By Raymond Mordi, Oluwashindara Oso, Samiat Oyedeji and Elizabeth Adeoye
The Patriots, a group of eminent Nigerians led by the former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, yesterday inaugurated a 17-member Advocacy Committee for the actualisation of a new constitution. The committee, which is tasked with engaging key stakeholders and the general public across the country, will be chaired by renowned political economist and Professor of Strategy and Development, Prof Anthony Kila.
Chief Anyaoku, who emphasized the committee’s crucial role in reaching out to various segments of the country, urged members of the panel to focus on engaging members of the National Assembly.
He urged Nigerians to back the call for a new constitution, which according to him would harmonise Nigeria’s pluralistic nature.
The members of the committee which was inaugurated in Lagos are: Maj-Gen. Ike Nwachukwu; Obong Victor Attah; Prof. Anya O. Anya; Dr. Bilikisu Magoro; Prof. Remi Sonaiya; Elder Solomon Asemota; Ambassador Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu; Senator Ben Obi; Senator Shehu Sanni; panel’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Bilikisu Magoro; Deacon Chris Iyovwaye; Alhaji ShettimaYerima; Dr. Otive Igbuzor; Mr. Samson Itodo; Madu Bright O; Alwell, Ms. Ann Kio Briggs; Mr. Fafa Dan Princewill; Mr. Zaka Bala; Mr. Kayode Samuel; Affiong L. Affiong and Mr. Salvation Alibor.
Seek ye first the kingdom of a new constitution and everything else will be added unto you. There are not an insubstantial number of Nigerians who hold this view and blame the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as the root cause of the multidimensional crises confronting the country today. This position was again recently canvassed by a group of eminent elder statesmen known as ‘The Patriots’ during a courtesy call on President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Led by former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, members of the association are widely held in high esteem, their voices weighty and difficult to ignore.
Their main grouse against the 1999 Constitution is that it does not emanate from the people as proclaimed in its preamble that it is the product of ‘We the people’. It is on this largely semantic basis that The Patriots and several other individuals and groups have called for the conceptualization and actualization of a new constitution for the country. They recommend the convocation of a Constituent Assembly to be elected on non-party basis to draw up the constitution which will then be ratified to become law through a national referendum. But how do they expect the legislators to commit political suicide by agreeing with this kind of proposal.
But the current electoral districts across 36 states and 773 local governments which The Patriots want to be the basis for the election into the proposed Constituent Assembly are themselves, ironically, largely creations of military rule. The point here is that we cannot completely extricate ourselves from the influence of our historical trajectory which cannot exclude the periods of military rule and some of its institutional legacies.
What do we say to the contention that the military imposed the 1999 Constitution on the Nigerian people thus insinuating that the document is denuded of legitimacy, perhaps even of legality? This position is historically implausible. Those who canvass such views insinuate that some committee of soldiers simply sat down somewhere and conjured up the 1999 Constitution out of their vivid imagination. Nothing can be further from the truth. In reality, the 1999 Constitution is rooted firmly in the 1979 presidential Constitution.
Given the short timeframe it had set itself to hold new elections and hand over power to an elected government by 1999, the General Abubakar Adussalam regime had no luxury of time to seek to draw up a new constitution. Meanwhile, the 1989 Constitution drawn up under the military President, Ibrahim Babangida regime had its integrity incurably tainted especially with the collapse of that government. What the Abdussalam regime did was to go back to the 1979 Constitution which had guided state, governance and society in Nigeria’s Second Republic (1979-1983). And it is the 1979 Constitution that has been adopted as the 1999 Constitution under which the country is governed today.
But what about the 1979 Constitution? Was it an imposition of the military? True, it was drawn up during the Murtala /Obasanjo military government. Yet, the military government of the time was all too conscious of its deficiencies in the sphere of constitution-making. It thus set up the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) made up of 50 members under the Chairmanship of renowned lawyer, Chief Rotimi Williams. Chief Obafemi Awolowo declined to serve on the CDC but those on the Committee constituted some of the best and brightest from the legal profession, academia, administration and business. The main criticism of the committee was that it was made up entirely of men and also had no representatives of students or workers. But this did not detract from the quality of its work.
After the CDC had submitted its report to the Federal government, elections were held on 31 August, 1977, through the then newly reorganized local governments acting as electoral colleges. The election chose members of the Constituent Assembly who debated the principles of the draft constitution and forwarded their recommendations to the Supreme Military Council. Although the SMC made a number of alterations to the final document, these were not substantial enough to affect the integrity of the final document promulgated into law. In any case, the incoming civilian administration was at liberty to utilize modalities provided for in the same constitution to effect any constitutional Changes it desired after the exit of the military in October 1979. It is my view that lamentations regarding the military sources of the 1999 Constitution are grossly exaggerated and attributing all the challenges we confront to the constitution is unhelpful and unproductive.
We will recall that in the First Republic, the country ran a parliamentary system of government and had a strong federal constitution which enabled the then existing regional governments to enjoy a considerable degree of fiscal autonomy from the centre. And the 1960 presidential constitution was arrived at after a series of negotiating conferences by the nationalist leaders both in the country and in the United Kingdom between 1950 and 1957. But under the much romanticized 1960 constitution, the country witnessed a fierce and unrestrained quest for power by the political elite, massive corruption, blatant rigging of elections, and rabid ethnicity. Within six years, the country had witnessed two bloody coups and ultimately descended into a tragic civil war.
It was these ills associated with the 1960 Constitution that informed our change from the parliamentary to the presidential system of government in the second and now the fourth republic. It was believed, for instance, that since the President would be elected from the whole nation as his constituency, the office would be a powerful symbol and magnet for national unity and cohesion. Unfortunately, the same reasons that led to the collapse of the first republic reared their heads again dooming democratic governance in 1983. There is no guarantee that even if we craft a brand new constitution today, there will be any change in the negative behavior of both the political elite and masses that has over the years bred political decay rather than promote sustainable democratic structure.
A cleric, Prophet Adegboyega Ologbonyo, has urged the Federal government to change the Constitution.
The cleric, who is the planter, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Boanerges Worldwide, said constitutional amendment is one of major remedies to various challenges confronting the nation.
Speaking with newsmen in Orun Ekiti at the 15th anniversary thanksgiving service of the church with the theme: “Inexplicable God”, the cleric also demanded cut of cost of governance and slashing of jumbo pay to politicians.
