Debating Nigeria's Constitution
Chuks D. Eleonu
>From Sunday Igboanugo (Enugu), Joseph Ollor Obari (Port Harcourt),
Yinka Fabowale, Soji Eze-Fagbemi (Ibadan), Mustapha Ogunsakin (Lagos),
Mohammed Abubakar (Maiduguri) and Rhikardo Chidi Obih (Kano)
OFFICIAL deadline for submitting memoranda to the Constitutional
Debate Co-ordinating Committee (CDCC) has been stretched to December
10, amid general apathy towards public debates started off in five
zones on Monday. The former deadline for submitting memoranda was
yesterday.
Foremost constitutional lawyer Prof. Ben Nwabueze has, meanwhile,
canvassed the regrouping of Nigeria's 36 states into six regions. The
proposed configuration, in a memorandum he submitted to the CDCC are:
Southern Region - comprising Akwa Ibom, Annang, Cross River, Degema,
Delta, Edo, Ogoja and Bayelsa communities, with the headquarters to be
mutually agreed upon.
Eastern region - comprising Abia, Anambra, Anioma (old Aboh and Asaba
divisions), Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Port Harcourt (old Ahoada and Port
Harcourt) communities with headquarters at Enugu.
Western Region - Ekiti, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states
- with headquarters at Ibadan.
Central Region - comprising Apa (Idoma), Benue, Jema'a (southern Zaria
- old Kachia, Jema' and Saminaka council areas), Kogi, Niger, Plateau
communities, with headquarters at Jos.
North-Eastern Region - having Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Katagun,
Taraba and Yobe communities, with headquarters at Maiduguri.
North-Western Region - comprising Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina,
Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states, with headquarters in Kaduna.
In announcing a shift in its deadline, the CDCC yesterday in Abuja
offered no reason. But sources said it was to allow prospective debate
participants more time to work.
Thirty-six contributors had as at yesterday forwarded their materials
to the International Conference Centre venue of the CDCC secretariat.
Assistant Secretary, Alhaji Abdulahi Saidu Faskari, said the deadline
extension would not hinder the committee from submitting its report on
schedule to the Federal Government. He acknowledged that the
committee's schedule is tight, but said members would keep to the time
allowed them.
According to him, the CDCC Chairman, Justice Niki Tobi, will supervise
open zonal constitutional debates in Benin, Enugu, Jos, Port Harcourt
and Maiduguri. Deputy Chairman, Dr. Suleiman Kurmo, will supervise
hearings in Kaduna, Kano, Ibadan, Lagos and Sokoto.
Nwabueze, secretary of the pan-Igbo group, Mkpoko Igbo, amplified the
platform's agenda to the 1995 National Constitutional Conference which
produced the draft law currently being debated.
Reviewing past instances of states creation, he said that of 1967 met
many of the set objectives. But the Federal Government, buckling to
sentimental demands, had since gone ahead to create more states to the
extent that most of the current 36 states are unviable -
population-wise and in terms of the ability to generate internal
revenue.
The constitutional lawyer acknowledged that it would be difficult to
reverse the past measures given the agitation motivating them. But he
said advantages of the regional structure were many. "The regions
consist of approximately the same number of states, the population of
the regions do not differ widely."
He regretted that Nigeria currently operates a unitary structure
despite the desire by Nigerians to have a loose federation. In his
view, powers should be shared between the Federal Government and
regions as the federating units, so that the power at the centre would
be drastically curtailed.
Nwabueze proposed a country where citizens would have a sense of
belonging, based on the fact that federal character should be an
instrument of national unity. "In a society comprising a vast
plurality of tribal and religious groups, loyalty to the state and a
sense of belonging cannot be nurtured unless this plurality is
adequately reflected in the personnel of the government and its
agencies and in the conduct of their affair".
"Merit is acknowledged as an important principle for administrative
efficiency, but governing any community involves wider, more
fundamental issues than that," he added.
Among other things, Nwabueze supported the National Judicial Council
provided for in the 1995 Draft Constitution. But he said that "the
council should broaden its supervisions in the area of discipline of
judges."
He supports the setting up of a Constitutional Court, and endorses the
freedom of the president to appoint ministers who must not retain
their seats in the National Assembly if appointed from there.
Public apathy characterised the start-off of the public debate in
Enugu on Monday. Many groups including the pan-Igbo organization,
(Ohaneze) and individuals have criticised the propriety of the debate
which they described as time wasting and a waste of public funds.
