Senator Ike Ekweremadu is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment. In this interview presented by the Managing Editor, Northern Operations Yusuf Alli and Group Political Editor Bolade Omonijo, the Deputy Senate President highlights the review and presents an interim report on the committee’s activities.
If you look at the 1999 Constitution, there is no position on how it should be amended. What is the thinking of your committee?
First, we have done a number of amendments in the past and we are now doing a more elaborate amendment that will be all-encompassing. Secondly, Nigerians have been very concerned about the way the 1999 Constitution came about through a military process. I think if we make provision in the constitution for how a new provision can come into force, it can take care of that concern so that subsequent constitution can also be subjected to, probably, a referendum; a more elaborate process of consultation and possibly, a conference. There is the example of Kenya . Beyond the countries we have visited, we may still have to go to Kenya to study their own system. Kenya had the same problem and what they did was to amend their constitution to make certain provisions on how a new constitution can come about. Having got that, they also set up a commission for the implementation of those processes. It took them a long while but they were able to achieve it. When people are talking about sovereign national conference or a referendum, you ask yourself, what is the authority for this? How can we achieve this when the law does not make provision for it? Section 1 of the constitution makes it clear that you can’t do anything outside the constitution. Otherwise, you will be subverting it. Very soon, we will begin to think about making provision in the constitution. I will share the view with my colleagues and if they feel strongly about it, I am sure that this kind of amendment can also take care of it.
Given that the 2015 elections are approaching, do you think you would have concluded the review before then?
As far as we are concerned, we will finish sometime in 2013 and if we do, then we still have two years before the elections so that most of the things that we have done would have taken shape ahead of 2015. However, even if we don’t finish as early as we are prepared to, it will not really affect the conduct of the elections in 2015.
Does it mean you don’t have a timeline to complete the assignment?
We pasted guidelines since January this year and we have been following it religiously. We stated that we were going to have publications inviting people to a public hearing in the month of May, we did that. We said we would hold retreats in April, we did that. We said we would hold public hearing in October, it was held. We will be having another public hearing in November. In the first quarter of next year, we will hold a retreat. After that, within that first quarter, in the National Assembly, the debate will start in earnest. Hopefully, by July which is the third quarter, we are hopeful that the business of amendment would have been treated.
Section 7, of the constitution provides for the independence of the local government system, but what obtains now seems to be contrary to what is provided for in the constitution. What should Nigerians expect from the amendment?
It is one of the issues we intend to address. In addressing it, we have to first agree as to what would be the status of our Local Governments in Nigeria. We need to ensure that they get their money directly from the Federal Government without passing through a joint State/Local Government account. Recall that those who put the joint account in the constitution meant well. The idea was for the money to go into a specific account in which the State Government will contribute from their internally generated revenue and then share to the Local Governments in such a way that they will get more money than was actually paid to them by the Federal Government, but we have noticed that instead of putting money into this account and sharing to the council areas from it, some states actually take money away from the account before sharing. On the whole, beyond that amendment, it is important that governance at the state level should ensure that Section 7 of the constitution is complied with in terms of making sure that elections are held at the local government level as independent as possible.
Your committee is said to be planning a foreign trip. Is this necessary?
Some of our colleagues have gone to Canada to do a comparative study of our federal system and that of Canada . They came back with a very revealing result. People like Senator Attahiru and a number of other Senators were there. We believe that we also need further information, especially from those who are on the same level of development as we are, like India. We are also hoping that we will go to Brazil and we will study more advanced system like the United States of America . America is a very complex society like Nigeria . But as complex as it is, they are able to secure the territory of America while we cannot take care of our own. Canada is a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic country, yet the people are able to live together. It is the same with India , yet we cannot manage our own affairs. What are those things that are happening there which are not happening here? These are the things that we need to have practical experience of and share with our colleagues to enable them to make an informed opinion at the appropriate time. This is a globalised world. No country can live in isolation. That is why problems are easily handled these days because you can easily find examples from many places as regards how they have been able to solve their own problems. It is important for us to see how others are doing their things and getting better result. That is why it is important for us to study these areas and follow the best examples.
How many memoranda has your committee received?
