A coalition of civic leaders, traditional figures and community representatives meeting under the banner of the Concerned Citizens Assembly has called for the restructuring of Nigeria into 17 autonomous federated regions.
Specifically, they want the Federal Government to establish a National Rebirth Commission to steer the country toward what it described as a negotiated, constitutional overhaul of the Nigerian state.
The call was contained in a communiqué issued at the conclusion of a three-day deliberation at NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja, where delegates from across the country debated proposals for sweeping regional autonomy, fiscal federalism and the devolution of security powers.
17 regions proposed
The Assembly considered submissions from groups seeking recognition as autonomous constituent regions and approved a final list of 17, after splitting the proposed Plateau-Gurara Region into two — Plateau and Gurara — and admitting a new application from Apa-Agba.
The proposed regions are Akwa Ibom, Ane Igala, Apa-Agba, Bendel, Caliphate, Cross River, Gurara, Hausa, Igbo, Ijaw, Kanem, Lower Benue, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Savannah and Yoruba.
In one of its most far-reaching resolutions, the Assembly adopted fiscal federalism anchored on a revenue-sharing formula in which regions would retain 80 per cent of revenues generated within their territories, remitting 20 per cent to the centre — an arrangement it said mirrored the practice under Nigeria’s short-lived 1963 Republican Constitution.
“The fiscal arrangement shall promote accountability, productivity, competition, development and responsible management of public resources,” the communiqué stated, adding that “fiscal responsibility must accompany fiscal autonomy.”
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Under the proposed structure, the Federal Government would be confined to a limited, enumerated list of responsibilities: foreign affairs, customs, immigration and emigration, the national economy, currency and central bank, and national defence and security. The Assembly resolved that there would be no concurrent legislative list, with all other powers residing with the regions.
State police, regional constitutions
The communiqué backed full regional control of policing and internal public safety — effectively endorsing state police — while leaving national defence and external security with the centre. Each region would also adopt its own constitution through “a legitimate and participatory process,” subject to conformity with a federal constitution.
Mindful of fears of majority domination, the Assembly insisted that autonomy “shall not constitute a licence for domination or discrimination against minorities.”
Regional constitutions, it said, must contain enforceable guarantees of equality before the law, protection of cultural and linguistic identities, equitable political representation and judicial remedies, including specific protections for women and children.
Referendums for disputed territories
Acknowledging that boundary questions and competing regional claims remain unresolved, the Assembly ruled that such disputes must not be settled “by emotion, historical grievance, numerical strength or political pressure,” but through an objective, evidence-based process — and, failing negotiation, by referendum of the affected citizens.
Central to the implementation plan is a proposed National Rebirth Commission, which the Assembly wants the Federal Government to establish immediately.
The body would house a Truth, Reconciliation, Unity and Equity Department, coordinate constitutional negotiations, resolve territorial disputes, organize referendums where necessary, and manage the transition to fiscal federalism and regional security arrangements. Its members, the communiqué said, should be “persons of recognised competence, integrity, independence and national standing.”
The Assembly stressed that restructuring “is not a programme for the disintegration of Nigeria,” but an attempt to preserve the country as one sovereign state through voluntary association.
“Unity is strongest when it is founded on consent, justice, mutual respect and constitutional equality rather than excessive centralisation,” the communiqué read, closing with a call for Nigerians to approach the task “not with fear or hostility, but with courage, reason [and] mutual respect.”
The Assembly also adopted Articles of Federation to be subscribed to by each federated region, and called on government institutions, civil society and traditional rulers to open a national constitutional dialogue to translate the resolutions into a new federal framework.
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