A legal expert, Tochukwu Onyiuke, writes on how the National Assembly can produce a new constitution that will address the demands for a restructured Nigeria.
The Nigerian political sphere in recent times has been overwhelmed with the constant and continuous clamour for restructuring.
As a sovereign indivisible state, several interest groups have openly come to the conclusion that it is only by restructuring the country that we stand any chance of making reasonable developmental progress as a people.
The government at the centre has severally been tasked with the inevitability of restructuring the country.
The concept of restructuring has become a popularly used term up till the point that it has become almost so cliché with different interest groups ascribing their different meanings and translations to this concept.
What does the restructuring as a concept comprehensively entail? Depending on the group or individual, restructuring has its own varying definition. However, there are some constant elements amidst the various proponent of restructuring, they are;
- The devolution of power i.e. autonomy for both the state and local government,
- Creation of state police,
- True federalism
- A total replacement of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.
Having highlighted these key recurring features in the clamor for restructuring, it appears that an imperative move to make in order to achieve a genuine and functional restructuring is a total replacement of the 1999 Nigerian constitution as amended. This summation takes us to having a brief historical trail of the constitutional development in Nigeria and proffering solutions that will work for all in ensuring equity, growth and a better secure country.
The 1914 Constitution
The 1914 constitution is the first constitution in the development of the Nigerian Constitution. It came to force immediately after the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorate. This was when Sir Fredrick Lord Lugard was appointed as the Governor-General of the landmass now known as Nigeria. The Governor-General established a legislative council known as the Nigerian council and its major function was to secure and encourage the expression of public opinion from all parts of Nigeria on administrative matters. Membership of the council was to be drawn from all parts of the country. Traditional rulers were nominated to represent the natives. The council was composed of 30 members.
The Clifford’s Constitution of 1922
The 1914 constitution continued to be in force with minor amendment until Sir Hugh Clifford became the Governor-General who then ushered in the Clifford’s Constitution of 1922. The Clifford Constitution of 1922 which was highly criticized for bringing in an enormous level of sectionalism into the Nigerian government was replaced by The Richards constitution.
The Richard’s Constitution of 1946
The Richard’s Constitution of 1946 which was enacted by the then Governor-General of Nigeria Sir Arthur Richard was widely applauded for bringing regionalism into Nigeria. The Richards constitution of 1946 was specifically drafted to promote the oneness and unity of Nigeria and also to give more room for the participation of Nigerians in the administration of their country. The Richard’s constitution came into force on the 1st day of January 1947 after operating Clifford’s constitution for a whopping 24 years.
Another important factor to note from the 1914, 1922 and 1946 constitution was that they were solely framed by the Governor and the citizenry were never consulted before it was enforced and promulgated.
The Macpherson Constitution of 1951
The Richard’s constitution was meant to last for 9 years, however due to the criticism of the Richard constitution, which was majorly because it was a non-inclusive constitution, it was felt that a new constitution was needed. The then Governor, Sir John Macpherson, took cognizance of the wishes of the people and began taking steps to amend the constitution soon.
In March 1949, a selected committee on the legislative council was set up to examine the likely problems that the new constitution may be faced with. The committee agreed that a widespread consultation with the people even at the grassroots level should be embarked upon. There was wide consultation of Nigerians even to the village levels. The Macpherson constitution of 1951 was assumed to be a home-made constitution.
The Lyttleton Constitution of 1954
The 1951 Macpherson constitution operated for only three years before it stopped existing. The major reason behind its collapse was a crisis that erupted in the House of Assembly on the 1st of April 1953 where Chief Anthony Enahoro on the floor of the House of assembly tabled a motion calling on the House to accept as a primary political objective the attainment and actualisation of self-government in 1956. The Nigerian leaders were soon invited to London for a conference to deliberate on the way forward for a new Nigerian constitution. This conference was held between July 30, 1953 and August 22, 1953 and was presided over by Sir Oliver Lyttleton as the chairman. A follow up constitutional conference took place in Lagos on the 19th of January 1954. The structure and framework of the new constitution based on the principles of federalism and other incidental matters were debated and agreed upon. Accordingly, a newly revised constitution based on the principles of true federalism came to force in October 1954 which was known as the Lyttleton constitution.
