Friday, June 27, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
DEMOCRACY UNDER TRIAL :KNOCKS ON CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT -PART 1
The exit of centenary celebration can no longer be a nightmare that we
all too much love to detest.The national confab delegates are currently
overheating the polity prowling like hungry dogs with their dogs eat dogs politics in the atrophy of moral principles that we
expect them to safeguard .Nevertheless amidst the muddy waters of unholy
prejudices searing the nation's political ,economic and social capital apart ,the seeds of a new dawn can be sown and the nation's checkered antecedence fully
explored and benefited from in context
of constitutional development through appropriate remedial measures can provide a new beginning for the
downtrodden in our society and successfully evolves a new pattern of governance
and orientates the polity for the new
Nigerian project for universal freedom of its people and demography.
However having undergone relentless constitutional reforms with
checkered antecedence spanning from 1914 onward to
1922,1946,1952,1954,1958,1960,1963,1979,1989,1995 and 1999,this provided
empirical evidences for possible restructuring of the federation and the hope of a new dawn .During the period
under review most especially between 1914 to 1966 a bout 53 years period the nation was ruled without
regard to its diversities talk less of having regard for the constitution so as
to protect the nation .The 1963 constitution was suspended the military in
January 1966 .Likewise the 1979 constitution was suspended by the military in
1983 .
The subsequent creation of States between 1967 to 1976 did not help matters nor assuaged the
divisive tendencies of the Nigerian State earlier fostered by ill gotten
federalism even though it was beneficial in the truncation of colonialism
and the civil war, the redress of minorities
‘oppression to some extent and the
rediscovery of the Niger Delta in a new way. In both latter cases even till
date the indigenous colonialists learning the trade of aggression from their
erstwhile colonial masters from whom they honed their imperial torch and
stupendous ego-trip ,have never ceased for once to trample on the rights of the
minorities in this volatile terrain. Separatism,
sectarian propensities and fundamentalist
prejudice gained supremacy even as they were made to believe that their languages,
customs and traditions hardly count .This requires equity ,fairness and
universal justice as obtainable in an
egalitarian society that can compete in an emergent 21st century .
It is no longer news that the 1999 constitution was badly flawed and
massively abused .Since it was badly flawed from the beginning to the end
depending on the angle in which you look at it . It can be argued that almost
all the provisions of the letters of its laws are similarly erred and
insensitive to the grassroot and these minorities in particular and the Nigerian masses at
large.Almost everybody agreed with this fact .Lack of general consensus and
referendum inputs disfigured its legacy and structural intents . We all seem to agree at least .But it is also
necessary to ask -do we have constitutional development history that is sensitive to the grassroots ?We already contend this puzzle. Then why should 1999 constitution
that gives a lot more power to the Presidency mired with clustered grey areas be any different
?How successful or possible can the amendment or reviews be,in the face of our
unpredictable human factor terrains ?
This speaks volume about our cultural behaviour individual and
collective disposition including
corporate and social behaviour in general .Prominent media pundits and public
affairs analysts though a few of them had lamented similar scenarios plaguing
the polity and the nation at large to the detest of the government of the day.
Right from the time of Lord Lugard constitution of 1914 the epoch of the
Clifford constitution of 1922 onward to
1999 constitution, there is no argument that all the constitutions both pre and
post colonial constitutions were imposed
on Nigerians .Even the independence constitution of 1960 or the James Robertson
's was imposed on ignorant public .This requires the missing link be bridged .
Several attempts had been made to draft a constitution a people's
constitution so to say that is morally acceptable to the common masses. The convening of national conference was muted to
resolve and to discuss and proffer measures to
enact laws that are referendum driven and sensitive to the masses who were then way back in the 20s,30s,40s ,50s and 60s largely
provincial and a primitive class of people compared to the post -85
generation with horrible value system but highly enlightened as showmanship of
respective per capital pedigrees .The agitations
regained momentum ,stamina and verve
during the first term of the nation's democratic renaisance-1999-2003] .
