California is the 6th largest economy in the world. It's economy is larger than that of France or Brazil. The little problem is that California is not a country. It is a State in the United States of America. It has little offshore oil, yet its economy is larger than States in the US that are famous for their oil reserves, like Texas.

California generates much of its revenue from non-oil products. It found a way to absorb and domesticate much of the intellectual output from its premier university, Stanford University, into saleable products within its economy.

As a matter of fact, much of California's economy is built around Stanford University. So with this, Silicon valley developed. I'm sure you've heard of Silicon Valley at least once in your life. Now with Silicon Valley came companies like Apple, eBay, Cisco, Lockheed, Hewlett Packard (HP), Google, Netflix, Facebook, Oracle, Tesla...and the list goes on and on ad infinitum.These are multibillion-dollar companies. The yearly budget of any one of these companies might be larger than the entire yearly budget of, say for example, Akwa Ibom State. I'm taking about companies that are richer than countries. They are all in California. But that is just in the technology industry where the technologies and inventions spewing out of Stanford are caught midair and converted to money spinning enterprises.

But there is also the entertainment industry in California. Yes, Hollywood is in California. The US movies industry contributes about $504Billion to USA's GDP. Hollywood, as you know, contributes over 70% of that figure. Most iconic movie studios are in Hollywood. As a matter of fact, the "Big Eight" consisting of 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Paramount Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures, United Artists, Universal Studios and Warner Bros are, or were, all in Hollywood. These again, are multi-billion dollar companies generating revenue for California.

Despite the above, California also thrives on agriculture. As at 2014, California had nothing less than 77,000 farms and ranches raking in about $55Billion in revenue yearly. It produces over 400 agricultural commodities, a large chunk of which it exports. It is the leader in producing exotic fruits in America. Its wine industry is unique. California wine is drunk with relish the world over. I used to drink some too.

This is just one State in America. You see, California actually had a choice of sitting back and striving to get a piece of the revenue generated from Texas' oil. It could have depended solely on Federal allocation to survive so that every month end, it will send its Commissioner of Finance to Washington DC to receive monthly allocation so that it can barely pay salaries of its workers and nothing more. Then San Francisco would resemble Ajegunle in Lagos. And there certainly would not be those beautiful sights and sounds that make California what it is today. But No, not California. Not America. California gives to the center and, because of its wealth, despises the idea of depending on it for survival. The Federal Government actually needs California to survive, not the other way round.

You see, America is structured in such a way that States must look inwards to exploit their wealth for the good of its citizens. There is no free lunch for the lazy States. There certainly is no commonwealth. But there is your wealth, if you can create it. Under American Federalism, you are the captain of your ship. But again, you are also the waves upon which the ship will sail. That is America. The local government, the government closest to the grassroot, is deliberately made the strongest level of government. Items like Variances (adaptation of state law to local conditions,) Public works (yes, public works!!), Contracts for public works, Licensing of public accommodations, Assessable improvements, Basic public services are all left for local county governments to handle. The State handles weightier matters like Property law, Education,Commerce laws of ownership and exchange, Banking and credit laws, Labour law and professional licensure, Insurance laws, and Electoral laws, including parties and Civil service laws. Items that the Federal Government, the center, handles affecting the States, are actually very negligible.

Nigeria on the contrary will never do well unless we restructure. We pretend to have a Federal system but we are actually operating a unique form of unitary government, and it is weighing the polity down. Can you imagine a country where the school curriculum is regulated by a national central body and states have no powers to vary or amend their curriculum? So, if the rest of the developed world is light years ahead in what they teach their children from primary schools, and our Minister of Education has absolutely no clue, the States must be burdened with antiquated school curriculum until such a time (if we are lucky, before rapture perhaps!!) that we have an Education Minister who would realise how far behind we are and bring the curriculum up to date. Just take a look at the science curriculum for grade students in advanced countries and you would cry for Nigeria. I recently read of a high school in Japan which has amended its curriculum to include robotics and drones technology. IN HIGH SCHOOL!! But our Professors here don't have a hang on Robotics even!

Students are still taught the very prehistoric rudiments of physics and chemistry in our schools. And this is even in the few schools that teachers and students still meet in the classrooms! For the few public schools that are lucky to have labs, all you see are miserable nameless creatures trapped in formalin, to which nobody ever pays attention. These creatures suffer a double jeopardy having suffered the first misfortune of being caught and preserved in formalin in Nigeria, and then thereafter completely ignored, even in death! And because the control of our curriculum is central, there is nothing potentially proactive or progressive-minded States can do about this.

