The glaring imperfections in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution make it imperative that Nigeria should have a new people’s democratic constitution. In a recent meeting with President Bola Tinubu, a group of eminent Nigerians known as The Patriots reiterated this point. The group, led by the former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, called on President Tinubu to send an executive bill to the National Assembly to convene a National Constituent Assembly that would be mandated to produce a new draft constitution for Nigeria. Such a draft constitution, they said, should be subjected to the national referendum so as to give Nigerians a chance to determine their new constitution.
Nigeria, Anyaoku told Tinubu, “is a pluralistic country, and you know that pluralistic countries exist all over the world. Those of them that address their pluralism by having true federal constitutions have survived. The examples are India and Canada. But those pluralistic countries that failed to address their basic challenge of pluralism through federal constitution have ended up disintegrating. Examples of that are Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. And here in Africa, Sudan.”
At the 2023 Convocation Lecture of Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), in Ekiti State, Anyaoku similarly called for a new constitution in the country. He urged the Federal Government to convene a National Constituent Assembly whose representatives would be directly elected on a non-party basis to discuss and agree to a new constitution for Nigeria.
Many prominent Nigerians and groups had similarly called for either the restructuring of the country or constitutional amendment. A few months ago, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) called for a return to true federalism in an open letter to President Tinubu. The coalition stated that the 1979 and 1999 constitutions which the military imposed on Nigerians remained the bane of the country’s backwardness. It said a return to the Independence/Republican Constitution would restore responsive and responsible government in Nigeria. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Afe Babalola, had, in April 2022, suggested a new constitution that would provide for part-time legislators and non-executive president.
Recently, 35 members of the House of Representatives introduced six constitutional alteration bills on the floor of the House. They include a bill seeking a six-year single term for Nigeria’s President and state governors as well as a bill proposing the rotation of the presidency among the six geopolitical zones in the country.
The 1960 Constitution had made it possible for each region to run its affairs independently. But the military scuttled the federal arrangement and imposed a unitary constitution. Now, every region struggles to be at the centre, which controls 68 items on the exclusive legislative list. This has led to mutual distrust, cry of marginalization and agitations for self-determination in some areas.
Efforts made to redress our past mistakes have not yielded fruits. For instance, we have had different constitutional conferences, including the 1994/95 constitutional conference and the 2014 national conference. The 1994- 1995 conference, set up by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, came up with the 1995 draft constitution. It recommended, among others, the six-regional structure for the country, and rotational six principal offices of five-year single-term duration. The 2014 conference, instituted by former President Goodluck Jonathan, attempted to expand on the 1995 draft constitution and made far-reaching recommendations.
Relying on the reports of these conferences, some Nigerians faulted the calls for a new constitutional conference. They suggested that the President should examine the reports of the previous conferences and act on the recommendations.
Obviously, the recommendations of some of these national conferences offered solutions to the unitary, military-imposed constitution that has made governance difficult in the country. The problem, as has been noted by some constitutional lawyers, was that those conferences lacked legitimacy because it was not constituted by the people through the National Assembly.
For Nigeria to develop and achieve its lofty dreams, the 1999 Constitution needs comprehensive amendment or reviews. A constitution that concentrates most powers at the centre cannot guarantee even development of the country. A constitution that makes creation of more states and councils almost impossible is not good in a federation.
That Nigeria has not witnessed any meaningful development since 1999 when the present constitution came into operation justifies the case for a new constitution. While a people’s constitution is desirable, it is imperative to note that it will take time to prepare; it will be gradual.
President Tinubu should hearken to the calls for a new people-oriented constitution and set modalities in place to achieve it. Good enough, he reportedly assured The Patriots that their request would be reviewed as soon as he was done with economic reforms. It is important to note that the new constitution should take into cognizance, our peculiarities and diversity as a country and should be able to engender unity, stability and development of Nigeria. It should resolve issues surrounding fiscal federalism, devolution of powers to the federating units, state police, equity and justice in appointments and allocation of resources in the country.