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By Muyiwa Adeyemi (Politics Editor) and Ayodele Afolabi, Ado-Ekiti |
22 October 2023 |
3:34 am
For Nigeria to manage its diversity and end the multi-dimensional poverty ravaging the country, the Federal Government should set up a Constituent Assembly to produce a new Constitution for the country.
The committee, which should work within six and nine months, should consist of 362 non-partisan elected representatives, 10 each from the existing 36 states and two from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and they should be assisted by 37 lawyers drawn, one each from the 36 states and the FCT.
Former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who insisted on the new Constitution as a panacea to Nigeria’s multiple crises while speaking at the 11th convocation lecture of the Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), Ado-Ekiti, said that over 133 million Nigerians were wallowing in abject poverty even as social infrastructure has collapsed in the country.
The foremost diplomat who titled his lecture, ‘Management of Diversity: A Major Challenge to Governance In Pluralistic Countries’, noted that Nigeria’s diversity was its socio-economic strength before and after independence in 1960.
He regretted that, “all this changed when the military intervened in the country’s governance in January 1966 and changed the existing constitution.”
He added: “But the crux of my submission is that considering our history over the last 63 years, to arrest the ongoing deterioration of the situation in the country, and to achieve the desired transformation for the better, we need a system of government that not only addresses our diversity but is also based on a Constitution that can correctly be described as a Nigerian people’s Constitution.
“Accordingly, I call on the Presidency in consultation with the National Assembly, instead of continuing to tinker with the 1999 Constitution, to acknowledge the urgent necessity of a new Constitution to be made by the people of Nigeria. To this end, I invite the Federal Government to immediately embark on the following practical steps.
“First, convene a national Constituent Assembly of directly elected on a non-party basis representatives whose task would be to discuss and agree a new Constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria taking into account the 1963 and the 1999 Constitutions, as well as the recommendations of the 2014 national conference.
“The management of the work of the Constituent Assembly should be entrusted to a six-member Steering Committee of equal individual powers (possibly the two co-chairmen, two vice-co-chairmen, two joint-secretaries) elected from each of the six geopolitical zones by members of the Assembly themselves.
“The agreed draft Constitution should be put to a national referendum for adoption by a majority of the voters, after which it should be signed by the President.
“In my view, the essence of the new Constitution should, in recognition of the crucial principle of subsidiarity in every successful federation, involve devolution of powers from the Central government to fewer and more viable federating units with strong provisions for inclusive governance at the Centre and in the Regions as was agreed by Nigeria’s founding fathers.”
He pointed out that many countries including Switzerland, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Canada have been able to manage their diversities by doing the right thing and lampooned a situation that forced states to rely on the Federal Government for their economic survival.
The founder of the university, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), who condemned the state of affairs in Nigeria, said the wealth of the nation was in the hands of a few politicians who had made politics a lucrative business.
The nonagenarian noted that in the last 30 years, he has been calling for a new constitution that would address many problems inhibiting development in the country, calling on President Bola Tinubu to listen to the voice of wisdom and begin the process for a new constitution without further delay.
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