There can be no doubt that the constitution is fraudulent and despotic in nature highly repugnant to the
wishes of the electorate and insensitive to their yearnings. For instance it is
a common knowledge that in the preamble to the constitution it says’’We the people of Nigeria ‘’a
prominent quotation and an abject of thoughtful criticism from which
media pundits and public affairs analysts had traded invectives ,scathing
diatribes and a proof that it is embarrassingly obvious and evident in a boisterous constitution not
subjected to referendum .Unlike the American constitution with similar
quotation and exemplary point of mimicry with the preamble ‘’in order to form a more perfect union establish justice …………………..do ordain and
establish the constitution for the U.S.
‘’
Fortunately in the interest of justice that they swore to defend ,it
was ratified by the two third majority of elected delegates unlike the Nigerian
counterparts in which only 23 people gathered
using the draft dictatorial constitutional of 1995 who sat under the
last military government and cajoled gullible Nigerians and after elections on
May 15,1999 handed the fraudulent
constitution down to the newly elected civilian government .Imagine only 23 people as noted
several years by late Beko Ransome Kuti–the acclaimed father of human right activism in Nigeria .
Am quite fascinated by the
exposition of FunshoAina in an article published in Daily Punch entitled ‘’Here
We Go Again’’ON November 11,2003,pg.17].He concluded –‘’I do not know where
Martin Esslim drew the inspiration from’’ to write his famous book ‘’The
Theatre Of The Absurd ‘’Of course like Aina,it is also safe to concur that he
had Nigeria in mind –the original theatre of the Absurd ‘’
This constitution was signed in 1787 two years before the French
Revolution began .Apart from few
amendments here and there had remained
fundamentally the same over the last 200 years of her history compared to over
50 years of the nation’s independence .Can you imagine that ? American
constitution is a mere 10 pages for
300million people and over 200 pages volume for 50 years old boy-man .By the time we are a 200 years decrepit old
nation as enthused in the
lamentations of a The Nation columnist-Mohammed Haruna ,it might be over 1,000 pages paginated –a shame of some sorts for the
elusive giant of Africa .The French
still have only one constitution since the French revolution of 1789.
The fact that since 1975 ,almost every successive government has had to write and rewrite the
Nigerian constitution makes it a complex terrain that can unleash a distorted impulse that hardly
remedied the protracted vicious cycle haunting the nation .Even though it shows how checkered our constitutional
development antecedence can be .It also
shows how messy it can be given its disability to connect with the electorate
.Without this connect and lack of allegiance ,scholars and various academic
studies had disputed even the survival of the country including its abiding
faith in democration and democracy respectively .
There’s a constitution but the people cannot boldly claim ownership although
section 14 subsection 1 of the 1999 constitution claims power or sovereignty belong to the
people through which the constitution
derives its power or authority.Whereas
in real sense we know this is not true and ought to directly derives its power
from the people in a referendum to truly
justifies its legitimacy as conferred by the electorate and exercised by the
polity.
When the local council election
was held in 1998 there was
no constitution and when the State
election was held on January 1999,there was no constitution .And after it was drafted
between 1999 to 2001 no election had been conducted at the local government
level .Nothing had been done to change the sordid state of affairs in most
cases till date and there is a connect between the people and the government ,the
grass root and its politics .We remember the 1962,63,64 and 65 and the
resultant January 15,1966 coup ,the
beginning of the military rule We also remember
1983 the killings ,the riggings and the termination of the civil rule
..Our first experiment failed which is the first republic ,second
republic failed and then third republic
had not fared well .How much more with the fourth republic and fifth republic and the inherent struggling and inability to
put our house in order .If we as a people can hardly solve our succession
crisis even in the first republic inspite of our checkered antecedence in
constitutional development, it takes only the most observant to know human
factor crisis is a real threat to the survival of the nation .I t looks dicey
and there are no proven evidences that salvation can come from sovereign
national conference and our maddening attempts at constitutional reforms .Nevertheless
we shall explore the popular proposition and the constitution a little deeper .
THE STRUCTURAL DEFECTS OF THE 1999 CONSTITUTION
The structural defects of the Nigerian constitution are boldly evident to the perusal of both lays and the scholars
alike .This as general assumed includes
lack of structural balances ,overcentralisation of power ,the replacement of
the federal system of coordinate whole with the federal system of the principle
of subsidiarity and the exit of fiscal federalism ,the crash of
regionalism and lack of grassroot
governance ,the marginalisationof the minorities’right of self determination
,lack of resource control, pursuit of short term political expediencies ,graft
patronage of the kleptocractic system ,crisis of fundamentalism etc.In short ,informed opinions from the progressive political class and
especially the human right activists now at the confab have called for the
return of federalism .Let ‘s examine
some of these overarching problems .
