October 21, (THEWILL) – A former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, has called for a national constituent assembly of directly elected on a non-party basis representatives whose task would be to discuss and agree on a new constitution for Nigeria, taking into account the 1963 and the 1999 constitutions and the recommendations of the 2014 national conference.
Anyaoku spoke on Friday while delivering the 2023 convocation lecture at the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti.
Speaking on the topic, “Management of Diversity: A Major Challenge to Governance In Pluralistic Countries,” Anyaoku described Nigeria as a country with an unprecedented level of divisiveness and a declining sense of national unity.
He pointed out that the nation’s economy is in the doldrums with 133 million of our population in multi-dimensional poverty, great insecurity, killings and kidnappings by unknown gunmen and marauding bandits.
“But all this changed when the military intervened in the country’s governance in January 1966 and changed the existing constitution,” he said.
Anyaoku pointed out that the regions engaged in healthy competition, which facilitated rapid development across the country.
He added that in Nigeria today, all our infrastructures, including power supply, road and education, and health facilities, are in a poor state.
Anyaoku, an elder statesman, pointed out that there is a complete bastardization of our society’s ethical values, and an unfathomable level of corruption evident in the often reported massive looting and mismanagement of the country’s resources, including the continuing unbridled theft of crude oil.
His words: “In contrast, today, if truth be told, the situation in our country is lamentable. There is an unprecedented level of divisiveness and a declining sense of national unity; the economy is in the doldrums with 133 million of our population in multidimensional poverty.
“There is great insecurity throughout the land as we hear every day of killings and kidnappings by unknown gunmen and marauding bandits; all our infrastructure, including power supply, roads, and educational and health facilities, are in a poor state.
“Added to all this, there is a complete bastardisation of our society’s ethical values and an unfathomable level of corruption evident in the often reported massive looting and mismanagement of the country’s resources, including the continuing unbridled theft of our crude oil.
“I believe that Nigeria is still salvageable. The country can still be restored to greater peace, greater security, a renewed sense of national unity, greater political stability, and a more assured pace of economic development.
“To arrest the ongoing deterioration of the situation in the country and to achieve the desired transformation for the better, we need a system of government that not only addresses our diversity but is also based on a Constitution that can correctly be described as a Nigerian people’s Constitution.
“Accordingly, I call on the Presidency in consultation with the National Assembly, instead of continuing to tinker with the 1999 Constitution, to acknowledge the urgent necessity of a new Constitution to be made by the people of Nigeria.
“Convene a National Constituent Assembly of directly elected representatives on a non-party basis whose task would be to discuss and agree on a new Constitution, taking into account the 1963 and the 1999 Constitutions and the recommendations of the 2014 national conference.
“The Constituent Assembly should be given six months to produce the draft new Constitution. The agreed draft constitution should be put to a national referendum for adoption by a majority of the voters, after which it should be signed by the President.
“The essence of the new Constitution should, in recognition of the crucial principle of subsidiarity in every successful federation, involve a devolution of powers from the central government to fewer and more viable federating units with strong provisions for inclusive governance at the centre and in the regions as was agreed by Nigeria’s founding fathers.”
In his remarks, the founder of ABUAD, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), who condemned the present situation in Nigeria, said the wealth of the nation is in the hands of a few politicians, who had made politics a lucrative business.
Babalola called and supported Chief Anyaoku’s position that Nigeria needed a new constitution for the betterment of the country, which he had been clamouring for over 33 years.
He said unless we address that politics is service to politicians and not business, Nigeria will continue to have multi-faceted problems.
