By Kemi Yesufu
On Monday January 21, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara inaugurated the adhoc Committee on Constitution Review. It wasn’t surprising that during his speech, he called on the 50 member committee led by the Deputy Speaker, Lasun Yusuff to come up with a document that will not be denied presidential assent.
The refusal of the former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to sign the document transmitted to him was quite controversial, with some who felt uncomfortable with issues such as life pension for the principal officers of the National Assembly and state police hailing his decision, while those who believed that he should have appended his signature, among other issues, pointed to the billions of naira that was expended on the project.
It is therefore encouraging that the House seems to be in tune with the feeling that the National Assembly doesn’t have to re-invent the wheel, even as it has to keep expenditure very low in reviewing the 1999 Constitution, this time around.
Dogara disclosed at the inauguration ceremony that the mandate of the committee is to conclude work on the 4th Alteration Bill, started by the 7th Assembly and “To process all other proposals for further alteration of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as may be necessary on behalf of the House of Representatives or as referred to it by the House”.
The Speaker said Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution vests law making powers in the National Assembly, and in particular envisages that the Constitution being a living document, that is expected to guide the affairs of the country, may require alteration or amendments from time to time.
His words: “It is as result of this that the Constitution specifically provides for the mode of altering its provisions in Section 9 thereof.
“Since the coming into effect of the 1999 Constitution, and the convocation of the National Assembly in 1999, varying efforts were made in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Assembly to alter some sections of the Constitution. Indeed, the 6th Assembly (2007-2011) enacted the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Alteration Acts.
“The 4th Alteration Act, was successfully carried out at the level of the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly, by the 7th Assembly (2011-2015) but was unfortunately not accented to by the then President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
“I do not want to dwell on the reasons for not assenting to the Bill as this will distract us from moving forward. Suffice to say that we are committed to dealing with the issues, expeditiously and early in the life of the 8th Assembly.”
Dogara stated that the review is to be all encompassing with no areas off limit. “In your discussions and engagements, there should be no off limits except the very basis of the Constitution which is the indivisibility of Nigeria. It is only through a clash and compromise of ideas that we can make progress.”
Obviously, majority of Nigerians are on the same page with the National Assembly that the Constitution, like has been done in advanced democracies be reviewed when deemed necessary for the peace, stability, development and progress of the country. But the question that has been on the minds of many is if Yusuff can deliver. It is safe to say that majority of observers wish that constitutional review committee which has other principal officers of the lower House including Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief Whip, Ado Garba Alhassan and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor comes up with a document that will get the president’s signature. The committee also has one representative from each state of the Federation and the FCT as well as special representatives for women.
Yusuff in his response to the Speaker’s charge pledged to look into all the important areas even as he said the committee would identify factors that mitigated against the passage of the amendment bills initiated by the National Assembly and the alteration of the 1999 Constitution during the last administration in order to come up with detailed strategies that will enhance an accelerated passage during the life of the 8th Assembly.
Weeks after its inauguration, on Monday March 14, the committee met with legislative consultants and legal experts to brainstorm on reasons why the 4th alteration bill worked on by the 7th Assembly was not assented to by Jonathan.
Just before the meeting, Yusuff made a major revelation on the main strategy adopted by his team. He disclosed that the committee plans to review the constitution in piece meal instead of presenting all the alterations in a single Bill.
According to a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Wole Oladumeji, with the new method, the sections of the constitution that need to be amended would have been concluded and accented to by the president before the end of the 8th Assembly.
The statement read in part: “The review exercise would be presented to the president in piece meal manner and not in a single bill as was done in the 7th Assembly. In other words, bills on the same subject matter would be presented to the president as a single bill. So at the end of the day, the committee may come up with 4 or more bills to be presented to the president for accent”.
At the meeting proper, the Deputy Speaker assured that his committee is fully aware of the task ahead. He went as far as promising that the committee will conclude work on the passage of the Constitution’s 4th Alteration Bill within a year.
He said: “ The committee proposes to urgently and within the next one year conclude work on the passage of the Constitution (4th Alteration) Bill. As the grundnorm of a democracy, the constitution as well as its mode of alteration can seriously impact on a country’s democratic process.
