secession, disintegration, restructuring and true federalism by some
ethnic and interest groups. Evidently the over 350 ethnic nationalities
in Nigeria are not happy with the progress made so far. This necessitate
the production of a new constitution that will reflect the character of
Nigeria and its spirit and thought.
Although Nigeria is a federation in name but what presently obtains is a
unitary system of government where the federal government is too
powerful and the federating states have been weakened leading to
underdevelopment, inequitable distribution of resources, abuse of
political power, corruption, high level of insecurity and power
imbalance.
It is no longer news that the 1999 Constitution was promulgated into
force by military decree. The military introduced the present unitary
system of government through their decree which eventually became the
1999 Constitution. Nigeria has since been suffering from a military era
hang-over arising from over-centralization of power and resources,
weakened unit states, and non-performance of local governments. No
thanks to the writers of the 1999 Constitution who laid a faulty
foundation for the modern day Nigeria. Also, shame on members of the
political class who are opposed to the production of a new constitution
for the country. This group of politicians are bent on upholding a
faulty constitution due to their selfish interest. They have also
disregarded the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference
constituted by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan which many sane
minds agree is capable of addressing some of the national questions.
Consequently, most of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory
continue to depend on the federal government for survival despite
dwindling oil revenues and the numerous resources in each federating
states. States are unable to explore their natural resources due to poor
governance structure which the present crop of political leaders are
unwilling to address. We cannot continue to confine ourselves to the
1999 Constitution (as amended) in our quest to find answers to the
national questions.
Since 1999, the Nigerian democracy has been unsuccessful. Nigeria is
classified as a hybrid regime rather than a full democracy. This is
according to the 2019 Democracy Index by the Economist Intelligence
Unit. The people are not allowed to choose their preferred officials and
representatives due to electoral frauds. The courts have now been
delegated with the responsibility of determining the winner of an
election. Politicians do not want any electoral reform that will affect
the status quo. The recommendations of the Uwais electoral reform
committee have not been fully implemented. Major General Buhari also
thwarted efforts to reform the electoral system by the 8th National
Assembly. He declined assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill on four
occasions. It is obvious that nothing much will change with respect to
the electoral system in the 2023 general elections. Elections in Kogi
and Bayelsa states shows what the chain of events would be in 2023.
Politicians have perfected the art of rigging and are unlikely to change
their ways.
The living standard of Nigerians is also very poor. Nigeria is presently
the poverty capital of the world overtaking India. While the present
government says they are going to lift 100 million people out of poverty
in 10 years, their policy direction says otherwise. Furthermore, any
attempt by the Nigerian masses to express their displeasure over the
lack of accountability and transparency, high level of corruption, lack
of respect for the rule of law, human right abuses, high level of
insecurity and mismanagement of the economy within the present
government is seen as an affront. The freedom of expression, freedom of
speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly are no longer
respected. Nigerian laws do not apply equally to all citizens.
The National Assembly and the Judiciary have become the appendages of
the Executive rather than being independent. This is evident in the
willingness of the 9th National Assembly to become a rubberstamp of the
Executive and the inability of the Judiciary to challenge the
Executive’s lack of respect for the rule of law. For the Judiciary,
the invasion of the homes of judicial officers by security operatives
and the removal of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter
Onnoghen—all on the orders of Major General Buhari may have informed
their silence in the face of tyranny.
Corruption remain a major challenge affecting economic development and
threatening the fabric of the Nigerian State. According to Transparency
International, Nigeria ranked 146 out of 180 countries on global
corruption index in 2019. This is in spite of the fact that the fight
against corruption is one of the key priorities of the Buhari regime.
The fight against corruption is perceived by many people as selective
and a witch-hunt of political opponents. The present government is also
neck deep in corruption. Contrary to the federal government’s defense,
the corruption perception index by Transparency International is
reflective of the current situation in Nigeria. Corruption is the source
of many public officer’s stupendous wealth and the consequence is the
high level of poverty and inequality seen in our society.
According to the 1999 Constitution (as amended), sovereignty belongs to
the Nigerian people but when the foundation of the Nigerian State is
faulty, what can the poor masses do? The political leaders are the ones
saddled with the responsibility of laying a strong foundation for the
Nigerian State. Unfortunately, those who derive their powers and
authorities from the people have now become more powerful than the
people who gave them the power. The Nigerian masses have lost the power
to oust bad leaders.
Those who claim that Nigeria’s unity is sacrosanct and are opposed to
both constitutional and non-constitutional solutions to Nigeria’s
problems are the enemies of the country. They are only interested in
using the resources from Southern Nigeria to develop Northern Nigeria as
well as line their private pockets and achieve their selfish ambition.
The amendment of some sections of the 1999 Constitution by the political
class does not go far enough and cannot ensure true federalism or
restructuring. Furthermore, those who are opposed to restructuring of
the Nigerian State will not provide the needed votes required for a
constitutional amended to bring restructuring into effect.
The unity of Nigeria is not guaranteed without laying a new foundation
for the Nigerian State. Nigeria’s political leaders are only
postponing the evil day by maintaining the status quo and dismissing
agitations for secession, disintegration, restructuring and true
federalism. There is a need to produce a new constitution that address
the issues of restructuring and true federalism. The collapse of African
countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and South Sudan
should tell us something.
BOLAJI SAMSON AREGBESHOLA IS AN OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR AND THE AUTHOR OF
“NIGERIAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICIANS: WINDING ROAD FROM COUNTRY
TO NATION.”