You would think this is not a problem until you understand that Nigerians spend over ONE TRILLION NAIRA every year to study abroad, despite there being over 100 tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Not one is deemed good enough. You see, the reason why you have Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Oxford, etc is not only for academic excellence of the citizens of the countries which have these schools. No. They invest in their institutions so that they can earn revenue from foreign students from countries like Nigeria which has destroyed its educational system. Abroad, schools are so important to society that the economy, business and lifestyle of whole cities and even States completely depend on or revolve around schools. What would the city of cambridge be without Cambridge University. Or Cambridge, Massachusett without Harvard University.

These cities depend on these universities to survive. And imagine that Nigeria had invested in its universities and was earning $1billion dollars a year from foreign students seeking to study here, who would be fighting over oil in the Niger Delta? How many car manufacturing companies would we have in Owerri near FUTO where students are constantly doing and selling their research products to burgeoning engineering and manufacturing companies? Recently, three students in Sweden conducted research and came up with a product that could improve wear and tear on tyres. The product became so successful that Volvo had to partner with these students to patent the product. Now when this product hit world stage, can you imagine how much revenue sweden would earn from these product? Do your research, most of the world-class products we buy today off the shelf, at great cost, were invented by university students. As you are reading this, do not forget that without Harvard University, there would not have been facebook, and this our interface would have been impossible.

But our students In Nigeria are not entirely without inventions. We invented the Pyrates Confraternity, the , the Eiye, the Vikings and what not!! Students resume school with guns and bullets, rather than books and scholastic ideas, as though academic institutions were a war college. Lecturers fly colors as do students. And when the turf war begins, people die in droves. But States can do nothing about this because some of these institutions are controlled by the Federal Government. Even for the ones controlled by States, you still can't do much because the security apparatus is controlled by the Federal Government. The Federal Government will provide or withdraw security from the State, depending on whether it is happy with the sitting Governor. So every year, all sorts of characters are vomited from Nigerian Universities to take their place in Nigerian society. So you have Judges, Lawyers, Engineers, Doctors and so forth whose first and primary allegiance is to their cult group, before the Country. The multiplier effect of this, is a treatise for another day.

But suffice to say that as long as this problem persist, let's forget about Silicon Valley in Nigeria, because there will never be a Stanford University here to provide an infinite supply of ideas and prodigies to feed the invention value-chain!

Nigeria cannot wake up from its slumber today because it cannot lift its head. The entire weight of its existence is concentrated in its head. From the viewpoint of government, the weight is In Abuja. From the viewpoint of revenue source, the weight is in the Niger-Delta. We need to urgently restructure and evenly distribute this pressure points and weights to diffuse tension in Nigeria.
We need to revisit the exclusive legislative list in the constitution and systematically reduce the responsibilities of the Federal Government vis-a-vis the States. Resources have to be handed back to the States that generated them but place an obligation on each States to contribute an agreed percentage to the common federal purse to service obligations of the Federal Government. There is no reason Education, Policing, Prisons (only people convicted of federal offenses should go to federal prisons!!), Ports, Inland waterways, natural minerals, even marriage (yes, english form of marriage!!) and so many other items should be the concern of the Federal Government.We will never develop with such weight that weigh us down

Culled from Facebook

This one na novel.. .

I'm good in fast scrolling though.

I'm from that side that has paid dearly for trying to detach. The 5%
And My state doesnt depend on federal allocations.
Please the FG of nigeria should hands off Niger delta means of generating revenue. Allow them to manage their resources.
Eg) Texas has oil but California doesn't depend on Texas's oil to thrive rite?.

He with ears let em hear.

OP, thanks for sharing. Very educative and inspiring.

However, this is not the kind of news Nairaland appreciates.

Bro I am not against restructuring of Nigeria. .. But don't say it because of the structure that made it possible for California to be what it is today

Lagos is Africa's California very soon it will be among the top ten economy in Africa in the same structure that u are condemning

What we have are weak leaders who can't think and weaker masses who can even see beyond their noise

What is stopping Akwa-Ibom from saying.. in the next 15 years we want to refined all the crude we produce and export the products? ? The money is not the issue... samw with Rivers and delta bayelsa can do same

What is stopping kaduna from owing 2million hectares of rice n wheat farms??