“One of the decisions made by the 8th House of Representatives when it was inaugurated in June 2015 was to complete the Constitution Amendment process begun in the 7th Assembly and this was subsequently captured in the Legislative Agenda of the House”.
Even as Yusuff spoke the words, keen observers of the new process were happy to hear, invited experts didn’t mince words when it was time to give advice. They took turns to remind lawmakers that the public wants them not only to deliver on time but to present a Constitution that represents the aspirations of the people.
According to a former lawmaker and lawyer, Nnaemeka Ughanze, the latest move by the 8th House to review the 1999 Constitution should be far reaching. “Since the last constitutional amendment was not concluded, everything in it is for me outstanding and needs to be revisited” said Ughanze who delivered a paper entitled “Analysis of the Alteration Bill Passed by the National Assembly and Outstanding Issues”.
He listed no less than 21 sections of the 1999 Constitution bordering on Legislative Powers, to Authorisation of Expenditure from Consolidated Revenue Fund, Citizenship, State Police and Local Government Reform, insisting that all the sections that affect the people almost on a daily basis must be carefully looked into. For example, the Abuja based ex-lawmaker posited that state police was desirable even as he called for the scrapping of Local Government Areas (LGAs), if the constitutional review doesn’t lead to its independence.
“The House should revisit the very elaborate provisions made by the 7th Assembly for the effectiveness of the local government administration in Nigeria. If the reforms cannot be allowed, there is no need allowing the issue of local government in our constitution. We should leave it entirely to the states to do what they like with it.
“If the National Assembly desires to take up the reforms again, then there is every need to carry the State Assemblies along by way of advocacy, sensitisation and workshops on the importance of allowing the reforms for effective and viable local government administration in Nigeria” he said.
On hand to affirm the commitment of state legislatures to the course was the chairman of the Conference of Speakers, Ismaila Kamba. He noted that National Assembly must see the process to a logical conclusion. “At the state level, we want to assure you of our readiness to play our constitutional roles in the review of the constitution by the 8th Assembly. We should not be under any illusion that there are no forces against the worthy exercise of constitutional review and these forces may frustrate or truncate the exercise by employing all sorts of antics to achieve their ignoble objective. To avoid this, we should be resolute and firm in our resolve to bequeath to the nation, the constitution that can stand the test of time”, Kamba who is the Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly advised.
For Professor Yemi Akinseye-George, he stressed that sincerity of purpose on the part of lawmakers was crucial if they are to succeed this time around. The professor of Law presented a paper on “Constitutional Amendment: Examining Best Practices”. He traced the failure of the 7th Assembly’s attempt to carry out the 4th Alteration to the Constitution to over-ambition and a lack of focus.
He therefore told the lawmakers to be guided by principles such as inclusivity, transparency, diversity, participation and accountability. “Where an amendment exercise is specific and well focused, obtaining the widest consensus becomes easier”, Akinseye- George opined.
Also calling for specificity was Sam Tsokwa, another resource person at the pre-constitution review session. He reminded the lawmakers of how President Olusegun Obasanjo’s alleged attempt at a third term led to the Senate discarding the report of its Constitutional Review Committee in 2006. He said: “It is pertinent to point out that our experience with constitutional review is to the effect that when alterations are restricted to specific themes and subjects, they carry easily. Where, however, they are ambitious and all embracing, one single clause does tend to rock the boat. The alteration attempt under President Olusegun Obasanjo was rocked not because Nigerians did not approve of the entire exercise. It was the virus of the third term or tenure elongation that resulted in the throwing away of the baby together with the dirty water”.
For former Lagos state commissioner, Dr. Muiz Banire whose paper was entitled: “Examining Best Practices on Constitutional Amendment”, he described the review of the constitution as a serious business undertaken to positively impact on citizens.
He solicited that the committee conduct the amendment of the constitution with factors such as cultural pluralism, clarity of language in mind. This is even as he maintained that a strong, independent judiciary was critical to the Constitution having meaning to everyday people. “While every modern constitution theoretically promotes the principle of the Rule of Law, it is certain that the attainment of this is premised on a sound judicial system as a component of the separation of powers by which arbitrariness in governance can be eschewed”, he stated.