He said: “Nigerian government still has a lot of work to do and the major thing they could do, is to change the constitution and everything will change.
“Our system is not working and Nigeria is a diverse country with different types of ethnic groups. And in such a society, if there is no system that will work for those diverse people, things will not work. The developed countries, function on a good system that will control everybody.
“The best thing President Bola Tinubu should do is to lobby and find a way of bringing the national assembly members on board and other stakeholders together to develop a system that will work for us.
“This one that we inherited from our colonial master and the military cannot work. We are using more or lass a decree it is only the title that is being changed . Majority of Nigerians didn’t make any input when the 1999 constitution is being put together.
The CAC Essien Regional Superintendent Ogun/Benin Republic, Pastor Isaac Eyebiokin, described Ologbonyo as a responsible gentleman of God who is always ready to obey the will of God .
He advised people to obey and do the will of God because He is the creator and people are not on earth for themselves .
A member of Ade Ologbonyo foundation, Mrs Oyinade Samuel-Eluwole said: “There is something about the church and the man of God. It used to be lost hope foundation.
Samuel-Eluwole, who is the founder, Elizabethan Humanitarian Life H&H Foundation, said the cleric started when he didn’t have anything and was taking good care of the widow.
Rev. (Mrs) Ibukun Odusote of Foursquare Gospel Church, Asokoro Abuja while speaking about prophet Ologbonyo said he is a man God with abundant grace upon his life.
“We have been coming here for the past 6 years and what we have seen is that , is from glory to glory and we are seeing development in the lives of men, the most interesting attraction for us is that it’s hidden in a village, a place you will think nothing good can come out from,” he stated.
Sir: To say that our country’s constitution is long overdue for change is to say the whole and incontrovertible truth. Among the things said against the Nigerian constitution is that it is more unitary than federal. Given Nigeria’s heterogeneous nature, federalism is the type of government that is suitable for our country. Nigeria needs a truly federal constitution to take care of its complexities and diversities. So the strident calls for the discarding of the constitution should be heeded.
Nigeria, as it is currently constituted, is too big to be ruled from the centre. The sub-national governments should be strengthened and empowered, constitutionally, to perform some of the functions, which are currently listed in the exclusive list. This will enable them to play big roles in our national development and in the maintenance of law and order in the country. The sub-national governments’ existence as mere appendages to the central government does not augur well for our country.
In the same vein, the agitations for the creation of more states in the country, which are borne out of the agitators’ self-interests, should not be heeded. Most states in the country are not economically viable; they are always financially insolvent. So why should more states be created?
Rather than create more states, local government areas should be created so as to bring the government nearer to the people. An efficient local government system would be a fillip to national development. And the local governments should be given autonomy to run their affairs instead of the state governors administering them through appointees. Sadly, today, the state governors have appointed their cronies and lackeys to perform the functions of local government chairmen on interim basis. This is in itself a democratic aberration or misnomer.
Moreover, the matter of state police should be speedily resolved. Policing Nigeria from the centre is a gargantuan task given the humongous population of Nigeria and her large landmass. Today, Nigeria is grossly under-policed. So having state police will be a panacea to our security challenges. With state police, personnel will be deployed in areas with which they are familiar. Those personnel can effortlessly gather information and intelligence from the locals (people) because they have the same cultural affinities and beliefs as the locals. In today’s world, information and intelligence is central to the prevention of the perpetration of crimes by hoodlums and the arrest of criminal elements.
We need a constitution which has emanated from the people. And such constitution should address our national problems and our country’s complexities and diversities.
One approach to the history of how sovereign states create change is to review the variable of culture, constitution and the character of citizens in building their country. The concept of statehood implies a mutual undertaking between the body politic and its constituent members. Each individual owes a duty to a whole of which he or she forms a part. It is therefore, the undertaking of each citizen within the state that forms the general will of the state to create the kind of change it desires.
Every country must be clear on the construct and kind of change it seeks – it is such clarity that influences the country’s culture of politics, policies, governance, citizens’ engagement, among other factors of social transformation. There is no doubt, that to a large extent, cultural and constitutional outcomes are shaped by elite consensus, exemplary leadership and rule of law. Since there are many roads to a village market, we shall explore all roads that lead to Nigeria’s development, focusing on culture, constitution and citizens’ character.
A country’s constitution sets out the principles and values upon which it is organized and governed. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) has been easily referred to as the cardinal clog on the wheel of Nigeria’s progress, with some insisting that it is not “a people’s constitution”. No doubt, in terms of political architecture, if Nigeria seeks to practice federalism, a constitution that gives excessive powers to the central government under the exclusive legislative list, with 68 items reserved under federal government’s exclusive control is more unitary than federal.
Albeit, the constitution with 320 clauses and six schedules, making broad and comprehensive provision for certainty in governing Nigeria, particularly in its chapter two – which provides for development rights through the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, cannot be adjudged to be the cardinal impediment, except for the inability of those entrusted with the powers to exercise and implement its current form for the common good of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Notwithstanding that section 6(6)( c) makes the entire chapter non-justiciable, any country with the right citizens as its leaders will implement the chapter for public good without been judicially compelled to do so. The morality that makes law possible is the character of the citizens and not endless amendments to the constitution, though regular and rational amendments are necessary for changing social realities. In the last 24 years, Nigeria has made at least 30 alterations to the constitution, yet we can neither account for the N24.85 billion we have spent in the process nor has the process yielded any development result for Nigeria.
Upon independence, it was the inability of each individual within the Nigerian construct, particularly those entrusted by the general public, to exercise the authority of government for public good, that led to what Chinua Achebe in 1983 identified as where Nigeria’s problem lies – “simply and squarely a failure of leadership”. When he observed that “the Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which is the hallmarks of true leadership”, he never envisaged how fast the failure of leadership would infest and inflame an entrenched citizens’ character crisis. To the extent that some Nigerians now mainly see success from the prism of opportunism, materialism and connected chains of corruption, only few persons are willing to sincerely hold the system to account.
Today, the trouble with Nigeria is the character crisis, caused by prolonged years of governments’ inability to build a functional country that works for everyone. We are now at a trajectory where everyone strives to survive by any means possible – even if it is by corrupt or means way harmful to our collective good. In fact, almost everyone wants to succeed faster than the process requires. Through patronage, billionaires have been made out of unproductive enterprises, procurement and contract corruption, and sheer exploitation of the poorest of the poor. But we must never forget that the very idea of democracy not being divine, presupposes that we the people as the masters of our socio-economic and political fate, can improve the condition of our lives, if we work together to achieve our shared purpose.
