Politics
Nigeria: Towards A Workable Constitution
The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review made a bold attempt, penultimate week, to commence an innovative discourse with the people in 360 centres spread across the federal constituencies. The move, believed to be coming rather late, is aimed at addressing the disconnect between Nigerians and the 1999 Constitution decreed by the last military dictatorship.
This process of public participation is sequel to the ad hoc committee of the National Assembly which had collated more than 200 contents of the memoranda submitted by individuals, groups and organisations.
Some of the issues that constituted the agenda for the public discourse include zonal configuration, controversial immunity clause, state police, power sharing, five, six or seven-year single tenure for the executive arm of government, creation of more states, independent candidacy, voting age, women representation, unicameral legislature, presidential or parliamentary system of government, status of traditional rulers and further electoral reforms.
Stakeholders at both local and state levels had fresh opportunities to make further inputs into the constitution review process at the public sessions held across the country. More importantly, all mass-based groups, including professional bodies like the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Nigeria Union of Teachers, (NUT), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigeria labour Congress (NLC) and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) played crucial roles at the sessions put together by an independent steering committee of stakeholders, including house member organisations representing the constituency as the facilitator.
Similarly, other stakeholders in the Nigerian project such as ethnic nationalities, women, youths, students, town unions, traditional institutions, political parties and artisans, and The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) made inputs in expectation of an enduring document that will actually define an egalitarian nation.
Determined to bring in their wealth of experience as captains of the ship of the 36 States,to bear on the very fundamental document that will direct the affairs of Nigeria in the next dispensation, the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) constituted various committees last month to look into the review of the 1999 constitution.
Chairman of the Forum, Chibuike Amaechi, while briefing newsmen in Abuja, said the NGF, after meeting with the Senate Committee vested with the responsibility to review the constitution, resolved to set up a committee consisting of the Governors of Rivers, Jigawa, Bauchi, Lagos, Niger, Anambra and Akwa-Ibom states, to liaise with the Deputy Senate President-led Constitution Review Committee to advise on issues that are of collective interest to them.
The Rivers State Governor said: “Forum held an exploratory meeting with the Senate Committee on 1999 Constitutional Review led by the Chairman and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and constituted a seven-man committee to engage and collaborate with the National Assembly on the constitution review process.”
But indications are that a few of the membership of the forum hold different opinion of what should actually be. Few days after the NGF announced the formation of the committee, Governor Aliyu Wamako of Sokoto State, at the presentation of the 2012 merit award on leadership and administration of peace on the governors of the North West states by the Raymond Dokpesi Centre for Media Development in Abuja, took a swipe at plans by the National Assembly to set in motion the review of the constitution, noting that what the country needs at present was not constitution review or creation of new states.
He stressed that Nigeria’s problem has gone beyond the proliferation of states but the sustenance of the existing ones, contending that Nigerian leaders should at this stage, which he described as the most critical, unite to examine measures that will lift the country from its present predicaments.
Wamako’s outburst seems to have introduced a new dimension into the collective position expected to come from the NGF whose individual member view is expected to be harmonised and presented to the National Assembly in a memorandum before the commencement of the public hearing.
The Sokoto State Governor is not alone in the expression of a divergent view on the review of the Constitution, his Kano State counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwanso is totally displeased with the entire process, openly accusing the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Emeka Ihedioha of collaborating to foist an Igbo agenda on their colleagues. “It’s Igbo agenda”, Kwankwanso alleges.
Speaking with reporters in Kano, Kwankwanso said that the “process is designed to achieve a predetermined goal and the principal officers of the committee are pursuing an agenda under an agenda”. Senate President, David Mark, in a retort absolved the National Assembly of having a hidden agenda saying the National Assembly would be guided by the views of the majority of Nigerians.
However, while some Governors express reservations on the process, others are optimistic. One of those foreseeing positive outcome of the exercise is Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State. He believes Nigeria will come out sronger if the National Assembly remains faithful and allows popular views to prevail in the on-going constitution review exercise.
Speaking at the People’s public session of the 1999 Constitution review forum organised by the three senators representing the state in the National Assembly, in Port Harcourt, Amaechi said, “it is important that the National Assembly carry us along in the process”.
Amaechi advocated for fiscal federalism, “we believe that if they move some of the funds to state governments, the citizens will be well protected”, arguing that though agitation for state creation was not bad, that some states were not viable and disclosed that the position of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) on some burning issues would be made public after their forthcoming meeting.