The Independence Constitution of 1960
Nigeria gained complete independence on the first of October 1960 by virtue of the Nigerian Independence Act 1960 which was enacted by the British Parliament. With this act, certain changes were implemented into the constitutional history of Nigeria. The Independence Act provided that no Act passed by the British Parliament after the October 1, 1960 will be regarded as part of Nigerian law.
The 1963 Republican Constitution
The state of affairs was not a good one for the international image of Nigeria and as a result, a new constitution to give Nigeria the status of a republic was drafted and on the third anniversary of Nigeria’s independence, the Independence Constitution stopped being the law of the land and the 1963 Republican constitution took effect.
By an Act of Parliament on August 9 1963, the mid-western region was created after the increase and continuous agitation for minority inclusion. This brought the number of regions in Nigeria to four. These regions progressed and developed on autarky i.e. self-sustenance up till the military incursion in 1966. The four regional governments were dissolved, and a unitary system of government was introduced through the Unification Decree no. 34 of 24 May 1966 by General Aguiyi Ironsi who became the new military Head of State.
The military incursion in 1966
The suspension of the constitution automatically follows with every military incursion and so the functional grundnorm at the time which was the Republican constitution ceased to subsist. All political powers were concentrated at the centre in every military dispensation, Nigerian then began practicing a unified system of government i.e. a unitary system of government cumulatively from 1966 up until 1979. The creation of states also began in this period, undoing the fabrics of regionalism and federalism.
It was at this very stage of our growth as a nation that the country unconsciously embraced the demise and departure of true federalism as all the decision making of all states vested at the pleasures and desire of the centre. It is the position of the writer that all the major commendable achievements which Nigeria recorded while we practised regionalism suffered a huge setback and came to waste as there was too much power concentrated at the centre.
The Second Republican Constitution of 1979
In the program of transition to the Second Republic, the military leaders’ primary concern was to prevent the recurrence of the mistakes of the First Republic. A Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) was appointed in 1975 under the chairmanship of Chief Rotimi Williams. The CDC subsequently birthed the the1979 constitution famously referred to as the Presidential constitution.
The advent of the Presidential Constitution saw several rerouting, digression and deviation from the previous provisions of the pre-independence, post-independence and pre-military constitutions.
Several traumatic arrangements and features of the military era were forcibly passed down into the Presidential constitution. The Presidential constitution was widely infamously described as a lettered concoction of the military leaders disguised as the wishes and dictates of the people, particularly in the preamble which states: ”We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria having firmly and solemnly resolved.”
The wordings of the particular paragraphs of the Presidential Constitution have were greeted and subjected to ridicule by many because there was no specific time the people actually met to decide on the drafting and adoption of this constitution.
The Presidential constitution did not last that long as the then democratically elected government was toppled via a military coup. Of course the military incursion was visited upon the Nigerian politics once again, obviously suspending the Presidential constitution and we derailed much further by their doings.
1999 Constitution
In 1999 however, civilian rule was restored and with it the advent 1999 Nigerian constitution. The 1999 Constitution was largely modelled architecturally in line with 1979 Nigerian Constitution. The recurring trademark of these two constitutions remains the huge power concentration at the federal level of government.
To mention but a few obvious flaws visible in the 1999 constitution, the year 1999 is within our living memory, and there was never a time the consent or approval of the general Nigerian populace was sought as to accepting the several provisions of the 1999 constitution. Unknown to many, the 1999 constitution was birthed from a schedule attached to decree No 24 of 1999 of the Abdulsalam Abubakar government, where 28 members of the Provisional Ruling Council met and constituted a non-inclusive committee with the parodical inclusion of Honourable Justice Nikki Tobi of blessed memory to serve as the head of this committee. This decree No 24 of 1999 introduced a unitary system of government which was worse than decree no 34 which was promulgated by the General Aguyi Ironsi’s regime which was earlier mentioned.