In the overcentralisation of power at the centre ,extensive trimmings are required.In the 1954 Littletton constitutionwhen
federalism was first adopted by consensus .the exclusive federal legislative
list had only 42 items .In the independence constitution of 1960 it rose to 45
items .Whereas in the 1999 constitution it recorded 50 percent increase –a
whooping 68 subjects .Research scholars and public affairs analysts have not in
any way relented their vanguard had
contended in favour of extensive devolution of power using the six geopolitical
zones .Why should the federal government
have monopoly on prison and
police –the two principal instruments of the legal systems to the exclusion of the states ?Why
should federal government regulate political parties public holidays ,insurance
,and election to State offices of Governors and deputy Governors ?Why should it also control the banking system? Something is wrong
somewhere .We agree with that but let us scrutinize further.
Moreover the 1954 constitution and 1960 independence constitution in
respect to concurrent legislative list have listed the subjects without qualification and conditionalities.It
is a different ball-game entirely with the 1999 constitution that imposes
strict conditionalities even where legislative power is on concurrent list .Without the permission of national
assembly ,the freedom to act is at best dead or impossible .It is improper for
national assembly to be saddled with the power to enact laws for voters
registration or mandatory psephological issues or enact laws for the regulation
of local government elections.Yet the local government is on residual
legislative list entirely within the jurisdiction of state government .It has
been suggested that local government should not feature in the constitution of
the federation but rather be dealt with in the constitution of the regions since
it is exclusive preserve of residual list responsibilities .
True federalism requires the replacement of the principle of
subsidiarity with the principle of coordinate whole that is sacrosanct and also
fiscally sound. This is a fundamental
feature of a federation .Centralisation of powers through defacto unitary
system poses serious threat to the survival of the country .And
with the evidence of history we agree that not until federalism was
adopted in 1954 Nigeria never experienced
lasting peace and the adoption of
federalism was directly instrumental to the giant strides of the preindependence
era the first republic and a major
facilitator infact of the nation’s
independence in 1960…
But nevertheless one drawbacks about the federal principles and
federalistic workability is the
principle of inequal coordinate whole in which one or two regions can be more powerful than other
federating units and to some extent that
the whole federation…True devolution of power cannot solve this malaise
based on the evidence of our history .This principle weakened the federal
principles between 1954 and 1967 and the centralization of power before the advent of the civil war tells volume
about this complex disputations and
statistics abound to prove with benefit of antecedence the unprecedented
growth of the Nigerian economy that came with full fledged national
development plans -1970=1979].
Indeed to be factual and circumstantial ,it must not be excluded ;for
the inadequacies of the federal
undertaker-this malediction of the principle of inequal coordinate whole still stare us in the face which
singlehandedly truncated the federalism of the 1950s and 60s and remorselessly
violated one of Wheare’s tenets of
federalism responsible for the crisis of 1962,63,64 and 65 period and
culminated with the outbreak of 1966
coup .Its abrasive predilection with the unbridled spine of regionalistic sovereignty mirred by the
threat of centripetal and centrifugal
forces could engineer the total collapse of the federation should the
same empirical vivification of the 50s and 60s be redeployed in the country .The
over-centralisation of power prior to
and post civil war era and the adoption
of presidential system of government in
1979 was inadvertently or subconsciously
applied to save the nation from total collapse .The media pillock pundits , the
pinheaded political class and public
affairs analytical dumbelshardly observe this axiom evident before our
eyes in addition to astigmatistic
posturing of the confab delegates seemed
to baffle a sapient mind.Between
1979-1994 more states were created though not more than a puppetic appendage
of federal government that unbalanced the geopolitical zones,the quality and
dearth of transparent leadership constitute more of a nuisance and a major threat to the practice of nation
building than mere haranguing of the system of government we practice or whatever.How come federalism is
a better option with the virulence of the nation’s antecedence .This path must
be toed with care given the vulnerable effect of its bobby trap and destructive
impetus on the economy .
