Constitutional amendment: Adeola goes for broke

THE legislative arm of government is primarily put in place to make laws for the governance of a nation. For us in Nigeria, this function is clearly spelt out in Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which states inter alia, that the National Assembly shall “make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation or any part thereof.”

Its other functions, in terms of the principle of separation of power to act as checks and balances in the tripod of democratic arrangement of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary are all subsumed under the primary role of law making. The oversight and representative functions of the legislator are both secondary to lawmaking function. In any nation, the overriding law of the land is its Constitution. It is supreme to any other law and in case of conflict or contradiction; the Constitution overrides any law in conflict with it. It is thus an all-important document that sets the ground norms for the way a society is organised, regulated and governed.

However, in spite of its all-important nature, the document is usually not a perfect one for all events and for all times. It may be originally defective or circumstances and events may have rendered some of its provisions superfluous or contrary to orderly and just development of society. As it is well known, the 1999 Constitution (as amended), now in operation, is a military document that many agree is full of imperfections or provisions that have since been overtaken by events. Attempts in the past to amend the constitution has met with varying degrees of success, with one such spectacular attempt ending in a colossal failure under the weight of a “Third Term” provision that led all other amended provisions being thrown away in a manner of the baby and the bath water. The Seventh National Assembly equally made far-reaching amendments that regrettably were not signed by the President Goodluck Jonathan until the expiration of that session.

Now, the 8th National Assembly, with Senator Bukola Saraki as chairman, has again taken the bull by the horn to give the nation constitutional amendments, in furtherance of good governance and constitutional development of the nation. The two Constitutional Amendment Committees has since started work with senators and members introducing constitutional amendment bills and the House of Representatives organising a retreat in Abeokuta, pursuant of fine-tuning the amendments it received.

One Senator, however, took this aspect of his work seriously and caused not a small stir with the introduction of 14 constitutional amendment bills. Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West), a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), representing the largest senatorial district in Nigeria in terms of population, introduced these amendment bills, aimed at addressing various issues that ails our constitution or provisions that need adjustment to take in realities of the present and future times. From the records, the closest senator to Adeola, with such a high number legislative bills, had about six such bills. Already, 12 of the bills were successfully introduced, passed the First Reading and were committed to the Constitutional Review Committee for further legislative work in accordance with Senate Standing Rules.

Rationalising his focus, Senator Adeola was quoted as saying that as a legislator of more than 13 years standing from the state assembly to the House of Representatives, and now in the Senate, it is only natural that he is better placed to know some of the shortcomings of our constitution in operation, adding that it is part of his mandate as promised to his constituents, to perform on all aspects of his duties as their representatives.

Most of the amendment bills of Senator Adeola are controversial but, he is of the view that it is better to address these issues instead of shying away because of controversies they may generate. One of such is the Senate Bill No. SB 342, a “Bill for an Act to Alter The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Guarantee Freedom of Speech and Legislative Actions of Members of the National Assembly.” This bill, which was wrongly interpreted to mean immunity for the leadership of the National Assembly and members from criminal prosecution, is actually aimed at strengthening our democratic institution by guaranteeing freedom of speech and protection of members of parliament over words spoken or actions taken in course of normal legislative business.

Another amendment bill of Senator Adeola, Bill No. SB 345 seeks to prevent torture or inhuman or degrading treatment like parading of suspects by police, stripping of arrested person, and in detention of their cloths or using sticks, whips, baton, guns or any other form of torture to extract evidence from suspects, while Bill No. SB 346 seeks to give more power of direction over the police by state governors, instead of the centralising the provisions contained in Sections 214(4) and 215(5) in combating crimes.

Still on controversial bills, Senator Adeola’s Bill No. SB 347 did cause a stir. The bill seeks to alter Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, which forbids public officers from maintaining and operating foreign accounts. Not surprisingly, this bill generated a furore, with some claiming it will fuel corruption but in essence, the prohibition of operating such a bank account does not accord with the current realities where the world has become a global village, where illicit funds could easily be tracked. On the converse side is the usefulness of such accounts by genuine holders to engage in legitimate personal and business transactions.

And in relation to his area of specialty- public finance, Senator Adeola, through Bill No SB.348, seeks an amendment of Section 162 of the Constitution to provide for the Office of Accountant General for the Federation (as distinct from that of the Federal Government). The purpose of the office is to take cognisance of our three tier federation and joint finances issues as different from Federal Government finance.

Indeed, Senator Adeola’s commitment to the nation’s constitutional development, in addition to some of his other legislations that are undergoing legislative process, can never be doubted, while the process for positive constitutional changes goes into fruition hopefully with this attempt of the 8th National Assembly.

• Odunaro is the Media Adviser to Senator Adeola.