From the constitutional distribution of power in line with the Second Schedule, Part 1, Item 68 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution, there is an obvious uneven distribution of power between the states and the federal government. With all the powers allocated to the federal government, the states would never be autonomous. If every state were to be in total control of its resources, competitive growth will be encouraged.
Recommendations
Restructuring is long overdue for Nigeria as a nation with any hopes of moving forward. A total replacement of the grundnorm to reflect strong indications of an indivisible entity with clear intentions of making substantive progress.
The said 1999 Constitution has been subjected to all forms of amendments at different stages, with all these amendments and indiscriminate alterations that have been done to the 1999 Nigerian constitution, it is the position of the writer that 1999 Constitution has been battered so much with all sorts of amendments that it can no longer be called a codified constitution.
In order to salvage the inadequacies of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution to reflect modern-day Nigeria, a new constitution has to come into force. How do we go about this?
Genuinely, “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have to firmly and solemnly resolve” on a roundtable with total inclusion across all board, walks and facets of the country in a referendum to draft a new constitution that will reflect true federalism as the heterogeneous society that we are.
After coming to the realisation that this codified contraption known as our grundnorm has been foisted on the people and without a straight way of opting out of the unholy matrimony, whereas no society should have a perpetual constitution, we have to find a way around getting a new constitution, as it has been successfully done in other democratic climes.
With all that being said and by way of proffering a solution to this debacle we have been marooned in, we must avail our minds to the earlier years of our development as a nation.
As we grew, several reasons necessitated us getting a new constitution, and although those earlier constitutions did not also have a clear provision for getting a new constitution, the leaders of those days found a way around it to see that a new constitution was developed as a result of the peculiar nature of the priority as it were.
Taking a cue from the nationwide committee that was set up to review Richard’s Constitution, in March 1949 a committee was set up that birthed the Macpherson Constitution.
From the exigency that we are faced with, the suggestion of the writer is for us as a people to go the route of having a national conference or referendum where Nigerians of every tribe, creed and all walks of life would be represented adequately to capture and register our various desires and clamour to make progress as an sovereign indivisible entity.
This has been the mode other developed societies activated to seeing that a new constitution was adopted as no society should have a perpetual constitution.
The people cannot be governed by a constitution that was drafted without their total participation in the drafting process.
Adopting the various provisions of the Macpherson constitution to suit our present reality with the inclusion of states and empowering these states with total autonomy and free hand to control their resources. This is because when we practised true regionalism as a country every region developed at a relative progressive pace.
With the necessary inclusions to reflect the modern-day reality of the frame of things i.e. states instead of regions, re-adopting the Macpherson constitution will almost automatically cater for these various agitations for restructuring.
Section 4 (2) of the 1999 constitution posits that: “The National Assembly shall have the power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative list set out in Part 1 of the second schedule of the constitution.”
Contrary to the wide notion of many as regards Section 9 on the 1999 constitution which borders on the alteration of the constitution, Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution empowers the National Assembly to make laws for the peace of the country.
The only way of going about in drafting of a new constitution which can be more particularly described as a People’s Constitution is for the Federal Government to come up with a referendum that will be all-inclusive of all people from different parts of the country as it was done in other countries like Bangladesh, Eritrea, Egypt, Singapore, Iran, South Africa and Morocco.
The National Assembly can invoke the provisions of Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution to bring about a long-lasting solution to this issue.
Restructuring will ensure better security, governance, participation of our traditional institutions and will also checkmate all agitators that breed insurgency and insecurity at large.
Restructuring the country will bring out the comparative advantage of every state and our natural resources that are lying waste will be fully harnessed. It will boost Nigeria’s economy and deal a large blow to insecurity.
With the inclusion of traditional rulers in the decision making of the country, the interest of the populace at the grassroots is represented and guaranteed hence checkmating all agitations that might breed insurgency and insecurity at large.
- Onyiuke is a partner in Accendolaw Law firm, Lagos.
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