In 1950s the nation was
threatened with secession from northern region
which demanded equal status in representation at the national
legislative council in the south .Similarly , in 1953 Action Group A.G.]
attempted also national blackmail and the proposed Lagos exclusion from the
west.In 1964 the East attempted similar threat over national census issue and devised plan to boycott the 1964 general
election.The revolt of Isaac AdakaBoro against the Nigeria state and the
declaration of the Niger Delta republic that was begun with the successful reprisal against Nigerian police and the
fiasco in the 12 day war with the Nigerian army on March 4,1966 was brutally
terminated .On 30th January ,1967 , 3 days after the twelve states were created , the civil war started when the premier of the then
eastern region O.OJUKWU attempted
a secession having refused to recognize the new regime of the day and revisited the Boro revolution of the
atavistic era to launch lethal attack on
the federation .With the massacre of the over 30 ,000 Ndigbos in the North
and the capitalist greed for oil lucre
by Ojukwu junta ,the coast was clear for the much trumpeted civil war .Not
until the demise of four million Nigerians the unrepentant rebels did not abate their lust for power .With the surrender of the rebels the 3Rs of reconciliation ,reconstruction and
rehabilitation that was supposed to start in the region was begun in Lagos.
It should be noted however that
the spillover effect of the principle of inequal coordinate whole did
not stop with the truncation of
federalism in 1966 ,it had been part of
the Nigerian federation till date .For example the confab delegates demanded
for more states possibly taking the tally to 42 states with the addition
of another I state to the South Eastern
5 states making 6.The Northeastern
Nigeria has 7 states and disputation
that ensued with the delegates demanded
for 7 States across geopolitical zones
to bridge the shortfall.During the 1st republic first republic ,the formation of the
Midwestern –Rivers Ogoja- Rivers
was motivated by the repression of the
minorities by the majority igbosof the then Eastern region.The proliferation of
local governments today and its inherent
competitive rivalry between the North and the South also can not be forgotten
in a jiffy .
On the other hand ,the Northern
delegates disputed against the inequal revenue allocation formula of the
federation in favour of the South South.They disputed that between 1999 till date the 19 Northern
States collected 10.53 trillion naira on the average of 554 billion naira per State .While the 11 South Eastern and South
Western States collected slightly above
8 trillion naira on the average of 799billionnaira per State the 6 South
Southern States collected a staggering 17.74 trillion naira .Hence they called for radical change and cessation of 13
percent derivation even when it was not been fully adhered or to a larger
extent highly politicized by political
buccaneers and for that matter fullyaware that controls 83 percent of Nigerian oil wells .The
derivation policy-a continuity of resource control prism of the 60s could not
resolve and avert the mishap of the principle of the unequal coordinate whole
which blanketed the nation like a chilling fog over the last 5o years tells
volume of the gravamen of this challenge bedeviling the economy.It appears
debatable that federalism can proffer
lasting solution to our teething problems.Too much powerful region can destabilize the centre with the benefit of antecedence we should know better
and may risk collapse of the nation .Methinks that our unbridled support for
federalism rests largely on the poor depth and grasp of historical erudition
.Even scientific devolution of power that retain defence,security and control of
security agencies also can not be
possible due to popular support for federalism by all delegates and the civil
society alike because we haven’t devise
appropriate framework and understanding to establish this vision for Nigeria .It may have been
the most appropriate system for the United States but can hardly work for the less privileged and
emergent economies like ours here .
Should we have to devolve power
given the implications of general security threat to the nation and how ?To be
it cannot work based on the antecedence and there is need to devise a new
system of government against the appeal
of every
junk system of government we have borrowed from the West or the rest of
the world .The principle of inequal coordinate whole still remains the central
bane to the demography and complex geography with the highest number of tribes and languages worldwide .It requires unique system of government .Blind men so
called delegates not wise men are demanding the return of the 60s national
crisis stimulated by federalism and its principle of inequal coordinate whole .