Prominent members of the group and government officials were all
absent at the Enugu House of Assembly Chambers, venue of the talks.
The state Administrator, Navy Capt. Adewunmi Agbaje, was said to have
initially agreed to attend the debate but probably stayed away because
of the low turn out of people.
Members of the CDCC led by Justice Tobi, who had called at the
Government House earlier where they extracted the promise of the
administrator to be physically present, had to start the ceremony when
Navy Capt. Agbaje did not turnup.
Former Secretary to State Government (SSG) for Enugu State, Dr. Onyema
Ochuoha, who was one of those who reviewed the constitution, called
for the withdrawal of Nigeria from the Organisation of Islamic
Conference, (OIC) in line with the section 11, chapter 2, which
guaranteed religious freedom for the country. He also canvassed the
expansion of section 15(2) to ensure national integration by
de-emphasising state and council areas of origin and by using places
of domicile as basis for identification of government patronage at all
levels.
The former SSG called for the establishment of a constitutional court
to ensure coverage for the fundamental human rights of citizens,
especially the abuse of power by uniformed officials, adding that
anybody whose rights were abused should have the full confidence in
the legal system for redress.
The two public hearing on the 1995 draft constitution in the
south-south political zone ended yesterday in Port Harcourt, with more
representations from neighbouring states. The issue of review of
revenue allocation based on higher derivation percentage featured
prominently.
Representatives of interest groups presented their views on necessary
reviews of the draft constitution. Among the groups were the Ibibio
People of Akwa Ibom led by Dr. Clement Isong of the Ibibio Elders
Council, the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, the Movement
for the Survival of Eastern Nigeria and Niger Delta Indigenes
(MOSENNDI), and the United Kingdom-based Eastern Nigeria Unity
Association (ENUA-UK). Notable citizens of the states such as Chief
Harold Dappa-Biriye, Prof. Chitoro Achinenwu and Dr. Gesiye S. Angaye
also spoke.
Their views generally centred on the review of the constitution to
restructure Nigeria into eight geo-political zones. There was also a
yearning for true federalism, the undesirability of the constitutional
court, the need for absolute separation of power, and the control by
the people of the zone of their resources.
The Modakeke Community in Osun State, at the public debate yesterday
in Ibadan, suggested that the Land Use Act of 1978 be retained and
entrenched in the draft constitution.
Another speaker, Mr. Alfred Oladigbo, a lawyer, faulted chapter 1,
section 2 of the constitution for being inadequate in dealing with
military coups. Another lawyer, Chief Goke Ajiboye, representing 19
members of his family, called for an independent judiciary that would
be self-sustaining and whose budget would not be tampered with by
anybody.
He also postulated that the 1979 constitution be made the basis for
whatever constitution to be adopted.
Represented by Mr. Abiodun Sowande, also a legal practitioner, the
Modakeke community submitted that the land use act should continue to
be one of the existing laws.
Modakeke community further said: "The intention of the Land Use Decree
1978 can be found in the preamble to the decree which provided that:
'... it is in the public interest that the rights of all Nigerians to
the land of Nigeria be asserted and preserved by law.'"
The community said the decree was a bold step by the government at
introduced welfarism into the country in relation to use of land
especially agricultural land by all Nigerians to boost food production
to sustain the populace of Nigeria without let or hinderance.
They noted that the decree was a step to ensure that state governments
hold land in trust for the people, and not traditional rulers who
enjoyed the privilege in the past
Faulting Chapter 1, Section 2 of the constitution, Oladigbo pointed
out that the intention of the draft was to check coups but said the
section was not strong enough to stop military intervention.
He proposed that the section, which reads: "The Federal Republic of
Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any person or group of
persons take control of the government of Nigeria or any part thereof,
except in accordance with the provisions of this constitution," be
amended and given more construction to make it more purposeful.
Oladigbo suggested that the constitution must be supreme and
unsuspendable, stressing that the phrase "not suspendable" should be
added to section 1 sub (i) of the constitution.
Besides, he said that military coup should be made a criminal act
punishable under the law, while the constitution should also contain
provisions that would make it an offence for anyone to invite military
into the governance of the country.
Former president, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Alhaji Garuba Shehu,
described the press law in the constitution as a very bad one which
was targeted at suppressing the practice of journalism.
Shehu noted that the press law would denigrate the practice of
federalism and advised that the constitution should rather make
explicit commitment to the guarantee of free practice of journalism.