Bro even if u restructure once this states can pay salaries and do small projects theg will release

Good peice.

Nice stuff, Nigeria needs restructuring.

weblord1900:
This one na novel.. .

I'm good in fast scrolling though.

there's nothing good bou dat scrolling if u dint read it to comprehension

OK, what an info

very interesting piece. I took my time to carefully peruse the entire writeup and I enjoyed it. We know our problems and the solutions but the devil has imbued unnecessary fear in the heart of northerners and some westerners, hence they won't want true federalism. it's so pathetic that we found ourselves in this mess. However, our south eastern and southern leaders aren't doing enough by managing the little they receive from fg to invest in profit spinning projects. God help us

This post has pointed the direction we should take. Nigerian federalism is a farce. The mandarins we call lawmakers, the professional politicians we call leaders and we, the followers are all inept, on a journey to nowhere. We are just marking time like an Arny on parade. In the process, we continue to antagonise each other , further eroding the sinews that bind this fragile polity.


If after half a century of independence, a civil war, military rule ,a return to civilian rule, state creation , boundary adjustments,surrender of Bakassi to Cameron, flagellating oil prices and with the world now a global village, we cannot fashion a direction for our country...... Nigeriashould go back to nature.

Nigeria should go back to nature because even if it fragments, the splinters will go the same way, as.... The doctor will become the patient.

Haba!!!!!!!

The South West are known for Education, why was it successful? Would it have been successful if Awo had tried to make it a national issue? your guess is as good as mine.

Very short...I read it twice

mrvitalis:
Bro I am not against restructuring of Nigeria. .. But don't say it because of the structure that made it possible for California to be what it is today

Lagos is Africa's California very soon it will be among the top ten economy in Africa in the same structure that u are condemning

What we have are weak leaders who can't think and weaker masses who can even see beyond their noise

What is stopping Akwa-Ibom from saying.. in the next 15 years we want to refined all the crude we produce and export the products? ? The money is not the issue... samw with Rivers and delta bayelsa can do same

What is stopping kaduna from owing 2million hectares of rice n wheat farms??

Bro even if u restructure once this states can pay salaries and do small projects theg will release

Very myopic Post. California was never the capital of USA, she doesn't have monopolistic grip on the sea port system of USA, she doesn't host the headquarters of oil giants operating in Texas.

Raziii:
The South West are known for Education, why was it successful? Would it have been successful if Awo had tried to make it a national issue? your guess is as good as mine.

Apart from the returnee Brazilians who stationed in Lagos and integrated as Yorubas. There was never a time Yorubas were ahead of Ndiigbo in Education in Nigeria.

The Early advantage the Saros and Brazilians conferred to Yorubas was obliterated by Ndiigbo as early as 50's.

And since then, Ndiigbo have been on the fore front of education in Nigeria.

Enough if this Yoruba and Education lies.

mrvitalis:
Bro I am not against restructuring of Nigeria. .. But don't say it because of the structure that made it possible for California to be what it is today

Lagos is Africa's California very soon it will be among the top ten economy in Africa in the same structure that u are condemning

What we have are weak leaders who can't think and weaker masses who can even see beyond their noise

What is stopping Akwa-Ibom from saying.. in the next 15 years we want to refined all the crude we produce and export the products? ? The money is not the issue... samw with Rivers and delta bayelsa can do same

What is stopping kaduna from owing 2million hectares of rice n wheat farms??

Bro even if u restructure once this states can pay salaries and do small projects theg will release

Your biased reasoning is worse than Buhari's own.

What stops other states from saying no to oil.

EternalTruths:



Your biased reasoning is worse than Buhari's own.

What stops other states from saying no to oil.

Same thing that stops states from taxing agro goods

Igboid:


Apart from the returnee Brazilians who stationed in Lagos and integrated as Yorubas. There was never a time Yorubas were ahead of Ndiigbo in Education in Nigeria.

The Early advantage the Saros and Brazilians conferred to Yorubas was obliterated by Ndiigbo as early as 50's.

And since then, Ndiigbo have been on the fore front of education in Nigeria.

Enough if this Yoruba and Education lies.

I'm not arguing anything with you, I'm simply saying a man did something for his people with their common wealth and it worked. and I'm asking, would it have worked if he instead made it let's say, 'operation school for all in Nigeria'