After decades of plethora of conferences on both constitutional and cultural changes in Nigeria, with the National Assembly spending one billion naira yearly in the name of constitutional amendment, the answer to the question of why Nigeria has failed to function, rests squarely on our collective leadership, and not anchored on an elite narrative that puts the blame on the trinity of hypocrisy – ethnicity, religion and on the clauses of our constitution. At interval, depending on the context and contingent upon many self-serving variables, the Nigerian political elite has successfully and exceptionally achieved only one thing – efficiency in mobilizing the mob against the mob, in order to situate and sustain their well entrench vested and insatiable interests. This must end.
It is also no longer fashionable to continue to teach our students that colonialism and imperialism are the reason for the scale of our underdevelopment. Whereas this forms part of our history, we now have a moral obligation for truth and individual responsibilities in altering the trajectory of our state toward a more humane, civilized, productive, safe and prosperous future.
Perhaps, if we all focus and follow the character and legacies of some Nigerians whose patriotism, enterprises and efficiency at whatever they do have helped place Nigeria on the map of excellence, honesty and productivity, we will accept less of the elite narrative around skewed constitutional clauses, ethnicity, religion and class divisions that continue to mar us from reaching our full sovereign potentials. It is time to practice and uphold our moral and ethical compass as enshrined by section 23 of the constitution, bothering on “discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, religious tolerance, self-reliance and patriotism.”
The future of Nigeria, does not lie on any legal document alone, it lies with the culture and character of citizens in executing the contents of the constitutional document. If we can fix our character, we can influence a culture of change that will make the constitution work for all of us – let’s give our constitution the life it deserves.
Ekpa, lawyer and leadership consultant writes from Abuja.
The National Assembly, relying on a provision in the 1999 Constitution whose legitimacy is widely disputed, is set to embark on yet another attempt to produce a new constitution for Nigeria.
Previous attempts by former leaders, from Muhammadu Buhari in his first and second coming, to Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Goodluck Jonathan, to change the Basic Law produced minimal changes or ended in futility. They all sprang from questionable motives.
The extant constitution, foisted on the nation by General Abubakar, was kept closely guarded until it came into operation in 1999. It came so freighted with misimpressions of the nation’s problems, culture, needs, and egregious drafting errors, that there have been loud and insistent calls for its abrogation and replacement.
Perhaps the best effort by the House of Representatives in addressing that need occurred in 2012-2013. But the present legislature must resist every effort to follow the path trod then.
Reviewing that path, House Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha and chair of the review committee, was all over the place congratulating himself and his colleagues on executing what by his reckoning was one of the rarest political feats ever wrought in this clime.
“We have kept faith with Nigerians,” he proclaimed, in an article detailing the exertions the House of Representatives put itself through in its self-serving and utterly misconceived task of fashioning a new Constitution for Nigeria (ThisDay, April 19, 2013).
He recalled how, on December 10, 2012, all 360 members of the House fanned out across the country to their constituencies to stage town hall meetings at which various “stakeholders” deliberated on a 43-item template of issues they would like to see amended in the 1999 Constitution.
Discussions at the sessions were not merely free and robust, Ihedioha wrote, they were resoundingly “participatory.” Thereafter, votes were taken and recorded in full view of all the participants. Each member of the House then presented a report, incorporating voting results from his or her constituency and backed by video evidence, to the secretariat of the ad hoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution.
The reports were then deposited at the secretariat of the Constitution Review Committee, which again invited representatives of “stakeholders” to join with its staffers to collate the results.
According to Ihedioha, the outcome, presented to the House of Representatives the previous week, categorically represented “the voice” of the Nigerian people regarding what changes they would like to see in an amended constitution.
The process was nothing of the sort. In conception and execution, it is as incurably flawed as the 1999 Constitution it was supposed to modify. It is certainly not an improvement.
What the nation needed then and needs today is not a trainload of amendments to a constitution that is so shot through with errors and omissions, and so constricted in its underlying assumptions, that it cannot serve as a useful guide for resolving the conflicts convulsing the country.
The people had no hand in preparing the agenda. They took no part in designing the “43-item template” that constituted the substance of discourse – assuming it is not a case of unnecessary dignification to call what took place a “discourse.”
Those whom House members railroaded from their constituencies into attending the town meetings were for the most part self-selected or induced by the prospect of free food and drinks and gifts the Honourable Visitor from Abuja was expected to provide. In no sense could they be said to represent the political tendencies or shades of opinion in their constituencies, much less in the country.
There was no independent verification of the “collation” that followed each town meeting. The House member who staged the meeting and had a vested interest in showing that it was a “robust” grassroots deliberative forum, the kind of which Nigeria had never witnessed, was responsible for the “collation.” The “video evidence” presented to authenticate the proceedings showed, if anything, that they were at bottom a mockery.
Or “a sham and a monumental failure,” as High Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, the influential minority-rights activist called it, in a withering critique (ThisDay, November 13, 2012) of the town meeting held in her Delta State constituency of Warri. The exercise, she said, was “nothing more than a ploy to rubber stamp the selfish agenda of those who organized it.”
The Warri Town Hall meeting took place the day President Goodluck Jonathan was visiting for the birthday celebrations of the televangelist, Ayo Oristsejafor. Scheduled to start at 9 a.m. it did not begin until 4 p.m. By then, many of those who had gathered for the event had left.
Only one minute was allowed for indicating “yes” or “no” to 43 questions on the template. That was the sum total of the “discussions.”
But even where they were better organized, one cannot term them “consultations.” Asking members of the audience to answer “yes” or “no” to the questions on the template cannot be called “consultations” without doing great violence to language. Nor can it be honestly claimed that the outcome represented the “voice” of the people.
What a good-faith exercise requires is a forum at which persons elected for the purpose of re-writing the constitution meet over a period of time to deliberate, no options foreclosed, on a wide range of significant national issues in a spirit of give-and-take, and come up with a document reflects a broad national consensus on which a healthier union can be founded.
One of the issues that have been convulsing Nigeria is that federalism – the bedrock principle on which the nation was established — has over the years been abandoned, to the point that Nigeria today is more or less a centrally administered state.
The so-called public hearings evaded the problem altogether, or sought to perpetuate it.
One of the items on their template required the audience to indicate by yes or no whether the electoral commissions in the states should be abolished, leaving it to the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct all polls.
