South-West is most marginalised - Investigations

THE South-West is the most marginalised region in the current administration, followed by the North-East, findings have shown.

According to investigations, the North-East got its status redeemed with the election of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while the North-West is the most favoured region.

Investigations also showed that reports of northern marginalisation in the current administration could not stand in the face of evidence as the North-West geopolitical zone strongly dominates the security, finance and education sector appointments under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency.

Key northern leaders had, in recent times, accused the Federal Government of systematically sidelining the northern region both in terms of appointments into critical sectors and in terms of access of the zone to presidential decision-making caucus.

However, checks by the Nigerian Tribune showed that the North-West has, so far, maintained its hold on decisive positions within the government, despite the fact that the South-South is holding the number one position in the administration. While the president maintains the number one spot in the administration, findings showed that one of the two most influential figures in terms of closeness to the president and his day to day actions and decisions is from the North-West, in the person of the Principal Private Secretary to the President, Mallam Hassan Tukur. The other influential position is the Chief of Staff, which is held by Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, from Edo State.

Tukur and the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Oghiadomhe, are said to be the most powerful aides of the president who see to the day to day running of the presidency and the Federal Government as a whole.

Apart from the Principal Private Secretary, the North-West also produced the vice-president, who is regarded as one of the most powerful vice-presidents of this era. He oversees the all-important power sector reforms through the oversight on the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and coordinates the National Economic Council.

The number four citizen in the government hierarchy, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is also listed as one of the strong holders of levers of power in the administration.

Besides its strong presence on the political turf, the North-West also controls all the three major sources of revenue generation in the economy of the federation, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, the Comptroller General of the Customs service and the acting chairman of the revenue service are all from the North-West zone. While the three agencies above are said to be the sources of over 90 per cent of national revenue, the North-West further adds to its control of the economy, when it produced the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. The Minister of State for Finance, who oversees the Federation Account Allocation, is also from the North-West.

Incidentally, a similar situation was obstructed by the Senate under Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, when a Yoruba man from Kogi State was to emerge as the Auditor General of the Federation. The Senate had argued then that it was opposed to concentration of all positions in the economic sector in the hands of the South-West, since the then governor of CBN was from the South-West.

Leaders of the South-West have, however, objected to the marginalisation of the region even while the institution, such as the Senate, refused to stand straight on such issues. They had argued that while the appointment of a Yoruba from the North was obstructed by the Senate in 2003, the Senate later sanctioned the concentration of all economic positions in the South-East and now North-West.

“The South-West is the most marginalised in all these and the zone cannot continue to keep quiet,” a leader said, adding that some elders from the zone recently met President Goodluck Jonathan on the increasing marginalisation of the zone.

Curiously, if the North is well placed in the political and financial sectors, the zone is also maintaining its grip on the security sector, as its men dominate key positions across the security establishments.

Until the removal of the Minister of Defence, Dr Haliru Mohammed, who hails from Kebbi State, the region was holding tight to the number one slot in the Defence portfolio. Even at that, the North-West still has the National Security Adviser from Sokoto State, the Inspector General of Police from Kano State and the Chief of Air Staff, also from the zone.

An administration official, who craved anonymity, expressed surprise at the constant accusations of bias against the Jonathan presidency, declaring that “no zone has the level of high-profile presence the North-West enjoys in the present administration.”

“It is unfair to accuse Jonathan of bias against the North. He ceded so much powers and functions to the core North that I see no difference to when (Musa) Yar’Adua was in power,” the official, who is also from the North, said.

He stated that the president had also ensured a spread in the appointment of his personal aides.

But while the president appears to personally maintain a spread in the appointments, the same cannot be said of agencies under his watch. Only recently, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega was accused of breaching the Federal Character Principle by filling a majority of directorate positions in the commission with northerners.

How North-West rules Jonathan’s government

North-West

•Vice-President •Speaker, House of Representatives •CBN Governor •GMD NNPC •Acting Chairman, FIRS •Comptroller-General of Customs (Chairman, FCCA)

North-East

•National Chairman, PDP •Executive Secretary TETFUND •Executive Secretary UBEC •Head of Service

North-Central

•President of the Senate •Attorney-General and Minister of Justice

South-East

•Deputy Senate President •Secretary to the Government of the Federation •Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives •Minister of Finance •Minister of Aviation •Minister of Power •Minister of Labour •Minister of Health

South-West

•Minister of Agric •Minister of Police Affairs •Minister of Trade and Investments •Minister of Foreign Affairs

South-South

•President, Federal Republic of Nigeria •Senate Leader •Minister of Petroleum

..........Taiwo Adisa and Olawale Rasheed, Abuja/Nigeria Tribune