On his part, Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State sought a special status for the state because of its strategic importance to the nation. “If Lagos does not prosper, prosperity will be difficult for other parts of Nigeria,” Fashola said.
He also advocated that states should have their own police and be allowed a total control, management and creation of local government areas. Fashola, however, noted that the constitution itself was not an end, but a means to an end. “What Nigerians really want is not just a better document but a better life.”
Fashola said there should be true federalism, and that each state should be allowed to develop, based on its resources and ability, adding that the eventual overall prosperity of all the states will be the prosperity of the entire country. He reiterated the call for state police, noting that the current federal police structure lacked the capacity to effectively secure the entire country.
The governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola at one of the public hearings, said that the nation’s constitution was counterfeit and woven with fraudulent clauses that could not guarantee healthy development of Nigeria.
He observed that with the contents of the 1999 Constitution and its legal implications, true federalism and financial autonomy of federating units were being jettisoned, thus retarding socio-economic and political emancipation in the country.
Aregbesola, said in Osogbo, while addressing a cross section of people, civil society organisations and other stakeholders at the constitution amendment meeting, that the resolve of the House of Representatives to organise the interactive session was an afterthought.
Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, in his contribution in Lafia called for the total abolition of joint state/local governments account and the state police from the proposed review of 1999 Constitution. He based his argument on the belief that it would ensure effective implementation of development projects at the grassroots level.
Similarly, the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, in Maiduguri, called for the review of the federal revanue allocation in favour of the state and local governments, as the governments were closest to the people.
He said “the constitutional provision under section 162(2) should be amended so as to allow flexibility to take care of political, economic and social forces and changes in the country.”
Shettima also called for the inclusion of defined roles for traditional rulers in the new constitution. He called for the recognition of the roles of traditional rulers in the Constitution for the development of the society. “If we feel our traditional rulers are not that important to government, why do we use them to help us in our campaigns against polio and other health challenges.
Why do we need their intervention on security issue, why should we consult them on governance and maintenance of peace and order in their domains?” Shettima queried. He said traditional institution had played prominent roles before and during colonial administration of their communities, recalling that “they were highly respected mobilisers of the people in support of government programmes and policies.”
The governor wondered why the traditional institution was given roles in the 1979 Constitution but omitted in the 1999 Constitution. Gov Shettima noted that traditional rulers had made immense contributions to the emergence of a united Nigeria socially, economically and politically. “Presently, traditional rulers and emirate councils are involved in security, tax collection, publicity and enlightenment campaigns in their areas of jurisdiction,” he disclosed even as he proposed that the funding of the traditional institution should come directly from the federation account.
In his submission, Governor Kayode Fayemi simply said he had no pre-stated position as the position of Ekiti people was his position. However, he said in the alternative to a sovereign national conference which has been the desire of many Nigerians, the peoples’ forum was an inevitable alternative.
Governor Fayemi said the people would have preferred a referendum but added that “since there is no provision for that (sovereign national conference) in the constitution, we’ll make do with what the National Assembly has given us.”
Amieyeofori Ibim
A senator who represented Taraba Central, Mr Abubakar Yusuf, has declared that the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu are not yielding the expected results.
His comment is one of the strongest internal critiques yet from within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The comment underscores the growing dissatisfaction within sections of the ruling party over the direction and impact of the administration’s economic reforms amid rising living costs and fiscal pressures across the country.
Mr Yusuf, who served in the Senate between 2015 and 2023 under the platform of the APC, made the remarks during an appearance on national television.
Responding to a question on whether the administration’s economic direction, often referred to as Tinubunomics, was working, Mr Yusuf answered in the contrary.
“For me, it is not working. I am a member of the APC. I would be the last person to hide the facts”, he said.
He said while the government might be operating diligently within its policy structure, the framework itself is ill-suited to Nigeria’s current realities
“Within the policy framework, yes, they are doing their best, but it is not the framework that is suitable for Nigeria at the point in time that President Asiwaju came into power,” he said.
Mr Yusuf criticised the immediate removal of fuel subsidy on the day the president was sworn in, arguing that the decision lacked sufficient consultation and planning.
“I am one of those who say President Asiwaju ought to have waited. Not on the day he was sworn in to say subsidy is gone. On what basis?”, he asked.
He urged broader engagement before major fiscal decisions are taken.
“Sit down with your cabinet, sit down with your ministers, sit down with your advisers,” he said, dismissing the argument that subsidy removal was justified solely on grounds of corruption.
The former lawmaker identified “structural flaws” in the country’s budgeting system, particularly the envelope budgeting model.