No one desirous of restoring true federalism would ask a question like that.
And in Lagos State of all places, a majority of attendees – the very people who stand to lose the most – reportedly voted to deny federal funds to local governments allegedly created outside the framework of the1999 Constitution.
That outcome seems wildly implausible.
The more fundamental question was, and remains, whether Kano State, which allegedly has roughly the same population as Lagos State, should have three times as many local governments as Lagos State, and three times as many representatives in the lower House of the National Assembly.
The foregoing, in sum, was the process Emeka Ihedioha and his colleagues in the House of Representatives advertised as a great breakthrough. This was the doom-laden product they wanted Nigerians to accept as an unprecedented act of keeping faith with the public.
A re-structured federation, based on a new constitution truly warranted by the preface “We, the People,” has been the recurrent demand of recent times. Toward this end, it has
been proposed that the six so-called geo-political zones first canvassed at the Constitutional Conference convened by General Sani Abacha be recognized as the federating units.
But it should be remembered that the Conference was confected as a way of avoiding coming to terms with the problems arising from the annulled 1993 presidential election. Besides, if implemented, it would for the most part create six smaller versions of Nigeria, reproducing in the smaller units the very problems it was designed to solve.
At any rate, that is what is most likely to happen if the dozens of ethnic nationalities inhabiting Niger State, Kogi, Kwara, Benue, Nassarawa, and Plateau, all in the Northwest Zone, are corralled into a federating unit?
Creating yet more states, it has also been urged, is the best answer to Nigeria’s problems. Most of the existing states are barely viable, and creating more will only strengthen the centre. Besides, even if every city in Nigeria were constituted into a state, there would still be elements within it demanding a separate state of their own.
The structure most likely to make for the greatest happiness of the greatest number of Nigerians, as I see it, is one in which state boundaries would be coterminous with ethnic and linguistic categories.
Some denounce such an arrangement as a surrender to what they call “primordial instincts.” The departed eminent political scientist Claude Ake, and one of the most cosmopolitan Nigerians ever, saw it differently.
Calling such an arrangement “ethnonationalism,’’ he argued that it provides a people a chance “to affirm their humanity against the forces of homogenization, and to claim a social space and a cultural milieu in which they can feel at home, assert their cultural identity and self-determination for their ethnicity or nationality.”
Any restructuring that ignores this fundamental truth can only perpetuate the agonies Nigeria’s nationalities.
“We cannot be mere consumers of good governance, we must be participants; we must be co-creators. As citizens, we have to co-create good governance, we cannot outsource it and hope to be passively happy consumers. Like everything worth its while, good governance must be earned.” … Rohini Nilekani – Indian writer, author and philanthropist
About 10 days ago President Bola Tinubu met with the 36 state governors to discuss the rising food insecurity, inflation, cost of living crisis, and insecurity. The outcome of the meeting chaired by Mr. President was the decision to establish State Police at the subnationals as one of the critical success factors to stop the rising insecurity in Nigeria. Consequently, legislative processes have been initiated at the national assembly to kick-start the process of amendment of the 1999 Constitution which is a Sine qua non for the establishment of the State and Community Policing, restructuring/ devolution of powers, local government autonomy, etc.
Accordingly, the 10th National Assembly has commenced the process of amendment of the 1999 Constitution. Three days ago, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, the House of Representatives inaugurated a Special Committee to review the Constitution, which is to be Chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Benjamin Kalu. Some State Governors have also kick-started the process that will initiate legislation for the establishment of State Police. The Special Committee will deliberate on about 44 Bills which include; devolution of powers, state police, local government autonomy, gender mainstreaming , change of our legislative system to a unicameral parliamentary system, etc Interestingly, at the event, the Conference of Speakers of the Nigeria States of Assembly represented by their Chairman, Honourable Adebo Odundoyin have expressed their full support for the Constitution Amendment Process and state the readiness of the State Assemblies to undertake legislative reviews at subnational levels to ensure development in their respective States in particular and the Country in General.
It is against the background of the aforementioned developments that I find it necessary to speak to all well-meaning Nigerians, particularly the elites, through this medium , on the importance of citizens participation in the legislative process as a crucial value-addition to the enactment of sound, far-reaching, , practical, relevant and impactful amendment of the Nigerian constitution and also laws that will further unify Nigeria and ensure delivery of good governance. By “elites”, I mean the middle-class citizens, who are mostly educated, gainfully employed, and part of the governance and leadership structure of Nigeria in the Civil Service, Public Service, and Private sector. We are mostly employees or employers of labour as professionals, business men/women, entrepreneurs, academics, craftsmen, etc within the organized and informal sectors.
MY CALL TO THE ELITES OF NIGERIA
The political landscape is broadening and the political consciousness of Nigerians has heightened over time, with citizens demanding for good governance and increasingly knowing the power of their votes.
However, in my opinion, good governance is not just about waiting for politician to do as they wish while we lament about how things have been going worse in the past 24 years since the return of Nigeria to democracy, but good governance is a process which includes citizens making demand and actually setting the parameters, standards of the kind of leadership their want and the accountability and performance framework based on which they will measure their leaders at all levels and hold them accountable.
I dare say that except for the 2015 and then 2023 general elections, the elites of this country have been serially and unfairly undeserving of the political evolution of Nigeria by not being actively part of the political process. We mainly engage in “arm chair “criticisms and cynicisms. the question is what are the contributions and sacrifices we are making to better the political process? It is not good enough to just lament and pontificate. What solutions are we offering and how are we part of the solutions? As the saying goes, talk is cheap! It is time for action. Take note that not participating in the political process is also a vote of confidence on the status quo. And if we don’t participate, then we lose the moral ground to challenge and hold our leaders accountable because we would have a really failed ab initio in our roles as citizens.
We, the elites have been failing the masses of this Country by not really taking tangible actions that add value to our political process. Only when things affect our relatively comfortable lives do we try to gaslight the situation and make it look as if we are all in it together! That is what I call the “hypocrisy of our expectations “. It’s not good enough to carry placards, because the elites don’t even carry the placards anyway. I urge us to actively and consistently engage the leadership of this country at national and sun national levels so that we can all “own” the outcomes or collectively “disown” the outcomes of our political processes in the overall interest of Nigeria.
