BEVERLY HILLS, May 30, (THEWILL) – The two-day Public hearing on the Review of the 1999 Constitution organised by the Senate in the six geopolitical zones of the country on Wednesday and Thursday, May 26 and 27, provided the perfect setting for the Federal Government to get a clear bearing on how to, in the popular parlance, move Nigeria forward.
In the heat of the negative reaction from the presidency and the northern elite following the Southern Governors’ Forum’s ban on open grazing, calls for a national dialogue on burning national issues, as well as the ongoing agitation for self-determination among Nigerians, not to mention the sustained call by many groups to renegotiate the structure of Nigeria, the Federal Government has been looking for a national platform to use to calm frayed nerves and tackle the myriad challenges facing the country.
Dependable sources in the presidency said the Muhammadu Buhari administration would “seize this golden chance of the public hearing to support the move to devolve power from the centre to the units and restructure the country after some of the Executive Orders the president recently signed apparently made no impact.”
The government, the source continued, does not want to touch the 2014 National Conference’s Report that many believe contains inclusive recommendations that may restructure the country nor plan another one as opponents of that confab are suggesting.
So, the legal works on the Constitution by the National Assembly would be in perfect order and a bridge between both demands.
Indeed, Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and a security expert, Honourable Ade Adeogun, said that much in an interview with THEWILL. To him, it would be hard to make a headway with some of the demands for state police, devolution of power and restructuring without a national consensus, such as the two-day national public hearing on the review of the Constitution has provided.
He said, “It would take tremendous national consensus to amend the 1999 Constitution to provide, for example, state police. I doubt if we are close to such consensus. If we adopt federalism with all its appurtenances, then state police will be a given. For now, it is far-fetched.”
That national consensus was arguably on display for the two-days of the public hearing across Nigeria. Appointed and elected leaders, professional, trade and civil society organisations, as well as chief security officers, besieged the venues of the public hearing to submit memoranda.
Working According To Plan
Prior to the public hearing on the review of the Constitution organised by the Senate, a Federal Government supported town hall meeting held in Kaduna on April 8, 2021.
Attended by scholars, traditional rulers, bankers, CSOs, security and service chiefs, religious leaders, women and youth groups, government officials and lawmakers, the gathering made a 10- point recommendation on political restructuring, state policing, rule of law, decentralisation of the judiciary through Constitutional Amendment, free, qualitative and compulsory primary education, promotion of inter-marriage among Nigerians by traditional rulers, setting up of ranches to avert farmer/herdsmen conflict, local government autonomy, and training and equipping of security personnel.
Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a meeting with journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 said, the recommendations have been submitted to the National Executive Council, comprising all the governors of the 36 states and presided over by Vice President Yomi Osinbajo for consideration.
Mohammed said, “We have taken those resolutions to the National Economic Council, chaired by His Excellency the Vice President, and which also included all the state governors.
“As a prelude to adopting the recommendations, the NEC has directed all state governors to organise state-wide consultation on them and then revert to the Council in its next meeting.”
Nigerians Root for Devolution of Power, Autonomy and State police
Many groups came bearing placards that spoke their minds. At the Marriot Hotel in Lagos, the venue of the South-West public hearing, the staff of civil society organsations and labour carried placards inscribed with their demands: New, New Beginning; NULGE Demand Full Political Autonomy; Citizens Demand An Inclusive $Transparent Participation in Constitutional Amendment.
Speaking the minds of many Nigerians at the event, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, said, “I should note that many of the issues that have been agitating the minds of the various stakeholders in the Nigerian project are already in the public domain.
“However, this zonal meeting provides an opportunity to articulate and express them again, in the hope that this particular process will produce favorable outcomes.
“For us in Lagos State, the issues of state police and fiscal federalism are at the top of the priority list for us in this ongoing review process. Equally fundamental, particularly for those of us in Lagos State is the issue of a Special Economic Status for Lagos, considering our place in the national economy and the special burden we bear by virtue of our large population and limited land mass.
“According to the National Assembly, the primary issues on the table for this public hearing include increased participation of women and vulnerable groups in governance, local government administration and autonomy, state police, fiscal federalism and revenue allocation, judicial reforms, electoral reform, residency and indigene-ship, constitutional roles for traditional rulers and many more.”
In the South-East, most speakers at the zonal public hearing held in Owerri, the Imo State capital, demanded devolution of power and fiscal federalism, as well as state and local government police.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, ACB Agbazuere, called for “the devolution of power, state and local government policing and fiscal federalism.”
On behalf of the North-Central geo-political zone in the country, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state said on Wednesday at the zonal public hearing on constitution review in Minna that governors from the North-Central states want restructuring without compromising the unity of the nation.
According to him “Restructuring is a perception that has been in national discourse. We the governors of North-Central states have talked about it and we are not afraid of restructuring. However, the unity of the nation is pivotal and cannot be compromised.”
Bello said, “The time has come for us to take a critical look at the 1999 Constitution towards providing an efficient system of government.”
He also canvassed local government autonomy, adding that the exclusive and concurrent list also needed to be reviewed.
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, while declaring open the public hearing at the International Culture and Event Centre (The DOME), in Akure, the state capital, called on the Senate to look into all the agitations of the peoples of the country with a view to improving the economic power of the average citizens.
He called for a return to the 1963 Constitution. “The new law must view critically the current misnomer, which sees the Federal Government appropriating humongous amounts for moribund agencies whose duties overlap with those of the states,” he said, adding, “The fiscal policy of the country must be restructured to encourage ingenuity and uncommon resourcefulness. The Federal Government should only coordinate and receive royalties. The current system is not sustainable. All of us are beginning to appreciate this fact.”