Prof. Adedeji Awoniyi said the local government should be made the
political "nerve centre" of the country rather than the federal
government.
To achieve this, he said a substantial percentage of all revenues
should go into the administration of the local government.
In maintaining the present federal structure, he said the nation's
capital territory, Abuja, should be made less attractive to political,
economica and social vampires. "The situation is so bad that one
almost needs the approval of Abuja authority to die or to be alive".
Politicians and prominent indigenes of Borno State stayed away from
the Maiduguri zone of the debate.
The states participating in the debate from the zone include Adamawa,
Yobe and the host, Borno. The strike by Borno workers on minimum wage
did not help matters.
Not more than 20 people excluding the five-man delegation were at the
Conference Hall of the Federal Secretariat where the debate took
place. Besides, the resource persons, most of whom were lecturers from
the University of Maiduguri claimed they were not notified early
enough to prepare their papers.
Some of them were sighted at the venue of the debate writing the
papers they were to present.
However, the leader of the team, Alhaji Falalu Bello, assured the
attendants that the committee would collate their views and
recommendations and submit same to the CDCC national body.
In a paper, Sheik Hassan El-Badawi, from Yobe State who claimed to be
representing the Borno zone of the Alumni Association of the National
Policy and Strategic Studies, said neither the 1995 draft constitution
nor the revised one was suitable for the country.
Instead, he called for a return to presidential system where Nigerians
would elect their leaders without acrimony. He said the idea of
rotation was laudable, but care must be taken not to entrench
mediocrity in the country's leadership.
The Zannah Suyima of Borno, Ahlaji Bukar Umaru Mandara, called for the
review of revenue allocation formula.
He would want the federal government to take 40 per cent while the
state and local governments should share the remaining 60 per cent.
The workshop in Kano blamed the Northern Moslem elite for lack of
foresight and refusal to entrench the Islamic Shariah law in the 1979
Constitution,, saying they stand condemned by history and would answer
a query before God on the judgment day.
The workshop attended mostly by Islamic scholars at the State House of
Assembly Complex yesterday stated that the issue of placing the
Shariah in the 1979 constitution should not have been a debatable
matter if not for the Moslems' weakness of faith and inordinate and
selfish political desires.
In his paper - "Shariah and the 1995 Draft Constitution," - Alhaji
Aliyu Dauda of the Department of Education, Bayero University Kano
(BUK) blamed Northern Moslems for what he described as a miserable and
ridiculous position on Sharia law.
To him, the educated Moslems from the north who should have entrenched
the Islamic law in the constitution refused to do so due to their
inordinate desires.
In Lagos, the Group for True Federalism (GTF) advocated a return to
the 1963 Federal and Regional constitutions.
According to GTF, the First Republic Constitution represented the
genuine resolve of Nigerian people to live together based on equity
and mutual respect between the federating units.
He said: "It must be stressed that this constitutional arrangement
agreed to after a series of constitutional conferences both here in
Nigeria and in the United Kingdom (UK) was more in less the product of
the Nigerian people".
Aideloje said under section 140 of the constitution, every region was
entitled to 50 per cent of the natural resources produced in that
particular region while section 142 expected each region to contribute
towards costs.
Poor attendance almost marred the debate in Sokoto zone yesterday.
Although the occasion was scheduled for 9.00 a.m., it did not start
until 11.50 a.m. Not more than 120 people attended from the three
states including newsmen.
In his opening remarks, the chairman of the Constitutional Debate
Coordinating Committee (CDCC) subcommittee for the zonal debate, Mr.
A. Mogboh, said the duty of his committee was to listen to and collate
views and recommendations from people on the draft constitution.
Second Republic Agriculture Minister, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, said the
issue of how to "dismantle the military from the governance of the
country" must be addressed.
According to him, under the military, the country is run as a unitary
system even though it was a federal system, adding that the situation
should be reversed.
In a memo, Prof. Ibrahim Mukoshy of the Uthman Danfodio University who
claimed to be speaking for the people of Sokoto State, said the
principle of zoning and rotation of power should be expunged from the
constitution as it was undemocratic and would lead to the election of
unpopular candidates.
A politician, Alhaji Abdullahi Tafida, canvassed an increase in the
educational qualifications and ages of the president and state
governors.
He suggested a minimum of first degree and equivalent for both offices
and 55 years and 45 years for president and governor.
Source: The Guardian
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When we reach the top of the "mountain," the view is always the same regardless of how long it took to get there. Getting to the top, however, requires "work" and a "consistent effort"
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