So, to the elites and the “sabi sabi”, “egg-heads” and “arm chair leaders” amongst the elites (and they are in the majority) – it’s time to get down from our high horses and be part of the process. We should articulate our respective WhatsApp group banters, lamentations, arguments, and pontifications to real actions and contributions by articulating position papers and term papers and by attending public hearings. These are some of the most crucial and value adding actions the elites should take! Enough with idealism, judging, criticisms, and “talk shops” – LET US BE PART OF THE PROCESS.
Meanwhile, I recognize the efforts of a few elites who have ventured to speak truth to power in trying to put the Government on its toes, those efforts are impressive and highly commendable. But to demonstrate sincerity of purpose, we should remain consistent. We have a lot of work to do in order to make Nigeria great. Insults and toxic cultures will only plunge us further into the abyss of backwardness as a nation and as a people.
SOME POINTS TO NOTE
I humbly submit an action plan to guide our thoughts and conversations:
•Going forward, we should Mainstream group discussions by articulation, lobby, advocacy, and participating in public hearings, and submitting papers to relevant arms, and institutions of government at state and sub national levels
•Leveraging Technology and Social Media to raise awareness and galvanise support for very crucial provisions to be made or included in the constitution amendment. All these can be done in an organized manner. WhatsApp groups and other conventional community and interest groups and societies could articulate and refine their thoughts and positions on the various topics of review and submit them as proposals to the respective Constitution amendment Committees and also fully participate in the legislation process through follow-ups and performance reviews.
•These engagements should not stop only with the Constitution Amendment but to also include other subsequent legislations to introduce new Acts/ laws or for the review of existing laws.
•Confining our conversations only to Whatsapp groups, dinner table conversations of side talks means that we have abdicated our responsibilities as citizens and that is why we end up hamstrung with ambiguous laws or incoherent policies that in most cases destroy our economy and social structure and system while we complain on the side lines to no effect.
•We must not leave the entire thought processes and actions of legislation to politicians who in most cases do not even consult their constituents but rather push some other agendas to the detriment of the people. If these continue to happen, we should all have ourselves to blame and importantly we will actually continue to live the brutal consequences of not paying attention and participating in our political process, or die as a result.
•We should please note that the process is the most important part of our political evolution. Because the process will determine the quality of the outcome and impacts.
•As citizens, we should also be very aware and fully engage in sectoral reform legislation to ensure that our individual and collective skills, competencies, and capacities add value to the process so that our various areas of profession or interest are supported for our collective good as a people and as a Country. I believe that active and more robust stakeholders engagements and citizens participation will not only strengthen our democracy but more importantly will ensure good governance and consistent delivery of the dividends of democracy at all sectors and strata of our Country.
I will leave us with a food for thought to reflect on: The achievement of the national growth and development that we dream of will continue to be a mirage, until we actively participate in the political process of the evolution of Nigeria.
The National Assembly is set for another constitution review. Correspondents Sanni Onogu and Tony Akowe examines the pitfalls that should be avoided during the exercise.
One of the most critical assignment of the 10th National Assembly recently began with the setting up of Adhoc committees on Constitution Alteration by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas. Apart from routine legislative functions like presentation of news, amendment to existing legislations, oversight, representation and advocacy, the success or otherwise of lawmakers of the 10th Assembly would be succinctly defined by their abilitY to carry out the amendment of the constitution to solve perennial challenges of a developing country, right past wrongs and adequately position the country for future progress and development in all ramifications.
Already, many Nigerians are skeptical if the current exercise will reflect the expressed will of Nigerians concerning critical issues that have defied solutions in the country for so long a time. A good example is the issue of establishing State Police/Community policing and giving a role to traditional rulers in the country as a first step to curbing insecurity in the country. There is no gain saying the fact that insecurity is today one of the greatest threat to the peaceful existence of the country. Insecurity has threatened to overwhelm the country. From Borno to Lagos, Sokoto to Cross River or Kano to Delta state. The challenge of insecurity remains paramount. Today, bandits, terrorists, criminals, herdsmen attacks has become
the order of the day. But analysts believe that with novel amendments during the ongoing constitution review process could help in no small way to checkmate insecurity in the country, either through provision for state police and role for traditional rulers in the country as a measure of attacking the root of insecurity in the country.
Recently, the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, had its inaugural meeting. No sooner than the Chairman of the Senate Adhoc Committee on Constitution Review, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin opened the session, that the session was thrown open for Senators from the six Senators picked from the six geopolitical zones to contribute ideas and set the tone on how to succeed in their current assignment, make the review seamless, avoid past mistakes and make provisions of the country highly beneficial to the people in terms of peace, order and good governance of the society.
In his comments during the inaugural meeting of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, its chairman, Senator Barau Jibrin, noted that the panel is blessed with eminent legislators par excellence, those who have served the Nigerian legislature for decades.
Barau said: “We are fortunate to have in the committee, two former presiding officers, one from the Senate and one from the House of Representatives and experienced former governors who are here.
“This is a committee that is going to be different from others. With due respect, the ones in the past have done their best and were composed of eminent persons, but this is one with a difference and that is why we decided not to attach any ceremony to the inaugural meeting.
“We need to hit the ground running, there is no room for any ceremony, it is pure business and we’re moving straight away to start the entire thing with all the vigour and seriousness that the constitutional amendment deserves.
“So that’s why we said no ceremony as usual and those who wanted a contract for the opening ceremony were told no that, we’re not giving contract for any ceremony.”
He welcomed Senators to the inaugural and congratulated them on their nomination to serve in that capacity.
“Your nomination is a product of your rank as legislators generally and as ranking Senators in your various States and Geo-political zones, including special interest groups. I hope that your wealth of experience and knowledge of our nation will be brought to bear in the work of the Committee,” Barau said.
He reminded his colleagues that the Adhoc committee would work in synergy with its counterparts in the House of Representatives, and be very strategic in the conduct of its affairs.
He added: “We will be guided by the laws and rules of legislative business, including precedence where it does not conflict with any known rule, while also being innovative where we can.
“The Committee will strongly consult and engage critical stakeholders in a way that will ensure that bills passed by the National Assembly will be approved by the State Houses of Assembly and assented to by Mr. President.
“The secretariat will submit a work plan and a process map with time-lines to the Steering Committee which will be presented for consideration and approval by members in the next meeting.
“It is important to note that the Committee is not constituted to rewrite the 1999 Constitution but to process proposed amendments to it, and we will strive to conclude this assignment within the next 24 months.
