The Resource Control Debate: Enthroning Parasitism or Instituting Self-Determination?

Abstract

Conceptualized within the context of Nigerian polity, “Resource Control”
describes the drive by geo-political zone(s), state(s), region(s), group(s) or
any of the federating unit(s) to assert claim, not only of ownership over
natural resources found or produced in their territory(ies) but also the
right(s) to determine the uses to which such resource(s) (or proceeds
therefrom, may be put). Agitation for “Resource Control” is basically a
response to perceived cheating, exploitation, alienation and marginalization
of agitators by those in power. There are those for (largely from the Nigerian South, and South-South in particular) and those against (largely from the Nigerian North) the principle of “Resource Control”. On the basis of this bipartisan divide, the agitators for “Resource Control” posit that two
outcomes await the choice of rejecting or accepting the principle, name:
acceptance translates to self-determination for the marginalized and
dispossessed; rejection translates to enthronement of parasitism of those
that, for long, dominated (and still dominates) political power in Nigeria.The paper argues that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the
principle of “Resource Control” which is basically a product of the weird
brand of federal system in Nigeria (I choose to call it “unitary federalism”).
The conclude that the “Resource Control” debate is far from being over, for
as long as Nigeria’s warped federal system remains unchanged.