In my first book –AFROCENTRISM;WORLD DEVELOPMENT IDEOLOGY
AND THE AGE OF MICROFINANCE ‘’I came up with Marsolism–a new free market
economicmodel and its system of
government is Marsocracy a highly more effective alternative than democracy ,cost
effective and can accelerate development velocity and capable of promoting
egalitarian society ,banish inequality of wealth .This unique system of government can function with
not less than 7 subnational governments .More elaboration is secured with access to this book –at least eye
opener .
Now let’s look at the chances of this so called fiscal federalism being
the most touted option for the nation .It entails inter governmental fiscal
relation and equitable distribution of power
and revenue between the federating units built on three dimensional
perspectives of revenue ,expenditure and
intergovernmental transfer .Fiscal
federalism by its normative framework revolves round equity as far as revenue
access is concerned ,coordinate and
autonomous fiscal power imbued with structural latitude and pluralism ,comparative advantage
,subsidiarity ,vertical and horizontal competitiveness in the providence and actualization of good governance-Norris-2001]
Norris -2001] also admits the unpredictability of these strategic
elements items and inherent norms and
their general direction in terms of
outcome and impact management of diverse
levels of government .It argues unless
they are well respected and safeguarded , fiscal federalism can not hold nor so
much empowered to promote healthy and vibrant federalism with its enabling
modus viviendi that we all desired .Its
major concern is the principle of inequal coordinate whole that single handedly
truncated the federalism of the 60s .This is bound to be’’ conflict driven with centrifugal forces ‘’ promoting divisive
tendencies and separatism .It is therefore imperative to note the default and
judgemental oversight in the phrase ‘’while
not satisfying everybody ,it is accepted by one and all.’’ But for the witless
and unthinkable nation every road leads to the paradise-being touted as the
best available option in respect of the nation’s diversity and devising a new
system of government can be troublesome path to wade.Unfortunately Norris study
like the rest of the consensus studies and
apologists of federalism lampooned fiscal unitarism as antidemocractic,
corrupt and anti people without taking pain to proffer solution to the error
driven principle of federalism that precipitated this malaise and almost disintegrated the nation in the 60s.Do
we have any option excluding a new system of government ?
It would interest you to know that that the monumental strides and landmark achievement
of the Action Group of the 50s were perpetrated and made possible not
by federal system of government or whatsoever but by clearcut leadership and
sublime regional organisationalism of tribal grouping laden with robust discipline and unrivaled selflessness .In a speech delivered by
Professor Akin L. Mabogunje to mark the 50TH anniversary of the formation of Action Group he noted
however the following that……
‘’thus as we celebrate 50 years
of the Action Group ,we need to take to heart the salient legacies of
that unique political party that gave so much hope and pride to us in the first
internal self government in this nation .What
it did for one region ,now needs to be done for the whole country.But we must
remember that the antecedent to that
success was the effort to end the
fractiousness ,the recalcitrant and
combative relations that existed before then among different ethnic groups that then inhabited the western region.Much
of the success of the action group was possible because the Egbe Omo Oduduwa had
helped to build the foundation of a united people on which the party could
build’’
However he concluded –‘’for any political party to provide Nigeria
with a strong and effective political leadership ,therefore initial effort must
be made to build bridges among the diverse groups that inhabit theis national
space.The present divisive
tendencies fanned on the altar of ethnic
chauvinism ,religious intolerance and social distrust cannot provide the
foundation on which to evolve a strong
and effective national leadership’’.
Am enthralled by this most incendiary and most incisive speech ever read on this burning issues that seemed
to divide the nation into pieces .This golden age of epochal achievements and unprecedented economic progress of the first republic were not wrought by fiscal federalism per say but the will of the people to develop coupled
with sensitive and grassroot oriented leadership and responsive followership as soil texture
and substructure upon which leadership is planted and dividends harvested.Thi well
garbed oratory speaks volume about Egbe Omo Oduduwa established in 1945 truly
created the robust foundation for
gigantic feat and landslide transformation of the then western region .Let me
also add that federalism came in 1954 but a decade before the Eastern region or
precisely in 1946 during the period of Clifford constitution was the world
fastest growing economy growing at the rate of over 70 percent per annum .Not
even one country broke this record
or come closer until the Equatorial Guinea discovered oil in 2001 or
thereabout growing slightly above 70 percent –a period of more than half
century later .This magic was not wrought by federalism either .Attitude
matters and human factor crisis is a voluminous headaches in the country .
