonomy to deploy them effectively.