“I, enjoin us to be committed to the activities of the Committee because the task ahead is huge as some of the issues already canvassed by some critical stakeholders are quite delicate.”
Speaking on behalf of the South South geopolitical zone, Senator Seriake Dickson, commended the senate leadership for the selection of the committee.
“I don’t think anyone in that position to select would have done better,” Dickson said, adding, “Secondly for creating a special dispensation for women, by making it possible for all the female senators to be part of this committee.
“So there is no doubt that we will have a very robust interaction in this committee in the national interest as well.
“This is one of the most important responsibilities anyone in the Senate can be part of. Let me also say that, some amendments have already been proposed since 1999 incrementally and there is always the feeling that we haven’t moved fast and far enough, but the National Assembly, since 1999, has been making progressive amendments, and some critical areas have been attended to already, particularly, in the last Assembly.
“In the 9th Assembly, we did a lot, particularly in the areas of devolution and federalism and I believe in this 10th Assembly, under your able leadership and our full support, we can still do a lot more to address the areas that were left out.”
In his contribution on behalf of the South East geopolitical zone, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, warned against possible attitudes that may derail or ultimately scuttle the noble assignment.
Abaribe said: “I have only one comment to make. This is my fourth membership of the constitution amendment committee. I have seen constitutional amendments come and go and one critical area which I would like this particular committee to address is the question of time.
“We always waste so much time until the end of the session, and by the time we now compile everything and take it to Mr. President for assent, it is too late and if he says that he will not assent to certain parts of the bill, then we end up not being able to do anything about it.
“So, is it possible, which I think it is, for us to do it in such a way that, even if Mr. President says I will not assent to this bill for one reason or another, we can still as a constitutional amendment committee look into it and pass it with the desired amendments and bring it back to the president for assent.
“I dare say, that it is not because we don’t or we cannot create the time, but it is because we simply have over the years developed a habit of having a calendar that goes for three years or more.
“So, if we can have a calendar that goes for a year or a year and a half, I think we can get something going.”
He spoke on what the committee needed to do to succeed. “When we started with constitutional amendments, we used to put everything in one bill, and we found that anytime any President doesn’t assent, the whole thing is passed away and we now have to break them into bits, and that was why in the last constitutional amendment, some were assented to and some were not.
“I think that we should still maintain that so that we don’t have a President who decides that he will not assent because he doesn’t like one aspect and then we lose all the work that is done,” Abaribe said.
On his part, while delivering views from the North Central geopolitical zone, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa urged the lawmakers to leveraging of their experiences in previous assemblies, in order to do a rewarding job.
“I believe that we have learnt something in the last dispensation in the Ninth Assembly, but I believe that there is something more that we can do because the way we did the last one, we can see that out of almost all the bills, it was not up to half that was assented to.
“So this time around, why don’t we try to prioritise, after prioritising them, we take the ones we know are very critical like issues of the state police, and devolution that we feel will have a direct impact on our constitutional set up.
“If we do, that it will translate to something better because the reason is that, when we finish and pass it to the states, the states will usually take it as they wish. Some will not even address it up to the end of the legislative session,” Musa said.
Former deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi, encapsulated the views of the people of the North East geopolitics zone during the session. According to him, “the creme de la creme of the Nigerian Senate is here and the presence of faces here will naturally evoke huge expectations by Nigerians and therefore the challenge before us is to go all the way. Everybody knows that in this particular aspect within the Nigerian elite, the National Assembly doesn’t usually go all the way alone.
“What is important is what we can achieve. Out there, people are going to be as always, skeptical about our commitment, our political will and our level of patriotism to achieve the desired results. And that is because more often than not, when we discuss constitutional amendments, we hardly put the nation as a priority.
“First, we put our political divide, our partisanship, our ethnic and religious divides. Those areas that divide us, we know them, try as much as possible to understand them and engage Nigerians robustly. We are happy we’re starting very early, but we need to go all the way. We need to create such synergy and understanding so that most Nigerians who will be able to say a word on this aspect have an opportunity.”
After the submission by Ningi, it became the turn of Senator Adamu Aliero, a former Governor of Kebbi State and minister of the Federal Capital Territory, to advance the views of lawmakers from the North West zone on the instant Constitution alteration process. He admonished the Committee to steer clear of controversial and divisive issues in carrying out the present exercise. Aliero said: “This committee is well constituted. People are chosen based on their various backgrounds, not only to represent their states but also to represent special interests. Let me advise that we should try as much as possible to avoid going into controversial areas where we can hardly get a consensus.
“There is no need to waste so much energy and time debating on issues that we can hardly compromise. We should know that constitutional amendment is beyond the National Assembly. Apart from what we do in the Senate and the House of Representatives, we have to carry the state legislatures along.
“I join in the view that we have to start early and perhaps, have a timeline within which to conclude all submissions so that there will be no need for the President to say it’s too late, he cannot assent to any particular bill that has been passed. For me, I would suggest that anything that goes into the fourth year, we should forget about it.”
Senator Kamorudeen Olarere spoke on behalf of the South West. Olalere urged the committee to build bridges rather that work in silo. He said: “What we have seen in most cases is, we spent three years preparing and when it gets to assent, we have problems, and that is where I want to give a hint. I want to suggest, that our primary responsibility as legislators is to make laws and all other things are secondary.
“I want to suggest that right from the starting point now, this committee should not act in isolation. Let us carry along the executive, the President, who is going to assent, even as we move on in the preparation of the amendments so that there won’t be factors to begin to argue with at the end of the process.
“As we move on, let us also interface with our State Houses of Assembly over what we are doing so that it will not be strange to them and also have some feedback from them that will help us in the process so that the whole effort here will not be a waste. Our governors are also critical and we need to involve them in the process.”
Speaking on behalf of the minorities especially especially women, in the Senate, the Minority Leader, Senator Senator Abba Moro said: “As a minority leader, I represent all the minority groups in this country and that includes women, because women are a minority when issues of national integration are involved. One of the primary reasons that we seek to amend the Constitution is the fact that, the Constitution is a live instrument and is the grundnorm that governs the entire society.
“As such, given the dynamism of modernising society, I want to think that we will continue constantly to review the constitution to plugin all the loopholes that might impede national Integration, cohesion and development.
“If we must continue to exist as a united community, it means that we must anchor all our actions on the principles of equity, fairness and justice, and that means that we must strive for instance, to provide some level of constitutional safeguards for the protection of minorities from the larger society to protect them from any form of manipulation of their situation for purposes of the majority.