In any country constitution is just a mere guide even if it is a
people oriented document requires collective trust ,collective faith and
consensus purpose to implement it .Otherwise it would just become a mere
papertiger lacking verve and impact.So this can only work depending on the
level of and faith imposed on it .And again , come to think of it ,do we even need a constitution to develop ?Sorry if I say so –but that’s the fact .For instance the British society does not have a
constitution .Yet they take care of their cultural diversity ,demographical
polarities , development latitude and
pluralized entity .Modern constitution is written and it has no such written constitution.But the
fundamental laws ,conventions and best practices are contained in a series of
document such as the Magna Carta -1215 popularly regarded as the doyen of
British law and building block of British democracy , the Bill of Rights -1689 and the Act of
Settlement -1701 which enthroned the new generation of monarchy .
We should not be surprised that a nation without a constitution has
successfully enthroned a stable system of government with tested parliamentary
system that took almost a thousand years to evolve and a democratic model that is exemplary
worldwide.The parliamentary sovereignty derived its overriding powers from the
electorate upon which the parliament is formed and dissolved . The customs of
parliamentary meetings every year
including the Queen ,the Lords and the Commons is age-long
practice without which the government of the day lacks the power or may
be denied power to pass finance bill and
the budget to run the country.Some of these customs and conventions make up the
world oldest parliamentary system ,federal in nature and formed by the
provisions of the Act of Settlement -1701,through which James V1 of
Scotland became James 1 of England
,Wales and Ireland and also through which the generation of Oueen Elizabeth
ascended the throne of England after
abdication of previous monarchy .
It is necessary for us to reflect on the dynamic nature of our society
like the British and the Irish had done ,
mapping our robust political strategy
and evolving a new system of government
even without a modern constitution is possible that reflects the sociopolitical and socioeconomic imperatives of
their time .Since Norman conquest 1066 ,
the political history of the British
society most specifically the
impact of the monarchy and its struggle
with the parliament from the Stuarts AND
Tudors era to the 19th century harbinger of democracy and the
religious tolerance and influence on British
politics had been so devised to meet the
changing realities of this society till
date to promote much vaunted political ,social and economic freedom of modern
age . By blending the past and the present
and the posterity together ,they succeeded in moving their nation ahead
making the government work for its electorate from whom it derives its ultimate
power.These are the issues .
DEVOLUTION OF POWER AND LEGISLATIVE LISTS IMPERIALISM
There is a contention about the inclusion of local government in a federal
constitution .Still generating some dusts that all over the world in
thU.S,Britain among others ,the federal government ought to distance itself from the workings of the federating
units It was contended that the 1960 and
1963 constitutions had nothing in them in relation to the local administration
of the federating units .The first local government law started in the western
region –the so called local government administration act .This set the pace
and precedence for successive evolution and by 1976 under the military regime
of Olusegun Obasanjo the federal government dabbled into the politics of local
government administration .It had been cited as the cradle of particular
problems facing the third tier of government and did not require the Senate to dabble into
the politics of local government especially its tenure administration .
When the regional constitutional initiative was permitted as stipulated under 1960 independence constitution
,the federal units were interrogated for abuse of power and the introduction of
Sharia in their own constitution unveiled this prejudice .The Sharia court of
appeal Act ,Cap 122 of 1963 was applicable only to the NORTH .like Land use Act
Decree-1978 for no cause it was smuggled into the federal constitution of 1979
and 1999.This created lapses that unsettled the regions till date and cannot be detached from the possible
causes of the Boko Haram emergence. So many conflicting provisions were entrenched into the constitutions.When
you read through Shariah Court of Appeal related provisions in the
constitutions ,you also come across another conflicting provisions such as
section 10 that says the State must not adopt State religion .That is
contradictory and the ambiguity is too clear to remedy .Freedom of State
religion is a major threat to the Noigerian society .
Critics of the Nigerian constitution
calls for a review and demands repeal of the land use act .abolish the
petroleum decree -1969 ,delete section-44 subsection 3 which is in conflict
with section 44 subsection 1 ,thanks to petroleum industry bill though tardier
in passage ,abolish powers of national judicial review to appoint State judges ;repeal
fiscal commission act which was believed to be against the spirit of the federatyion
;delete section 314 of the constitution in which national debts of the States
and the federation are included as part of the constitution.
