Fixpolitics demands new constitution, referendum commission

The demand for a new Constitution dominated the call by the Fix Nigeria Initiative at the ongoing National public hearing.

Mindful of Constitutional limitation for a referendum the initiative said the constitutional review committee should establish a referendum commission along side a new constitution.

Speaking on behalf of the group which has made an earlier submission to the committee convener of Fixpolitics Initiative, and former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili said the solution to the constitutional crisis was for a new constitution borne out of a national conversation.

The former Minister said Nigerian state has reached a point of history and should take advantage of the moment and act in line with the aspiration of the people.

She said modern nation are built on social justice, equity and inclusiveness of the people laced with quality productivity and competitiveness design to build the nation along the national cohesion and unity.

Her words: “We demand for a new Constitution for Nigeria. Our country is a giant trapped in the cloak of dwarf.

She said structural issues prevents the nation from translating it’s great potentials to reality.

According to her, two socio-political issues that must be solved are “effective management of our diversity on the principles of justice, equity, inclusion and equality of opportunities.

“Making our federation work through the appropriate structure negotiated and agreed by all parts of the country in order to emerge beyond a country into a nation

“Two deepest economic problems we must solve making it impossible for all constituent parts and Human Resources of our country to maximally create inclusive growth and prosperity.

She maintained that the issue of Low Productivity and Poor competitiveness was critical to look at and she argued further that, this calls for a new constitution

Every structural problem can only be effectively and enduringly solved structurally. The 1999 Constitution has passed its “sell-by-date.” Nigerians need to agree on a New Constitution now,” she said.

Convert current deep crisis into opportunity as history beckons again, noting that “We have done this before when the country faced a succession crisis in 2010, we innovated the “Doctrine of Necessity” as a solution.

She further stated that the FixPolitics Calls for a Big Tent National Conversation for a Single-Issue Amendment of the 1999 Constitution to provide for Referendum and establishment of a Referendum Commission.

“NASS should work with Citizens to outline a New Constitution Process and the Agenda for a single-issue Amendment of the 1999 Constitution to allow a Referendum on New Constitution.

“Inaugurate a National Conversation to agree the Participation, Process and Agenda Issues for the New Constitution.

“Complete the National Conversation and Distill Resolutions into a list of Referendum items for all citizens to vote on through a process executed by the Referendum Commission.

“Return to Referendum List the NASS for completion into a New Constitution for Nigeria with the mandatory legitimacy conferred by all citizens of Nigeria.”

FixPolitics argued in her letter to the national assembly that “we call attention to the widely-acknowledged point that, in fact, the Nigerian Constitution has not been authored by the people. Instead, it was drafted under military guidance and imposed by military decree without a vote or ratification by the people of Nigeria.

“In terms of content, the Nigerian Constitution has also failed to transform society into a truly democratic one.

Instead, it continues to entrench executive supremacy as designed under military regimes, while limiting judicial and legislative oversights.

“It has also failed to address contextual issues such as limiting public wastage, decentralising resource control, localising governmental powers, and providing institutional protections in areas of human rights and government accountability.

The Nigerian Constitution has also failed to provide a clear path to free and fair elections as evidenced
by the constant need to amend the Electoral Act, amongst other electoral challenges.

In short, the power of the National Assembly to amend the Nigerian Constitution is insufficient to address the numerous procedural and substantive challenges and flaws of the Nigerian Constitution.

“Any legal document that requires a constant stream of amendments in a period of just 20 years requires a serious overhaul. Today, public opinion, civil society, and academic scholarship have increasingly called for a process towards creating a new constitution,” She stated in the Memoranda.

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