If I were the President of Nigeria today I would have opted for a National Conference over Constitutional Amendment, to allow all subnational entities face themselves and come through with what they want of their society and how it is to be run. We need a new constitution. The main reason for the proposition is very simple: we have a society and all through the 60 years of independence we have not been able to effect a transition from a society of old thriving empires to a country which the people could cherish and call their own. This is the task, nothing more.
This much I highlighted in the discourse of last Sunday with few evidences, because that edition was focused on highlighting the poor attitude of so «much talk and no action» on the part of the successive leaderships, which had responsibility to initiate moves in the right direction. I am returning to the matter again, because, having collectively drawn our society to the precipice, with the threat of annihilation becoming very clear to all, the need to reorder our steps has become more urgent now than at any other time. It is interesting to note that everyone is talking change and proffering different reasons and approaches. This is the time to talk about pathways to a new Nigeria.
Many Nigerians want a conference that is acceptable to all sections to be convoked. Who is to do it? The Federal Government of course! This group does not mind if we have had several in the past, which failed. It would seem they know those conferences failed not because the idea of a conference wasn›t germane but rather they failed by reason of the well known Nigerian Factor which never allows anything work except it is either originated by «us» as in the sense of particular individuals acting in a group. Conferences organised by late military Head of State, Gen Murtala Mohammed and Gen Olusegun Obasanjo did not fail because of push from divergent interest groups. Instead they crumbled on the unholy altar of personal agrandisement.
We have heard how Muritala Muhammad, who talked of one Nigeria was subversive of the very conference he convoked to strengthen the bonds of unity and cohesion by behind-the-scene moves he made to ensure the controversial sharia religious system got inserted into the same constitution which was to prescribe that Nigeria will be a secular state. Chief Okorunmu, who was a member of that conference, said in an interview with The Sun, that Babangida Aliyu who later emerged as governor of Niger State under current democratic dispensation ran Abacha’s errands. This discovery tells us how our leaders at various stages have gone ahead to give us a constitution they knew the contents wouldn’t stand the taste of time. The Abacha exercise didn’t fail on this score; it did when it couldn’t provide Abacha a consensus that would have enabled him transmute from military head of state to a civilian president. Obasanjo’s collapsed for near same reason: tenure elongation. His was a civil administration with eight year term, when it concluded he desired an inglorious extension; that inordinate urge became the albatross.
His loss also became costly for our society as the National Assembly threw away both the baby and the messed up water. At least they would have salvaged the baby and thrown away the water. Perhaps, the choky atmosphere generated didn›t give more room for contemplation. Former President Goodluck Jonathan of minority extraction, pandering to the fears of the electorally very strong north didn’t think the conference was of any value. Self survival meant much more to him than resetting the society properly. Soon he came to realize that in a badly structured entity where oddity has grown into a norm and perceptions are entrenched, nothing moves them easily including induced “good” behaviour and actions.
When he came to the realization and made for a conference, he became a suspect of those who knew he had already become a victim of the existing system. A strong section didn›t have trust in what his conference was doing, even though he organized one of the best summits. Controversy around it beclouded everything. This was where we were until recent activities provoked increased fears leading to tensions which more than ever before have brought to the fore the truth that our foundation was badly laid from inception and that drastic efforts need to be taken to redo it before the edifice comes crashing.
Where do we start? This has been the question. Many say it is essentially a question of leadership failure: get quality leadership and progress will flow. There is some truth in this but not the whole truth. Whole truth is that quality leadership on its own is transient, it can be there for four years and without structure it becomes difficult to exactly say what comes next. What if a dictator breaks through the safety cordon like we saw the case of Donald Trump in America, what offers a check and protection? True federalism and structured job assignments were bulwarks against Trump staging a return to the discredited old America, where white supremacy was a state policy. It was possible for America to have a soul and to translate same to structures and gains because they saw the need for the differing sections to first sit down and agree to belong to a society, then followed by pledge to work it into a country and then nation state where they are currently.
They have issues. But the good news is that they have a structure that can absorb the shocks and a civilized manner provides appropriate answers without outright debasement of the human element. On the contrary, our society is yet to find her soul; it was supposed to have been found before independence or better still shortly afterwards but it wasn’t called in. So, we have remained a soulless entity, something that was bound to be very costly and in truth it has been: civil war, under-development, constant bickerings, hunger and deaths, a near Hobbesian state as we have right now.
So, the imperative for a new direction is here with us and good enough this is very clear to all. The president is aware of the times but is only afraid that his people who hold the current advantage would label him a betrayer but the truth is that no one can hold on for far too long, neither him nor anyone that will come after him. The National Assembly woke up a little too late in the day and is seeking to use a tiny wedge to halt a train sliding down a hill. It is a task far above their capacity. True, they are our representatives, the fact is that they are just that: they don›t have power to create a nation and citizens. Given the time we are in, the demands of the task are far beyond their scope. It is the sovereignty that has power to create. Only the subnations can agree to unbundle our society as it currently is and to create a New Nigeria and New Nigerians from it. Until they do it, everything else would look like pouring water on the back of a tortoise.
The sovereignty must gather and agree and from the engagement, the soul of the country will emerge. When they agree to have a Nigeria, what would most likely follow would be the structure: is it unitary, oligarchy, dictatorship, socialism or federalism? Nature will give us structure which then makes it very easy to determine job assignments. Inside scientific job assignments will be checks and importantly productivity, healthy competition will be in vogue. Nearly all our challenges have roots in structure. For instance if it is federalism fiscal autonomy to higher degree, state police, dispensation of justice (it is abberation for all to run to Abuja for Supreme Court adjudication), cultural enhancements, citizenship and citizens- rights will follow and flourish while cries of marginalization will go down to appreciable levels that can be adequately handled by quality leadership.
To run without talking means retention of ingrained inequalities that are sources of the current eruptions in the land. Old Sokoto State, Prof Jerry Gana told us few days ago, has split to produce three other states, yet Niger State which is larger than old Sokoto has remained same. Lagos State is far bigger than Kano State. We know this truth, but Kano has by far more local governments than Lagos. South East with massive population has five states when other zones have between six and seven yet representation is proportional. When the north says carry your concerns and head to the National Assembly, they know what they have garnered. If population alone is basis for state creation then a state like Arkansas in United States that produced Bill Clinton won’t be. If we choose federalism, perhaps zonal leadership in addition, it will reduce cost of governance and determine the structure and power of local governments. It is not about autonomy alone.
Amendment is great, indeed it is one way to go but it makes more sense where the soul of a country has been found and issues for amendment are few. In our case, from the opening statement «We the people» of the present constitution and all the pages require a redo. Judiciary, structure, appointments of judges, Judicial commissions, citizens rights, justiciability of rights and poor governance, policing, state and local government, private police, gun ownership, mode of production, urban renewal, railway, seaports, airports, electricity generation, free productive education, free health, social security network, child’s rights and secularity of state. National Assembly and others associated with amendment cannot handle this task of giving us a soul and an issue like secularity. It is absurd to have religious law running with common law in a supposed secular nation.
This alone shows we are not serious about building a united country. Now we want change, arguments on Sharia can›t be handled by NASS. They may not like to hear this but it is the truth. Let the new era be one driven by the people themselves in truth and honesty. National Assembly can be the collation agent with mandate to produce a new constitution unaltered. What is more any fund spent to bring life to our country is no waste. It was not money spent on conferences that brought us problems. It is pure leadership inertia.