Constitution review as jamboree

IN the past few weeks, the National Assembly has been making efforts to collate the opinions of Nigerians regarding the latest proposed alteration to the 1999 Constitution. It has organised public hearings across the geopolitical zones with a view to harnessing relevant inputs. It has also received over 254 memoranda from Nigerians. However, if the reactions within the polity are any indication, the exercise does not enjoy the confidence and trust of the public. Eminent Nigerians like Mike Ozhekhome, Ayo Adebanjo, Afe Babalola, Mao Ohuabunwa and many others have dismissed the exercise as a jamboree. They have been joined by sociocultural groups like the Northern Elders Forum, Ohaneze Ndigbo and Afenifere, all of which dismissed the exercise outright, as well as Governors Seyi Makinde and Ifeanyi Okowa, among others.

Pointedly declaring that the exercise would not bear good fruit, being just a means to expend budgeted funds, the Oyo State governor said: “If this constitution amendment succeeds, that will be the end of my political career. That is how strongly I feel. Former President Goodluck Jonathan supervised the production of a document which many Nigerians agree is the best document for our civil relations.” On his part, the Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), warning the National Assembly not to toe the path of previous failed reviews, averred: “The constitution of a country should reflect the aggregate of the realistic expectations of the component parts which form the union. It is the basic law, which must define the powers and responsibilities of the offices created to serve the people. No section of the country must feel short-changed. The document produced must be a true reflection of collective bargaining and concessions secured in an ambience of frank exchanges among members of the same family.”

The criticisms are perhaps only natural, given that the reviews covering 2003-2007, 2007- 2011, 2011- 2015 and 2015-2019 produced little or no results, in large part because of perverse political undercurrents and the widespread belief that the 1999 Constitution, which was hastily cobbled together by the military as it sought to return power to civilians in 1999, ought to be repealed altogether and a truly pro-people constitution enacted. For instance, the 2003-2007 exercise was widely condemned following an alleged  plot to sneak in a third term of office for the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, and only the 2007-2011 amendment  was signed into law out of the previous reviews. Even with a statutory budget of N1 billion for each exercise, constitutional amendment has so far failed to fly. Thus, the  N5 billion that would have been expended on the project by the end of the ongoing exercise would largely have been money flushed down the drain.

To say the very least, constitutional amendment, particularly in a country increasingly confronted by fissures that threaten to corrode the very core of its continued existence as a corporate entity, ought to be a serious exercise, one that would bring about desired changes in the polity and ultimately in the lives of the people. It should not be essentially about looking for an opportunity to spend a budgeted N1bn while brandishing the usual platitudes. Indeed, the chicanery underlying the current exercise is easily detected from the irregularities that have so far marred the so-called public hearings organised by the National Assembly. For instance, many people could not attend the South-West zone’s public hearing in Lagos because the hall used for the event could accommodate only a small number of people. There was no valid explanation given for the abandonment of TBS, the original venue. In any case, the Deputy Senate President, Mr. Ovie Omo-Agege, put paid to any illusions that Nigerians may have about the ongoing exercise when he declared, quite unabashedly, that the National Assembly could not give the country a new constitution. Pray, if the National Assembly cannot give the country a new constitution, what then can it do?

We are in agreement with the call for the restructuring of the country and the repeal of the 1999 Constitution, which has over the years proved to be clearly unworkable. The country requires a constitution that is fit for purpose, one that takes the dreams and aspirations of Nigerians into consideration. The current document is decidedly unitary in orientation and cannot make for peace and stability in an ethnically, linguistically, culturally and religiously diverse country like Nigeria. In any case, it is a fact that the previous four amendments did not succeed in meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians, and there is nothing on the ground to suggest that the current exercise promises to be different. The foundation of the current constitution having been built on quicksand, being devoid of the inputs of the people whom it dubiously proclaims as its authors, the ongoing review amounts to an exercise in futility, a waste of time and public funds. The National Assembly has a duty to give the country a new constitution using the report of the 2014 National Conference, the 1963 Constitution and other relevant documents as a guide.  It should desist from staging mere jamborees.

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