A constitution in legal
parlance is simply a body of fundamental principles or established precedents
according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be
governed.
The above elementary
definition of a constitution made by Wikipedia also goes to show that the
constitution of Nigeria is the supreme law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The key role of the
constitution is to spell out in clear terms, the basic obligations of citizens
to the Nigerian nation and importantly the obligation of the state to the
citizenry.
The earliest segment of
the constitution of Nigeria demonstrates the fact that the primary duty of
government is the protection of the security of lives and property of the
citizenry and safeguarding the welfare the state owes the people who are the
owners of the sovereignty of Nigeria.
The current constitution
in use in Nigeria was written during the period of military disengagement from
government and was midwifed by some unelected men and women and inherent in the
extant 1999 constitution are several avoidable bottlenecks and obstacles
to the full realization of the respect to the fundamental human rights of the
citizenry.
Some persons with track
records of working tenaciously for the enthronement of sustainable and vibrant
democracy who actually fought the military intellectually before the military
despots disengaged in early 1999, are opposed to the current constitution and
have advocated severally for the convocation of a sovereign national
constitutional conference during which the real Nigerian people will give 'WE'
the Nigerian people the true constitution.
But as Rome was not
built in a day and since nothing can operate in a state of vacuum,
most Nigerians have decided to live with the current constitutional
reality but have also canvassed for major amendments to reflect the will of the
people.
Previously, the National
Assembly before the current seventh session made attempts to fundamentally
alter certain sections of the constitution to make the provisions comply with
the global best practices in the promotion and protection of democratic
principles, rule of law and respect for the fundamental rights of the
citizenry. The past attempts were largely unsuccessful due to some teething
challenges that confronted the constitution amendment committees set up in both
the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives.
The outcome of past
attempts at constitution amendment fell short of the expectations of the broad
spectrum of the Nigerian people thereby necessitating another attempt by the
current 7th session of the National Assembly.
Both committees in the
Federal House of Representatives headed by the Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha
and that of the Senate headed by the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu
have substantially completed the preliminary national assignment of collating
the views of Nigerians in all the constituencies and have presented their
respective reports for legislative debates and passage into law in the
National Assembly and will subsequently midwife the other strategic stages
necessary for completing the ongoing amendment process.
In the Federal House of
Representatives, the Emeka Ihedioha-led constitution amendment committee told
Nigerians that an aspect of the outcome of the nation-wide public hearing
sessions on the constitution amendment was the unanimous decision of Nigerians
to elevate chapter two of the constitution to the respectable height of
enforceability meaning that the provisions will enjoy same status with those of
Chapter 4 which are the fundamental rights principles.
The Senator Ike
Ekweremadu-led constitution amendment committee made several human rights
milestones in that certain phrases and sections that are inherently damaging to
gender equity; child rights protection and the independence of the local
government and relevant state institutions in the 36 states of Nigeria were
systematically deleted.
To a large extent, the
recommendations made by the Senate constitution amendment committee to delete
anti-democratic and anti-human rights provisions in order to promote greater
respect for gender equity; child rights and building of strong institutions to
serve the people at the state levels, is a commendable step which is
in line with what most scholars say good parliaments should be doing.
Mr. Manfred Nowak, a
notable human rights scholar observed thus; “parliaments-sovereign bodies
constituted through regular, free and fair elections to ensure government of
the people, for the people and by the people- are therefore a key institution
in a democracy. As the body competent to legislate and to keep the policies and
actions of the executive branch under constant scrutiny, parliament also plays
a key role in the promotion and protection of human rights”.
Mr. Nowak further
affirmed that parliaments establish the legal frame work that guarantees the
independence of the judiciary and, therefore the rule of law, a cornerstone of
democracy and human rights protection.
Substantially, by
professionally dissecting the views of Nigerians and deleting some noticeable
draconian provisions in the extant constitution, the National Assembly
constitution amendment committees headed jointly by Senator Ike Ekweremadu and
Representative Emeka Ihedioha have really fulfilled the key reason for their
establishment.
Specifically, in the
area of protecting and promoting gender equity, the senate constitution
amendment committee has recommended that section 26(2) (a) of the constitution
on citizenship be altered to substitute the word “woman” with person so as not
be misconstrued as an anti-gender equity provision. Similarly, section 29 (4)
(b) has been deleted because of concern for lack of sensitivity to issues of
gender parity.
The Senator
Ekweremadu-led Constitution amendment committee has importantly conferred
greater autonomy to certain key State-run institutions to make them independent
from the whims and caprices of the State governors. This revolutionary
legislative move if passed in the coming nation-wide referendum by the State
Houses of Assembly will ensure that institutions like the State Assemblies;
State independent electoral commission; Auditor-General of the State; judiciary
of the state and office of Attorney General of the State are independent
financially thereby making them entitled to drawing their operational fund
from first-line charge from the consolidated Revenue fund. The Senate committee
has therefore altered section 121 of the constitution to empower these
strategic democratic institutions.
One other panacea has
being established to the incessant cases of several landmark legislative bills
passed by the National Assembly but get stuck at the table of the president who
will neither withhold assent or sign them into law.
By the alteration of
section 58 by inserting a new sub-section 5(A) henceforth “where the President
neither signifies that he assents or that he withholds assent, the bill shall
at the expiration of thirty days become law”.
This fundamental
alteration will surely strengthen the legislative arm of government and ensure
timely passage of laws so that the wheel of democratic progress is not unduly
derailed or delayed by unnecessary political bickering.
Granted that there are
provisions introduced by the Senate Constitution amendment committee like the
controversial single six year tenure provision which are debatable, one fact is
that the current social engineering of amending Nigeria’s extant constitution
if properly anchored, will positively change the tempo of delivery of democracy
dividends and will embolden key institutions to make independent decisions and
policies to serve the public good without let or hindrance by the emperor-like
powers that the governors enjoy under the constitution being amended. Nigerians
expect both chambers to rapidly wrap up the other stages of the mechanism for
constitution amendment so that the living standards of Nigerians will be
elevated and good governance entrenched in the polity.
* Emmanuel Onwubiko; Head; HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com
28/6/2013.
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