The National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), His Excellency Chief John E. K. Odigie-Oyegun CON, recently constituted a Committee on True Federalism with a mandate to review all the ideas variously referred to as “True Federalismâ€, “Restructuringâ€, “Devolution of powersâ€, “Regionalismâ€, “Resource control†etc, and articulating and aligning the public position with the party’s manifesto and campaign promises.
Accordingly, and pursuant to its mandate, the Committee hereby calls for the submission of memoranda from members of the public, political parties, professional associations, faith based and other civil society organizations on the following issues :
*Creation/Merger of States*:
Should Nigeria create more states or not; Should states be merged, if so, what should be the framework and guidelines?
*Derivation Principle*:
What percentage of federal collectable resources should be given back to their sources, e.g. crude oil, solid minerals, VAT?
*Devolution of Powers*:
What items on the exclusive legislative list should be transferred to the recurrent list to enable states have direct responsibility e.g. state & community police, prisons, etc?
*Federating Units*:
Should the Nigerian federation be based on regions or zones as units or maintain the current 36 state structure?Fiscal Federalism & Revenue Allocation: What are the proposed changes in the current revenue allocation formula? What should be the new sharing formula between the federal, state and local governments that will reflect their share of constitutional responsibilities?
*Form of Government*:
Should Nigeria continue with the current Presidential system of government or return to the Parliamentary system as practiced in the first republic or develop a hybrid of the two systems?
*Independent Candidacy*:
Should there be a constitutional provision for eligible citizens to contest elections without being members of registered political parties?
*Land Tenure System*:
Should the Land Use Act be part of the constitution or not and what should be the right of states in the ownnership and control of mineral and natural resources on and under the ground?
*Local Government Autonomy*:
Should LGAs be independent of states and have direct revenue sourcing from the FG as the third-tier of the federation or should they be administrative units of states?
*Power Sharing & Rotation*:
Should Nigeria have a policy of rotation of the key elected political positions on regional or zonal basis for national offices and by senatorial districts for state offices?
*Resource Control*:
Should states, regions or zones be allowed to exclusively or partially own, exploit and tap the financial benefits of natural resources in their domain and just pay taxes to the Federal Government?
*Type of Legislature*:
Does Nigeria need a bi-cameral or uni-cameral, part-time or full-time parliament?Any other matter.
The Committee especially solicits and welcomes contributions from youths across Nigeria whose future, more than that of any other segment of the society, will be most impacted by the issues being canvassed. Contributors are free to address one or more of these issues and provide the basis for their comments and recommendations.
The Committee by this announcement calls for memoranda to be submitted in advance in six (6) copies to the *Secretary, c/o PGF Secretariat, 79 Nelson Mandela Street, Asokoro Abuja*. Or Send it by mail to: feedback@truefederalism.com.ng
Memoranda will also be accepted at the Zonal Public Hearing which location, venue, date and time will be announced later.
Contributors are encouraged to utilize the following digital platforms to reach the Committee.
Email:Â info@truefederalism.com.ng
Twitter:Â @NGRTrueFed
Facebook.com/NGRTrueFed
Hashtag:Â #TrueFederalism
For Further Enquiries Contact: Usman on 0810 528 6291Â or Seember on 0810 538 7211
Signed:
Sen. Olubunmi Adetunmbi
Secretary of Committee.
ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS COMMITTEE ON TRUE FEDERALISM : CALL FOR MEMORANDA
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