“I think that what women have constantly advocated in the recent past, is the fact that in a male-dominated society, we must try to create a platform that will enable them to favourably compete with their male counterparts. As we move on in amending the Constitution, we must have some amendments that will provide for an inclusive society for our people.”
In his own submission, former governor of Sokoto state and ex-speaker of the House of Representatives, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, emphasised the importance of timelines in discharging the assignment. As a former speaker who has gone through mill of constitution amendments, Tambuwal said: “I support the idea that we should be time-conscious. We should also deepen consultation. We are about to embark on one of the most important exercises in the national interest and we know that the document we have as a constitution is not perfect.
“The constitution has prescribed how it can only be amended and it’s only through this process that it can be amended. So I think we should seek the understanding of Nigerians that this is a very important process that the National Assembly will always embark upon.
“I think that we should also create special participation of the youths in this process and women and the diaspora. Diaspora will take advantage of the technology and see how we can organise hearings and sessions for the diaspora.
“We don’t need to go to any country to do that, they can participate via Zoom or other online platforms so that we can for the first time have their contributions to the constitutional amendment process.”
President of the Ninth Senate and Senator representing Yobe North, Ahmad Lawan, availed his colleagues of the benefit of hindsight. Drawing from his rich repertoire as the immediate past presiding officer of the Senate, Lawan said: “This is one of the most important, critical and crucial assignments that anyone can participate in the Senate. Time is of the essence. Those of us nominated are not essentially the ones to come up with the ideas, we are supposed to collect and collate the ideas. We represent the rest of us in the chamber, and at the end of the day, we will carry whatever we have collated from the public to the chambers, for approval.
“Nigerians should take advantage of this, and we should start telling Nigerians of our availability, and our readiness to engage with them. No matter how we try to be fast, if they don’t participate, the exercise is not likely to be very successful, because this is about Nigerians, not about us, and Nigerians will have diverse opinions.
“We can see today, that Nigerians are united in complaining about what is happening to all of them regardless of where they are from, whether from the south, north, Christian, Muslim, or whatever. People are categorised. There are big people whose views would be something that will make their lives better, but the vast majority of Nigerians have no voice, and we are supposed to listen to that voiceless group because few people will hijack the process simply because they have access to the media and then the bulk of the populace who have more challenges and issues will not get the kind of attention.
“So, let us come up with ways and means of making it better than we had before in the 9th Assembly.
Let us look at the youth, the women, the disabled. We have a date with history and we shouldn’t take this job lightly.”
A similar open forum to ventilate ideas on how to attain the objectives of the National assignment was recently afforded the leadership and members of the House of Representatives Adhoc committee on constitution review the formal inauguration of the panel by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
Already a multiplicity of Constitution review bills are being assembled by the House. Aside the Bill seeking to alter the constitution to allow for state police, the House of Representatives currently have over 40 other bills that has scaled first reading. However, majority of these bills must first scale second reading before they can be referred to the constitution review committee. One bill that has also scaled second reading, but had to be stepped down by the sponsor is the bill seeking to increase the educational qualification to contest certain political offices from the current qualification of school certificate to a Bachelors degree. Many members of the House, especially those from the north were opposed to the bill sponsored by the Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Oriyomi Onanuga. Those who opposed the bill argued that educational qualification does not necessary confer wisdom on anybody, adding that the qualification be left the way it is. But Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu told the members that the bill may return to the House through a memorandum from members of the public because the debate has been on across the country on the need to increase the educational qualification.
While inaugurating the House committee, Speaker Abbas told the members that they must do everything possible to overcome the challenges that had led to the failure of other amendments. He identified close relationship with the Executive at both the states and Federal level as well as Speakers of the State Houses of Assembly whose endorsement is needed for any bill to become passed before being transmitted to the President for assent. He promised that the constitution review process will be deeply rooted in engaging with the Nigerian people at all levels, including traditional and religious institutions, pressure groups and trade unions, ethno-religious organisations, the diaspora community and much more with a view to addressing critical areas that require amendment in the constitution. Speaker Abbas said the partnership with the Executive stems from recognising their pivotal role in governance, ensuring that the review process is comprehensive and considers the practical aspects of implementation, adding that the process will involve State Houses of Assembly to foster consensus and expedite adoption by States. He said further that the House intends to harness the inputs of all Nigerians at the level of senatorial districts through open forums, public consultations, and digital platforms, ensuring that every voice is heard and considered, adding that the proactive approach by the House is designed to ensure thorough engagement and deliberation.
Speaker Abbas said further that “our country has witnessed significant milestones and challenges alike. Through each phase, our democracy has been tested and is still being challenged. Yet, even after 25 years, it stands resilient, reinforced by our collective belief in the principles of freedom, equality, and justice for all. The 1999 Constitution, as the supreme law of the land, has been the grundnorm of our democracy for over two decades. Yet, like any great edifice, it requires periodic assessment and renovation to ensure it meets the changing needs and aspirations of our people. While some citizens argue that the document should be entirely discarded, it is important to remember that democratic consolidation can only be incremental and gradual. Even more mature democracies have accepted this position in advancing democratic consolidation. For instance, the United States has ratified 27 amendments to its Constitution.”
He said the parliament expects the sixth alteration to be the most comprehensive, adding that the House Agenda is ambitious in its scope and encompasses wide-ranging issues pivotal to our national growth. He said “among these are devolution of powers, including state policing; enhancement of fiscal federalism through local government autonomy; further decongesting the Exclusive Legislative List; recognising and assigning constitutional roles for traditional institutions; and promoting inclusivity, particularly greater gender equity and women representation into appointive and elective positions. Other critical areas for your consideration include implementing comprehensive electoral reforms to address the gaps identified in the aftermath of the 2023 general elections; strengthening the enforceability of legislative instruments; and institutional strengthening for greater accountability, among others. These areas are crucial for reinforcing our democracy and ensuring that the governance structure meets the needs and aspirations of all Nigerians. Several Bills have already been introduced in both the Senate and the House, touching on some of these very important issues.” Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, said the House plans to get the new constitution ready in 24 months to avoid political interference in the amendment process and the President time to study the alterations before signing them into law before the busy schedule of election year. He said: “Our constitution, the foundation of our democracy, stands as a testament to our collective aspirations for a just, equitable, and prosperous society. Yet, as we confront the realities of the 21st Century, it is incumbent upon us to recognize the imperative for constitutional reform, to ensure that our laws reflect our people’s evolving needs and aspirations.” Kalu said the House had so far received bill proposals for the establishment of state police; state access to mines; increased participation of women in politics; clear specification of the taxes/levies to be collected by each tier of government and the provision for the office of the Mayor of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. He said several bill proposals that were passed, but did not make the President’s assent during the Fifth Constitution alterations have been brought back to the current amendment, including powers of the National Assembly and State Assemblies to summon the President and State governors, and requirements of the government to direct policies towards ensuring the rights to food and food security. According to him, this highlights the dynamic nature of the constitution review process and its importance to the democratic strengthening of the country, adding that the House was willing to accommodate more proposals to enhance the Constitution and strengthen the nation’s democracy. He said the House was also waiting for executive-sponsored bill proposals that reflect issues on the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President, while acknowledging amendments to the constitution carried out by previous assemblies.