There were also arguments that economic deregulation cannot work
unless you deregulate governance ,bringing down the roof and devolving power to
the federating u nits by decongestion of 68 items on the exclusive legislative list .had been
touted as the final solution .This is a popular opinion and it still does specifically
endorsed by confab delegates as the arrow head of true federalism .The argue ;how
can national assembly be saddled with too much powers to legislate directly and indirectly on more
than 90 items ?This was likened to Martin Eslim ‘s –Theatre of The Absurd
‘’with the state Assemblies having no power and consequently we have no
federation.
Moreover ,thousands of Nigerian communities amalgamated since 1914 have not been properly
integrated .There are also those that
agree that the 6 geopolitical zones should constitute the basis of resolving
this challenge of nation building each with its own parliament and internal
control of its regional affairs .Why should the constitution says there must be
a minister from each state of the federation ?We have the biggest government in
the world Over 40 ministers ?That is absolutely absurd –a nation with the biggest
democracy cost centre in the world .Though this is not the making of a
current president but the President
himself ought to think or at best a rationalist and know his onionstomake
a difference to the governance puzzles in the land and left behind a lasting
legacy and possibly redress the pitfall of previous regimes..
We also agree that it is improper and erroneous for some States like
in the Niger Delta to generate more than
90 percent of nation oil revenue –so
much money only for the federal government to give them pittance .Lagos
generates more than three quarters of
VAT but it does not collect up to 20 percent .That is unfair .We agree with
this fact and the ability to judge politely the intervention of this fiscality
or much sought for fiscal prudency can
not faulted by curious observant .DO they truly pay 13 percent derivation as
provided in the section -162 subsection 2
of the Constitution ?THIS IS FRAUDED ON A DAILY BASIS AND MANIPULATED BY Federal Government and they only received whatever was credited into the federation account.
Here is a region whose resources and wealth had been misappropriated and even used to sponsor and organize coups
that topple and perpetuate military brigandagein the country. Few cabals in the
North east ,,south western and south
east have benefited largely from these spoils of the Delta and were granted license
to lift crude to the detriment of Niger Deltans .About 83 percent of the
region’s oil wealth is controlled by Northerners .This cabals which profited
immensely between 1975-1978 derived its
influence from patronage of the military
heads of States .These are unjust indices of the Nigerian states critically
begging for redress .Constitutional amendment cannot alter this degeneration
unless constitution o and derivation truly appointed and infact it can do
little unless we have truly performing institution with the best practices that
they can muster .
In 2001,the formation of the citizens
forum for constitutional reform –C.E
C.R. –A coalition of forty civil society
groups with six zonal and state coordinators and nine man national
steering committee spread nationwide clustered together .In recognizing of this
fact to interrogate the questionable quality of national governance and they
believe this could only be corrected by constitutional reforms .
With this conviction by the federal government that the constitution is badly flawed ,the technical committee on the review
of the 1999 constitution with
membership drawn from political
parties was established to take consideration
of C.E.C.R.view and the inputs
from a host of other groups .But the forum observes the constitution was unanimously condemned and the review
process of federal was ‘’shallow
,elitist and restrictive ‘’ and at best anti grassroot and anti people that is hardly involves grassroot people .
The forum seemed to link the numerous crisis and ethnic violence and
fundamentalism threatening our nascent democracy and corporate existence to the parlous
provisions of the constitutions .Therefore in respect of historical experience
and checkered antecedence of constitution making ,it campaigned for constitutional reforms .Nevertheless
the forum decided during the period
under review that the nation’s constitution review process should be guided by
the principles of inclusivity ,participation ,openness, transparency ,accountability
and legitimacy .In the defence of individual and collective rights ,it believed
are vital in a consensus referendum.
In the remaking of the constitution ,the forum identified nine key areas as main focus of its interventionist
constitutional reform work .These include –Citizenship and residency rights
;federalism ;the language culture and
content of the constitution ;fiscal federalism/resource control ;constitutionally
entrenched and independent commissions ; political parties and freedom of
association ;social and economic rights ;rule of law and access of universal
justice ;role of security sector.