At the last count, we had received about 240 memoranda outside the basic states’ demand. We have acknowledged these memos and these submissions and in July we had a retreat in Asaba, Delta State. There we looked at all these memos and tried to summarise them. Most of them deal with similar issues; so, we identified the specific issues which we are concentrating on; those which we considered to be thematic, we will bring them out during the national public hearing so that Nigerians will begin to make contributions towards them. We believe that every Nigerian will have an opportunity to say his or her own mind on the areas identified from the memos they have submitted. We have thrown it open to the public and I am happy that for two days, we had very useful discussion and input from various people of Nigeria . We intend to further take it to the zones so that people who are unable to attend the national public hearing will have an opportunity to bare their minds on these specific areas. Beyond that, we intend to engage our constituents. We intend to take our colleagues to their various districts so that they hold meetings with the people of their respective constituencies. Every Senator will be involved in this, but the members of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review will also organise a stakeholders’ meeting in their respective states to explain to them what we are doing and probably get their input. We are hopeful that every other Nigerian will be engaged through the electronic media, communication systems, probably by SMS. Every Nigerian will get the message on most of the issues in the form of questionnaires. It will be a two-way traffic. We would have paid for the SMS so that they won’t spend any money in answering those questions. We are setting up a website where Nigerians will have an opportunity of baring their minds in respect of these areas. On the whole, every Nigerian will be a part of this process.
We have never had state creation under democratic setting. Do you think this National Assembly can break that jinx?
From the memos submitted so far and from the contributions of Nigerians in the public hearings, I think there is the desire of Nigerians to have states created and we are representing the people and ours is to give meaning to the expressions of Nigerians. To that extent, we will vigorously pursue the issue of state creation. If it succeeds, fine. If it doesn’t succeed, we would have done our job.
But some believe that you are too slow on the state creation matter.
Creation of states is a work that needs every hand to be on deck. It requires the vote of senators and members of the House of Representatives; we also have to take it to the states so any person who believes that we sit at one place and decide on any issue including states creation does not seem to understand how these things work.
Bakassi is a part of Nigeria as engrained in the constitutution. How will the issue of be handled during the amendment?
The Bakassi thing is still a developing study. I don’t think it is concluded. We have heard just one aspect of it which is the ICJs judgment which we were unable to review because of timeframe and of course, because as the Attorney General has said, we didn’t have any ground to canvass. There are still other options available to Nigeria including but not limited to plebiscite for those people there to determine where they want to stay. Of course, we are also aware of the human rights violation that is happening in the peninsula right now to which Nigeria is entitled to petition and get Cameroun to answer for it. These are some of the things that are still outstanding. It is also likely that one day, that peninsula will still become a part of Nigeria.
The issue of citizenship and residency is a very complex one. Have people raised that matter with your committee?
Yes, a lot of concerns have been raised and we have received a lot of memos on that but speaking for myself, I don’t think the issue is that of legislation or constitutionalism. I think it has to do with our value system, our ability to live with one another. It has to do with the issue of accommodation and patriotism. These are the things that will address the issue of citizenship and residency. Beyond that, Section 147/3 of the constitution says for you to be minister from a state, you have to be an indigene of that state which I’m sure must be a mistake on the part of the framers of the constitution. No other part of the constitution makes that kind of provision. Section 42 of the constitution deals with the issue of non-discrimination. It provides in very elaborate terms that no Nigerian should be discriminated against on account of where he comes from, his ethnic base, religion, sex and so many other conditions. If we put that into focus, it means that the constitution has made sufficient provision and protection for every Nigerian in every part of Nigeria . The Supreme Court has gone further to establish that. For instance, you are in Sokoto or in Enugu and they have two regimes of school fees, you can go to court. I have not seen any Nigerian who has taken advantage of this. I am not aware of what needs to be amended in the constitution to protect Nigerians more that what is provided in Section 42 of the constitution. We are talking, so we will allow Nigerians to come up with views on how this could be addressed. Don’t forget that in the 60s, we had Mayors in the East who were from the North and don’t forget that Zik won elections in the South West and was heading to become the Premier of the Western Region. If we have sustained that attitude, by now, any person could have been governor of Sokoto State whether from South East or Southsouth. Maybe Kwankwaso would have been in Enugu as Governor. Don’t forget, too, the experience withthe late Chief MKO Abiola’s election, where we had a Muslim presidential candidate and a Muslim vice presidential candidate and they won, defeating a Muslim candidate in his own town in Kano . Those are the attitudes we need to build upon. No amount of legislation can help the matter except we change our attitude.
The Senate appears to be driving the process alone. Since the amendment process involves concurrent action by the two chambers, what are you doing to get the House as actively involved as the Senate?
I am happy that we don’t have bickering with the House of Representatives presently on the issue of constitution amendment. We have a peaceful system where we are working with the House, even though independently. Shortly, we will have a joint meeting with them to streamline our operations and our timeline so that nothing will drag us back. As soon as we finish our zonal public hearing, we will be able to conclude on the basic areas we are focusing on and also send copies to the House of Representatives so that members can align it with what they are doing. I am also aware that very shortly, they will be doing their own public hearing. That means we will meet at some point in the very near future.