“One of the basic problems is that before you budget, you should have a plan. The envelope system we have been operating has been you budget before you plan. That has been a major issue”, he said.
He argued that allocating spending ceilings without aligning them to concrete development strategies inevitably weakens implementation and delivery.
“If you give me an envelope which is contrary to my plan, whether it is plus or minus, there is no way I am going to implement my plan. It is bound to fail,” he said.
Mr Yusuf called for the scrapping of the envelope budgeting system, noting that he had consistently opposed it even during his years in the National Assembly.
“It is not good for us. It is not going to work well for us,” he said.
He further blamed poor capital releases and persistent deficit financing for undermining budget performance over the years.
“We could not meet 60 percent of our capital budget in all these years. No releases. If you make a budget and the release is very poor, there is no way the budget will be executed”, he stated.
According to him, weak fund disbursement mechanisms and reliance on deficit financing have entrenched a cycle of underperformance.
“Our budget ought to have been a surplus budget, but all our budgets have always been deficit financing budgets,” Mr Yusuf added.
The Nigerian House of Representatives has resolved to reconvene for an emergency session tomorrow February 17, 2026, to deliberate on issues arising from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) release of the timetable for the 2027 general elections.
The decision was disclosed in a statement issued by the House Spokesman, Rep. Akin Rotimi, who described the electoral body’s announcement as one of “constitutional and national significance.”
INEC had fixed February 20, 2027, for the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
According to the statement, members of the Green Chamber were notified of the emergency sitting through an internal memorandum from the Speaker’s office.
The session is expected to focus on legislative matters connected to the newly released timetable, reflecting the House’s resolve to act promptly on issues affecting the nation’s democratic process.
Rep. Rotimi noted that all related businesses would be treated with urgency and urged lawmakers to prioritise attendance in view of the importance of the deliberations.
INEC had on Friday formally unveiled the comprehensive schedule for the 2027 polls, including timelines for party primaries slated for July to September 2026, as well as the commencement of Continuous Voter Registration in April 2026.
The development comes amid ongoing consultations and proposed amendments to the Electoral Act ahead of the 2027 general elections.
As the controversy over the transmission of election results continues across the country, the Defence For Human Rights And Democracy (DHRD), a pro democracy organisation in the country, has criticised the National Assembly for not giving express approval to real time transmission of elections results.
To this end, the group is calling on all civil society organisations in the country to mobilise and push for a better Electoral Reform in the country.
This was contained in a press statement titled, “Defence For Human Rights and Democracy Demands Real Time Election Transmission of Result”, a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt.
The group described the refusal of compulsory real time transmission of result results by the Senate as undemocratic, adding that the situation will give room for election manipulation, rigging and voters apathy.
It said that the provision of mandatory real time transmission of election results would have significant improvement on the nation’s democracy.
According to the statement, “Since the return of democracy in 1999 to date, it is 27 years, so our Democracy has metamorphosed from being nascent and as such significant improvement should have been recorded.
“Defence For Human Rights And Democracy (DHRD), is really disappointed at the National Assembly, especially the upper chamber (Senate) for not approving ‘Real Time Electronic Transmission of Election Result’.
“This undemocratic act of theirs, if not tamed, will give room for election manipulation and rigging’”.
Signed by Comrade Clifford Christopher Solomon on behalf of the organisation, the statement further said, “The Defence For Human Rights and Democracy unequivocally supports real time transmission of election result”, stressing that his group will resist any act by the National Assembly to undermine the nation’s democracy.
“DHRD,unequivocally supports ‘True Democracy’, which is Government of the people, by the people and for the people.
“Therefore, anything that will crash the hope of Nigerians to Freely, Fairly and Transparently elect candidates of their choice in any given election should and will be vehemently resisted because good governance begins with leaders elected through credible process. By so doing, leaders have entered a social contract with the citizens to equitably manage their affairs and abundant resources”, the statement added.
It urged the National Assembly to revisit the issue in order to avoid civil unrest.
According to the DHRD, “To avoid civil unrest,voters apathy, election rigging and manipulation, rather to promote citizens participation, advancing our Democracy and entrenching free, fair, credible and acceptable electoral outcome, the National Assembly should amend the electoral act in a manner that will deepen our democracy and boost citizens confidence.
“On this note, The Defence For Human Rights And Democracy (DHRD), is calling on all other civil society organisations (CSOs) to mobilise, organise and push for a better electoral act amendment by the National Assembly”.
By: John Bibor