Some of these inputs have been adopted by the current confab but let
me narrow down to very few of them as we noted earlier .This comprises of fiscal federalism and the rule of law.While it
called for resource control by the states remitting not more than 50 percent to
the federation account ,it also called for the independence of the judiciary and
that the federal government shall not adopt any State religion .The customary
and the religious courts should by
limited by jurisdiction to civil cases only .
In case of fiscal federalism ,taxes so collected go to federation
account .and allocation thereof should go to federal equalization fund and local governments .The equalization fund allocation method should be based on
consensus criteria and also called for
amendment of section 44-1-3 to vest
ownership of resources in the States ..That
‘’the entire property in and control of all minerals,mineral oils and natural gas in under or upon any land
in Nigeria or in under or upon
the territorial waters and the exclusive
economic zone of Nigeria shall rest in the government of the federation ‘’
In the section 162 it proposed scraping of derivation principle since
the federating units will only pay taxes to federal government of Nigeria form
available resources having total ownership control at the states level.So in pursuanc e to its
goals among other remonstrances ,it called for amendment of the following
provisions;-
--Section 315 -5-d—touches land
use act decree and requires amendment and democratic liberalization of land access .
---Section 163-a-requires amendment
so as to specifically recognize the collection and retention of VAT as a
state responsibility;
--Items 39 and 59 as
enshrined in the exclusive legislative
list requires inclusion in the concurrent legislative list ;
Now back to the rule of law and universal justice as the sole end of
the State .Badly flawed provisions such as section 227 subsection 1 be either
deleted or substituted .For the upteempth time,Shariah court of Appeal shall
exercise appellate and supervisory jurisdiction in civil proceeding only
.Section 6-4-a;requires a proviso that Sharia court of Appeal or customary according
to the provision of this subsection shall be denied of criminal jurisdiction.
----I n the 3rd schedule section 20-22 to the constitution
it defines the powers and composition of
national judicial being too restrictive especially with wide powers conferred on it and inconsistent with the spirit of federalism .Instead of being saddled with the appointment and
discipline of judges and collection and
distribution of funds ,performance of broad policy formulation roles and the restructuring of its function to act
as parliament of both state and federal judicial officers held in together on the basis of equity was proposed while previous powers be deleted
.
In the proposed amendment to section 20 ,the council wearing a new
look shall be comprised of the following;chief justice-chairperson;supreme court
justice elected by colleagues ;president of the court of appeal ;justice
elected by colleagues;all 38 chief justices in Nigeria ;That from each of the of
the 38 high courts ,a judge shall be elected
by its colleagues; three presidents of the customary courts of appeal
elected by the presidents of the customary court of appeal;three Grand
Khadis of Sharia court of appeals as
elected by Grand Khandis of customary courts of appeal;All NBA members as
nominated by the Bar ;that chief chief justice of Nigeria shall appoint two
retired judges ;five years tenure ; for the selected officials .
That with this structure section 21 should now be amended and saddle
the new the institution or council with
its new powers .This pertains to advisory and appointment and dismissal and
disciplinary control .Consequently that national judicial council be replaced
with federal judicial service commission in sections 231-1;231-2;231-5;238-1;238-2;238-5;250-1;256-1;256-2;256-5;261-1;261-3-a-b;266-3-3-a-b;266-5.In
sections 271-1;271-2;271-5;276-1;276-2;276-3-a-b;276-5;281-1;281-2;281-3-a-b;281-5.It
also requires that national judicial council be replaced by state judicial
service commission.
Moreover , as contained in the first schedule part one of the 1999
constitution the functions of the local
government and the local government administration system in the country should
be strengthened contrary to recommendation
at the ongoing national conference and its committee on political restructuring and
forms of government that it be scraped and functions transferred to the
states in control of the grassroots
operative system . In the final analysis I would like to still end this piece
with judicial reform and constitutional amendment. The section 233 of the constitution requires
amendment in which cases going to Supreme court ought to have been
terminated at the court of appeal so that the apex court can now focus on
regular cases and avoid issues of court
congestion-a central predicament in the administration of justice in Nigeria
.Thanks.
……..
.
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