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Constitutional Amendment and the Nigerian Political Structure

September 27, 2009

The issue of constitutional amendment in Nigeria has become highly sensitive and politicised. Indeed, it is taking sectional and sectarian character. While some groups and interests are pushing aggressively for it, others are insisting that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. Indeed some schools believe that if any form of amendment should take place at all, it should be restricted to the Justice Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Reform Committee Report. Yet, the Uwais report has become politicised by interests and forces that do not want some of its key recommendations incorporated into the Electoral Act and the Nigerian Constitution.



 On its part, the National Assembly (NASS) has come up with a position that it intends to embark on constitutional review  just like its predecessor did under Senator Ibrahim Mantu. However the bone of contention is who should Chair the review process and what should be the order of sitting in protocol when such amendments are taken at joint sitting of the NASS.

There is so far a lot of insincerity, grand styling and showmanship over the constitutional review and amendment question that makes the citizens feel let down by law makers.

 Laws by themselves do not explain how well a country is governed but good laws are important for good governance. Where there are contradictions, inconsistency and inadequacies as we currently have with the 1999 Constitution, then they must be brought to the fore and revised or strengthened. There is a more fundamental issue, namely the people are saying that they did not contribute to the processes that led to the making of the 1999 Constitution despite its reference to the people as its source - they neither were consulted nor did they  make any input. The  fact was that the people were excluded and disempowered may be as a result of the exigency of the situation at the time and the need to quickly ease the military out of power.

Democracy is about representation, it is about the input and wish of the people. Where the people do not make input then they are automatically excluded, whatever is done in their name can not be in their interest or be said to have their consent. This is the kernel of the matter. And that is one strong reason why the Nigerian constitution must be reviewed.  At the heart of the call for changes in the constitution is not just a political demand for restructuring but is also an economic demand for greater equality and ability to meet the second generation of rights as enunciated by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One key issue here is in what direction must the economy be driven? What should be the role of the state in economy and socio-economic planning?

Every day the political and economic rights of Nigerians are being violated and undermined and they have no say. The constitution protects those who violate the rights of Nigerians in ways that are not so explicit. It is only the rich that get justice, the powerless gets a sentence. Therefore, what is at the heart of the demands of Nigerians? They want a constitution that is just, equitable and provides justice, a constitution that will provide and protect livelihood opportunities of ordinary people, they want education and health for their children, they want food and shelter. Many political parties have promised all this but nothing has happened to the lives of the ordinary citizens, if anything they have seen poverty soared and their material condition degenerated. Citizens want electricity to be stable, rural and urban infrastructure improved and the quality of life and therefore life expectancy elongated through clean energy, environmental protection and state subsidies.

The people believe that the state has a social responsibility to citizens and that the state must meet its social and moral covenant/obligation to the citizens. Citizenship is the basis of patriotism and pride. In the United States of America it is better to accuse somebody of being corrupt than to question the patriotism of that person. The action of politicians have made politics unattractive and made governance a huge political liability. People are exiting from the state into their communities and informal life because they have realised that the state makes no meaning to them and adds no value to their existence. This attitude is eating deep and undermining the virtue of patriotism in Nigeria .

 The need for political restructuring is incumbent because all over the world countries are operating genuine federalism which means decentralising and granting legal rights to federating units to have ownership of their affairs, resources and culture. There is nothing strange about this development. Federalism recognises the unevenness in society and seeks to bridge it not by assuming that all federating units must be at par, but by throwing a challenge to each federating unit to develop at its pace whilst using fiscal instrument, including taxes collected from the richer unit to mitigate, assist, and support such weaker units.

Federalism recognises that units are different, religion and cultures are different and manpower is unevenly spread;  so are resources and means of development amongst the federating units. But that does not mean that there has to be uniformity in the way the political response to the question relating to all federating units. At present, Nigeria is operating a federal principle which is closer to unitarism than federalism. Under federalism powers are devolved and not centralised.

The over-concentration of powers at the centre has created huge problems for the units. People are rushing for political appointments at the centre in order to have a fair share of the so-called national cake. Federal government has become big business and people have become so desperate in how they strategically position themselves to acquire such appointment because it is a passport to instant wealth. Governance at the central level must be made less attractive and the feeling that pecuniary interest is the raison d’être for federal jobs must also be de-emphasised. The only way to do this is to make the centre unattractive by shifting attention of governance and economic production to the federating units,  and as such making stronger units where economic and political powers can be exercised particularly as it concerns the day to day lives of the citizens as obtains in advanced democracies.

If the NASS wants to genuinely undertake a constitution review then the matter must be thoroughly pursued and the ordinary people must participate and make input. Every group and interest, Workers, farmers, students and professionals, market women and artisans  must make input.

Federating states must make input on the basis of what they want, their challenges and what they expect of the constitution. If the key problem in Sokoto is desertification and that in Bayelsa is environmental pollution, these should be addressed and a constitutional formula for handling the two problems explicitly stated. If there are resources of any kind, the constitution should be consistent about who has right over them. In constitutionalising rights, we are able to challenge federating units to be alive to their responsibilities.

The other day I read an article by Raufu Mustapha, a  Nigerian lecturer at University of Oxford who noted that while the Northern States Governors Forum met and condemned the Boko Haram incident and urged law enforcement agencies to take specific actions, none of them reminded the Forum of their culpability and negligence, and how they are implicated in the discourse of Boko Haram. This is in terms of how they have contributed to the backwardness of the northern states with respect to infrastructure and manpower, social inequality and oppression of northern youth. These are fundamental issues that any progressive constitution must address. Modern and progressive constitutions try to address these issues and Nigeria cannot be an exception. This is why we must all join in the clarion call for constitution review rooted to the people rather than teleguided by the NASS. 

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