He said further that “as we embark on this journey, let us draw inspiration from the words of great leaders who have come before us. Let us remember the wisdom of Tafawa Balewa, who spoke of the necessity of unity and collaboration in our efforts to build a brighter future. Together, let us reaffirm our commitment to democracy, justice, and progress. Together, let us rise to the challenge and build a brighter future for Nigeria, a future that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Chairman of Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin, said the lawmakers must first understand the diversity of the nation, to be in a better position to address the challenges, adding that leaders must make moves to address the tough times in the nation today. Ogundoyin said the debate and calls for the review of the Constitution will continue until the nation gets it right while calling for devolution of power to the federating states and allow them take control of certain items currently in the hands of the Federal Government. He assured that the State Houses of Assembly will collaborate with the National Assembly in the amendment process, adding that the state Assemblies will ratify the document sent to them as a result of the engagement.
Some of the items expected to attract serious debate during the process of amendment include role for Traditional Rulers, the creation of state police/community policing, increase derivation and the bills seeking to return the country to parliamentary system of government top the constitutional amendment bills to be considered by the House of Representatives Committee on Constitutional amendment. There is also a bill that seeks to alter the Constitution to review the mode of electing the State Governors, Deputy Governors, and the appointment of Commissioners of the various States, as well as bills to rotate the Presidency among the various geopolitical zones and senatorial districts in the country. Also due for consideration is the bill seeking the reform of the judiciary to transfer the powers of appointing and removing Judges of State High Courts to state governors as well as bills on judicial reform. Others include a bill seeking to establish the Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja and the Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal of the States and bill that will ensure quick dispensation of criminal cases in courts by authorising the Justices of the Federal High Court, High Court of the Federal Capital Territory and State High Courts to sit as Justices of the Federal High Court, High Court of the Federal Capital Territory and State High Courts respectively and conclude any criminal case pending before them upon their elevation to the Court of Appeal. One of the critical bills to be considered by the committee is the bill seeking an increase in the percentage of derivation fund of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from all natural resources and Value Added Tax (VAT) to not less than 50 per cent. A bill to grant the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly power to summon the President and state governors to answer questions on issues of National Security or any matter whatsoever, over which the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly, have powers to make laws and for related matters which failed in the 9th Assembly is also slated for consideration. Will 10th National Assembly leverage on past experiences to deliver a world-class sixth alteration of the 1999 Constitution or would it be plagued by past blemishes of ethnicity, partisanship, regionalism, gender, religion and other parochial tendencies? Only time will tell!.
The House of Representatives has assured Nigerians the parliament will get the process of amending the 1999 constitution right this time with a comprehensive amendment to the nation’s law book.
He expressed confidence in the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, to deliver on mandate, as the Chairman, House Committee on Constitution Review.
Speaking to newsmen in Kano, the Deputy Spokesperson of the House, Philip Agbese, said the lawmakers have great confidence in the deputy speaker, saying the parliament would get it right this time.
He said: “Overtime, the National Assembly made attempts to review the 1999 constitution, with the aim of amending some clauses and give it the 21st century life it deserves. Some of the times, the parliament succeeded; and some other times, it failed.
“Even in the dispensations that the committee succeeded, some amendments suffered rejections at the various state Houses of Assembly, while some of the few clauses that managed to scale through are fast calling for repeal or total overhauling.
“But with the deputy speaker on the driver’s seat of th e Constitution Review Committee of the 10th House of Representatives, Nigerians should go to bed and rest, with the assurance of waking up the next day to the realisation of their yearnings and aspirations.
He said the Kalu-led Committee “would collate opinions and liaise with various stakeholders, civil society organizations, government agencies, multilateral and supranational agencies, as well as traditional rulers, women groups and private business minds that jointly drive the nation’s economy, to ensure a wholesome amendment to the Nigeria’s law book”.
Agbese asked those seeking alterations to the 1999 constitution, to work closely with their representatives, as the committee would hit the ground running, as soon as it is officially inaugurated.
He said: “already, there are about 40 bills at various stages in the National Assembly, seeking for the amendment of the constitution. Some seek to address issues of gender inequality, traditional institution, local government autonomy, fiscal federation among others.
“With the determination of Kalu-led Committee and the assurance that the committee would round up by December, 2025, I urge stakeholders and proponents of those Bills to work closely with their representatives and the Committee, to enable it deliver on mandate and time.”
Nigeria must get a new constitution, if things are to work right, Supreme Head of Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church Worldwide, Prophet Solomon Alao, has said.
The cleric, addressing reporters on the church’s Annual General Conference, described the constitution as ‘pseudo-military unitary’.
He insisted it could no longer work for the realities in Nigeria.
“Nigerians must develop our constitution”, he said.
Alao praised President Bola Tinubu for cutting down travelling expenses for officials, but said pension for former political officer holders should also stop.
The cleric advocated greater roles for religious and traditional institutions, saying government should use them to get people’s attention.
He said: “For us to get things right in Nigeria, we must have a new constitution. The constitution is but a pseudo-military unitary document which can no longer help our situation.
“I am not a prophet of doom, but with the realities, things will get tougher before they get better. More small scale enterprises will collapse because the economy is suffocating. The banks are also selling entrepreneurs out of business.
“We will continue to pray for President Tinubu because if he performs, it is for everyone’s good…
“The government should seek help. By this, I mean religious leaders because people listen to their clerics. It is good the FCT minister be elected and not appointed,” he said.
The cleric also admonished newspapers publishers to have a uniform editorial opinion, at least once a week, as their contribution towards correcting anomalies and making Nigeria great again.