Akeredolu’s Katsina State counterpart, Aminu Masari, said, ‘’I support devolution of power totally. The Federal Government is trying its best. But the states need to have the resources to implement what should have been implemented by the Federal Government.
‘’If today the states will support the Police, the Police system will go up. If the states withdraw their support to security agencies, they won’t be able to move from here to there.
‘’So, I absolutely support devolution of power in totality. So, as a government, Katsina State should be allowed by the Constitution to decide on many things that are peculiar to us.”
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, who called for the insertion of a clause to allow for the re-writing of the Constitution, urged the senior lawmakers to look into power devolution to the states, the review of the revenue allocation formula, oil derivation and state police in the amendment.
For the Delta State Governor, what Nigeria needs is an entirely new constitution, not amendment even as he maintained that this had become necessary because of the obvious flaws in the 1999 Constitution (as amended.)
“As a state, we believe that the way the federal structure is, in terms of governance, the powers at the federal level or what you call the powers of the presidency are too weighted against the rest of the structures in the state or what you call the sub-national governments.
“We believe that the exclusive list ought not to be as it is because there are many things in that place that could truly be in the concurrent list.
“This is because the sub-national governments are much closer to the people and they understand truly the pains and needs of their people. They are more likely to affect development changes that will be impactful on their people.
“We believe in the Nigerian Police, but to fully secure the land there is a need for the states to have their own police. All the state governors are in support of that,” he said.
In his contribution to the debate, Governor Nasir el – Rufai of Kaduna State argued that power should be devolved to the states to take off the burden from the Federal Government, which is already struggling to cope with too many duties.
El-Rufai, who spoke at the public hearing of the Senate committee in Kaduna on Wednesday, stated, “The reality of our security situation today requires that Nigeria must strengthen its military and security agencies. This includes decentralising the police to enable the states to exercise effective control in securing their residents and communities.”
The Nay Sayers
For some other eminent and prominent Nigerians, the public hearings boil down to one thing: A call to return to the 1963 Republican Constitution, which was made by the people of Nigeria and therefore can be amended by them either through their representatives or through a referendum.
Three prominent Senior Advocates of Nigeria and a political organisation in the South-West, Afenifere, are championing this cause.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay and the founder of Afe Babalola, University, Ado-Ekiti, Chief Afe Babalola, both insist that if any meaningful amendment can be made to any constitution, it has to be the 1963 Republican Constitution.
According to Sagay, the 1963 Republican Constitution has everything that is being agitated for in the country and can help halt the turmoil that has rocked the country.
He said, “If we had to, with amendments here and there, make it accommodate states rather than regions, which we used to have, I think these agitations will die down and everybody will be happy. But what we really need is a clear departure from what we have. What we have now is a unitary constitution parading itself as a federal constitution.”
Chief Babalola said, “To me, the proposed amendment to the 1999 constitution by the national assembly: whichever way you look at it, is a futile exercise.
“It is common knowledge that the 1999 Constitution was made by the military which in its wisdom, claimed that it was made by the people. He called on the NASS to “call for a national conference to discuss and make a new, true Federal Constitution.”
For the Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the public hearing or sitting by the National Assembly is a deceit, a charade.
“We say the constitution is not ours, it is an imposition and we don’t want it. You can only review your view originally.
“We said the constitution is a fraud. We don’t make it. We the people of the Federal Republic did not make it. It is that constitution that created this National Assembly. Is that not true? Is the national assembly not a beneficiary of that constitution? And yet you want those beneficiaries of the fraud to rectify the fraud. How possible?” Adebanjo said.
Advocates for Change
Nonetheless, many Nigerians think the amendment can help the country move forward. Chief Martins Onovo, Presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, told THEWILL that the Constitution can be amended to accommodate demands for a new Nigeria.
“We get the Federal Government to send a bill to the National Assembly for a new Constitution that is modelled after the 1963 Nigerian Constitution. We will use the six-geo-political zones as federating units and agree on the Exclusive, Concurrent and legislatives lists in the new constitution. Most items like fundamental human rights, national ethics, fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy will mostly remain.”
Continuing, he said an overwhelming majority of Nigerians, smarting from the worsening insecurity, increasing violence, poverty and unemployment, have agreed on restructuring. So what we should be doing is to discuss what should be the terms for restructuring.”
Professor of economic history and development studies, Yakuba Ochefu, agreed with him.
“Anybody who can read the constitution cannot claim that we are running a federal government while in reality there are 60 per cent items in the exclusive legislative list,” he told THEWILL.
He said that although some form of legal restructuring had been going on, there was a need to embark on full devolution of power and grant autonomy to the federating units. “Why for instance, should the Federal Government concern itself with running secondary schools?” he asked.
The Way Forward
“All agitations and voices have been heard,” said Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Chairman of the South West Zonal Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, on Thursday, May 27. “Be rest assured that this amendment process would be free and devoid of short term motives, self interest and destructive manipulations.
“The documents that we have collected here will be scrutinised, harmonised and will still go to the House of Representatives for concurrence. Subsequently, it will go to all our state Houses of Assembly for ratification and finally to the executive for president assent.”
With the prevailing mood in the presidency to strike a balance between the national consensus for restructuring and agitation for self-determination, Nigerians can only be hopeful that their desires would be fulfilled and their demands would be met in the days ahead.
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