As the 9th National Assembly is set to embark on another constitutional review, analysts have demanded for more inclusivity, true federalism, gender equality and improved electoral process through the adoption of electronic voting.
They also called for community policing which could be more effective as against state police that could be hijacked by State Governors, clear separation of powers, amongst the three arms of government to deepen the county’s democracy and restructuring of the current arrangements to meet contemporary demands.
Like previous Assemblies, the 9th National Assembly too has began the process of constitution review with the formation and inauguration of Committees for the exercise with Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase for each Chamber.
At the inauguration of the House Constitution Review Committee, its Chairman, Wase said the House would consider the creation of states, state police, true federalism, local government and judicial autonomy in the review of the 1999 constitution.
Wase, said: “There has been several attempts to amend the 1999 Constitution, yet the agitations for a much more fundamental amendment has not stopped.This is because there are very critical aspects of our Constitution that touch on our continued existence as a strong, indivisible Nation. Until these critical areas are resolved, we may continue to face clamour for a new Constitution.
“The burning issues include, the federal structure (true federalism), local government autonomy, state policing, state creation and judicial autonomy.”
“Some have stated that our federal system is more unitary than federalist especially with the number of items on the exclusive legislative list where the federal government regulates even simple items like primary education and agriculture. Hence, there has been clamour for more devolution of powers from the centre to the states in order to makes states more viable and economically sustainable”.
Speaking to Business, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, Benue State University Makurdi,Elijah Ikpanor who noted that the clamour for constitutional review started with minority agitations for inclusion into the Nigerian project called for restructuring and inclusiveness to give all sections of the country a sense of belonging.
According to the scholar: “When uprising started in the South South, the midwstern region and the middle belt region it was as a result of lack of national integration of minority groups. Since then, what we have been hearing about constitutional review is restructuring, we the minorities hope that if powers are not over concentrated at the national level we will also have the benefit to participate in the national politics better.
“When you have powers concentrated in the hands of those who control the federal government there is bond to be that marginalization. For instance Nigeria right now is just about three major ethnic groups – the Hausa/Fulani, Igbo and Youruba. Every discussion about the Nigerian project focuses on these three ethnic groups.
“So we feel that for us to have a very objective and reliable constitutional review, we must take care of concerns of minority groups, especially those in the South/South and Middle Belt regions.
While calling for the amendment of the current Electoral Act to paveway for electronic voting, Ikpanor said: “We have seen how elections are conducted, especially in this period of COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen how at least to some reasonable extent results have reflected the wishes of the people. It is because of the attempts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to adopt some forms of electronic collation system of results. If we have done that trial and discover that it worked, then why can’t we adopt electron voting system.
“I will say that the Electoral Act that was not assented to by the President should be a major issue to be considered in this current exercise of constitutional review so that results will reflect the wishes of the people. It is the collation process that is the issue. When you have results transmitted electronically from the polling unit to a central system it gives that confidence in the system. You don’t have issues of people hijacking results. So I am completely for electronically voting system. I am completely for the Electoral Act that is at the table of the President it should be assented to”.
Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) suggested a critical consideration of issues such as indigeneship, true federalism, fiscal federalism; revenue allocation, electoral process to restore the peoples’ confidence.
He recommended that the Committee should listen to Nigerians from all nooks and crannies on so many issues that require serious constitutional amendments so that the country’s democracy can be deepened for Nigerians can have a sense of belonging
“Again, I want to also appeal to the National Assembly to ensure that critical voices are also consulted and their views been taken on board so that many Nigerians will feel that they are actually part and parcel of the constitutional making process in the country. I think civil societes can provide a lot of resources for the Committee. We are happy to support the Committee. We have been on this since the previous efforts of constitutional amendment and I believe that we can do more.
“They should ensure that they reflected the views and yearnings and aspirations of Nigerian people on those contentious issues that require serious constitutional reforms that will address the perceived injustice or the maladministration and malfunctioning of Nigeria. We need to deal with those issues that will make Nigeria work”, Rafsanjani.
One her part, an Abuja based Lawyer and political activist, Georgina Dakpokpo sought legal backing for gender balancing in leadership positions, expatriates quota, independence of the judiciary and strengthening of state institutions.
Dakpokpo emphasized that: “Essentially, the burning issue right now is restructuring so that is something that should be critically looked into in the review of the constitution. Not just restructuring for every region to have its independence. I believe that if there is proper restructuring in the real sense of the word it would help revive the economy, it will help revive healthy competitive among the regions. It will help revive some independence away from the centre. What we have now is Governors waiting for the end of the month to share the allocation. If there is restructuring it will help our economy.
“Another issue is quota for expatriates coming into the country. One of the requirements according to our guidelines is that they must have a bank account before they can get the quota. Meanwhile they cannot have bank account without expertriate quota so it makes people start forging documents to get that quota so they should look into that and correct that error. It is nominal error but it is something that should be looked into.
“For gender equality, women have year in year out have advocacy on the need to include women in government. It is my firm believe that we can only accomplish that in Nigeria if we have it in the constitution. They should bring reforms in the Electoral Act so that before any party gets registered in Nigeria, it must have a certain percentage for women in the executive.
“There are women out there who want to be go into politics but they have not found a platform for them to do that. If this becomes law, it will not be difficult to get women to fill those positions. We can have one in every three executives to be a woman, apart from the traditional Woman Leader they give to women. Even for proper governance itself in politics, we must have a certain percentage for women. Women form at least half of the population of Nigeria and let’s have that represented in government as well. It will go a long way to help this country to develop.
“I firmly believe in community policing and not state policing. For example in my locality in Edo State, let the police officer in that locality be from the locality, they know the people, they know the criminals, they even feel free giving them the information”.
