A legal expert, Abdullahi Umar iliyasu Esq, has said that if Nigerians abide by the provision of the constitution and the relevant laws relating to revenue sharing, Federal character principles enshrined in the constitution and address the issue of winner takes all in administering the affairs of the Federation and its states constituents equitably, the high temperature blown up by the enemies of the Nation will come down and peace and harmony would be restored.
Abdullahi Umar iliyasu Esq, while presenting a paper entitled ‘The role of legal justice in conflict resolution, the case of Nigerian federalism” during the special convocation and conferment of an honorary doctoral degree to distinguished personalities by Ballsbridge University, said the paper was to look at the role of Legal Justice in conflict resolutions with specific reference to the Nigerian Federalism.
” It becomes necessary to use Nigerian Federalism as a case study because of the way democracy has set the country on fire after a very long period of military dispensation. It is opposite also to address the contentious issue that triggers conflicts in the country and highlight the provisions of the law, providing how to resolve such issues to the satisfaction of the people. The aims of such provisions of the law are meant to render justice to the contending parties,” he said.
According to him, the resolution of social conflict depends on society and the intensity of the conflict.
He said ” the most common means of resolving conflict in a homogeneous society is by the use of cultural norms and values. But in a heterogeneous society, socially acceptable laws enacted by the recognised representatives of the people in Parliament can be used to arrive at a just settlement. Other ways of resolving conflict are by the ability of the conflicting partners to understand the nature of the conflict, communicate with each other and agree to come together and compromise to resolve the conflict.
He disclosed that steps had been taken to give legal backing to the method to be followed in resolving conflict by enacting the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1998.
All cases of people, he said, were to be subjected to ordinary law of the land, administered by ordinary law courts, while all men in government or citizens were under the same duty to obey some law, i. e equality before the law.
” Therefore, the rule of law is in this respect based on individual rights as defined and enforced by the constitution and the courts without fear or favour, and it resists any encroachment by government or political parties .”
“The doctrine should be employed not only to safeguard and advance the civil and political rights of individuals in a free society but also the establishment of social, economic, education and cultural conditions which are essential to the full development of his personality.”
Umar recalled that before the adoption of the 1999 Constitution, there was a Military Interregnum of about thirteen years. “During that period, the military-ruled by decrees. They suspended provisions of the constitution dealing with all aspects relating to fundamental human rights. So many social, economic and political decisions were taken which generated grievances by constituents part of the Federation,” he said.
“In the year 1999, the Military decided to hand over power to civilians and established democratic systems of government. They enacted the 1999 constitution which introduced a Federal System of Government consisting of the centre and the 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory and 774 Local Government councils. Under this constitution, the function of the Federal Government is contained in the exclusive legislative list that of the States in the concurrent list. Where any conflict arises the exclusive functions of the Federal Government overrides.”
“It is apposite to clarify the exclusive and concurrent legislative lists as provided for in section 4 (second schedule) of the 1999 constitution. The exclusive legislative list comprises the responsibilities on which the Federal Government can act while the concurrent legislative list comprises of what the federal and state government can act. There are also the residual functions provided under section 4 (7) which assign residual functions to state governments. There are functions not indicated either in the exclusive legislative list or the concurrent legislative list. S7(5) (fourth schedule) of the constitution provides for the creation of Local Government councils with responsibilities stated therein.”
“In view of the foregoing allocation of responsibilities by the 1999 constitution, why do people engage in unnecessary conflict regarding running the affairs of the Federation? In response to this, it is proper to point out that the problem lies with the Nigerian elites i.e educated elites, military elites, and business elites. All the elites claim that they are acting for and on behalf of their people. But looking at it holistically, one can
vividly note that they are only acting for themselves, by themselves and for their selfish interest in their struggle for power and economic domination of the populace.”
“The only time elites fight among themselves is when one is short-changed or outsmarted in sharing the national cake or loses grips of power at the National level. At this juncture they will resort to religion, ethnicity, region or zone in order to whip up negative sentiments and heat up the polity,” he said.
He also spoke on the triggers of conflict in the Nigerian Federation, such as the disenchantment with Nigeria as a political entity by Nigerians in some parts of the country who felt marginalized in the exercise of power and authority at the federal level, the herders and farmers conflict among others.
Dr Safiya Umar, who spoke in an interview on the occasion, said “the presentations mainly dwelled on security and the excessive crisis in the country. The menace of Boko Haram, bandits Kidnappers and what have you.”
Commenting on the security situation, she said security
“it is everybody’s concern, security is everybody’s concern especially today when there is crisis everywhere. You are home, you are not safe, you are outside you are not safe. It’s a concern to every citizen of the country.”
“My call to those in authority is to look down to the grassroots, empower the youths, a high percentage of our youths are unemployed. The politicians should withdraw from the “use and dump syndrome”, where the youths are used during politics and after, they are left on their own. Once they create job opportunities for the youths, I think it will take care of youth restiveness in the country and there will be peace. Nigeria is a good country and is big enough to carry everybody along, and catered for adequately,” she said.
VANGUARD
