‘How We'll Tackle Constitution Review’

Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President

— Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and chairman, Joint Committee of the National Assembly on Constitution Review
By Victor Ogene
For quite sometime now, there has been intense clamour for constitution amendment. Now, is it wholesale amendment or select areas, like say tenure elongation?
I can say clearly that the Constitution amendment, which I am going to head, will not do anything about tenure elongation for anybody…We have to learn from our past mistakes. That is one of the reasons why the last attempt failed. So, I don’t think we would like to go through that road again. So, if the law says that it should be four years, then it should be four years. The problem with Nigeria is not even the tenure of office holders. There are some other fundamental issues to deal with than the issue of term for office holders. America, for instance, has only two terms of four years for its president. It’s a limit of two terms, regardless of how well you perform, it’s just two terms, and it is working for them. So, if it is working for America all these years, I am sure it can as well work for us. So, that’s one of our fundamental problems.
But recently, Your party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) canvassed for a single tenure of seven years in its memoranda to the Electoral Reforms Committee.
While that may be true I repeat that I intend to lead the way in fashioning out a good constitution that would operate on the path of true federalism. You will recall that the Senate set up its Committee on Constitution review a long time ago. So, we are waiting for the House of Representatives and thereafter, there will be a joint committee and then, it will be inaugurated. So, we have not really sat down to figure out the road map. I believe, however, that one of the reasons why past efforts at constitution review failed was the attempt to do everything at the same time. That you know, sometimes causes panic and misconception of issues. I don’t think that will be a better way to go this time around. I hope it will cut across our colleagues and the possibility of dealing with these issues, in various compartments. But I think the first thing to do is to identify all these issues. This will not be the first time we are making this effort. So all we need to do is have a look at the previous efforts. With that, and with the support of Nigerians, we will be able to come up with what we will consider to be a consensus of issues that we need to deal with. Then we look at the impact on democracy, relatively, in terms of urgency. The issues that are already settled will likely have consensus and then some of those ones that are pressing, we can look at them and bring them together as first set that could be dealt with in the first amendment. So, if we can identify those ones, we can go ahead and then make an effort to review the constitution along that line. With that, we are going to have a system and then we would have made our mistakes and at least, have another opportunity of correcting them when we get to more contentious issues because the whole world would want to believe that we have prepared well for the Constitution amendment. So, it could be in that pattern. It could also give us an opportunity to look back at what we’ve done. It would also enable us not to put everything together at the same time. So, these are my own thinking in that respect. I believe it’s not something we have to do the whole amendment at the same time. Amendment in itself is a continuous exercise anywhere in the world because as generations come or go, as countries develop, there are challenges that are meant to be or situations that have to be reviewed or amended to meet those challenges. So, what will be our challenges today, may not be challenges for the next generation.  So, even if we amend the constitution to suit this present generation, when the next generation comes, those things may not suit them and therefore, there may be need for further review. So, there’s no way we can say review the constitution once and for all. The main thing we need to do is look at issues arising. We believe that when we are gone, those coming after us will continue from where we left off.  
If we follow your outline, would you mind enumerating for Nigerians what you consider as priority areas?
You know the problem with answering this question is that some people will look at it as if I already have a mindset. As a human being, I might have my opinion in respect to that, but I don’t think it’s fair because if I do now, they would look at it like I am trying to tailor the minds of others along that line.
Indeed, it’s too early in the day, so what I gave you was my personal opinion, which I intend to present to the committee. If it’s okay by them, we go ahead. But I am sure that between us, you know there are issues that will have national consensus, like the issue of electoral reform. If you look at the electoral system we operate now, most of the provisions people see as exigent matters, are all contained in the Constitution. I was part of the committee that dealt with the Electoral Act and one of the things that frustrated us was those constitutional provisions. It is said that the Constitution is supreme. As it is, anything that is constitutional, you cannot legislate on it.  So, we had negotiations in respect of that. So, you can’t even legislate along that line, not to talk of changing it.  But there are some of the provisions that need to be touched. For instance, the Constitution said that if you want to be a member of the electoral commission, you should qualify to be a member of the House of Representatives. One of the requirements of being a member of the House of Representatives is that you will be a member of a political party. So, you can’t even be a commissioner in INEC without being a member of a political party. So, I say if we cannot change it by ordinary consideration, it will require constitutional amendment. You know Nigerians believe that until we get our electoral process right, it will be difficult for our democracy to thrive. And of course, if you look at the State Houses of Assembly, most of them are appendages of the various State Houses. So, there’s absolute need for us to create an independent position for them because at the federal level, it is not as if the Constitution has specifically said that, but because of the maturity of the people that are there, independent management has been operated at that level. There’s some kind of independence, not as it is at the state level because if we operate a constitutional position that will enable the parliament, you will now find out that independence will be well provided for. 
Okay, while we understand your handicap in giving broad outlines of areas for constitutional amendment, can you, at least, give an insight into the anticipated constitutional changes?
These are things that will enhance national progress and unity because the government of Nigeria is very heterogeneous. We have to deal with issues that will ensure fairness. Issues of justice, access to leadership of the country, access to power, even access to economic activity. W hen you are talking about indigenes and non-indigenes, it creates problem of access.  It creates problem of injustice, so, that also, I am sure will be in the heart of many Nigerians. That Nigerians should be able to have access to good life is part of the considerations. We are operating federalism. We have to look at federalism in the true meaning of it, especially in the best practice of it. Look at what is happening in the other countries, especially the issue of fiscal federalism, it needs to be addressed. We have to ensure that every part of this country will have a feel of belonging to the Nigeria project. So that if we are talking about geo-political zoning, there should be some level of equality. With that, every part of the country will have a sense of belonging. So, these are issues that needs consideration in the interest of nationalism, patriotism.  So, there must be good intention in everything we do in this country.  So, any issue that will impede progress, development and accommodation, you try to look into it, in terms of increased sense of belonging, fairness, and equity. I am sure that will generate the desired co-operation among Nigerians.       
What about the contentious issue of Sharia. Would it feature in the proposed consitution amendent?
No. I think that at this stage of our development, what we have in the Constitution is okay for us. Religion should not be a matter of state policy. People should be free to practice any religion of their choice without making it a part of state policy.  It should remain the private enterprise of the individual. The religion or lack of it that any individual chooses to practice should be personal to the individual. So, I don’t think it is part of the things we should consider in our Constitution.
Now, the Freedom of Information Bill. Earlier you identified the media as an important partner in the democratic process. If it were so, why then is the legislature behaving as if the FOI Bill is for the media alone, whereas it is meant to deepen democracy?
What is agitating the rest of Nigerians is the way the media is approaching the bill as if it is a media thing. I am happy you acknowledged that it’s not a media project. If I am right, this bill is not strictly a media thing and as such it has to be treated in a broad-based perspective, unless there are other things which we do not know. All of us are involved in the betterment of project Nigeria. All of us, we represent the people as well. We are just making a fuss out of nothing. You recall we passed this bill during the last dispensation and sent it to the president. The National Assembly had passed it to the president and he refused to sign it. I am sure you are aware that the bill was just returned last week, together with other bills. In the Senate, I am also the Deputy President; we are working on that bill presently. We had, two weeks ago, a public hearing on it and most of your people were represented. So, we are waiting for the committee to report to the House and I am optimistic that if that happens, the Senate will pass the FOI bill. So, I don’t know where the panic is coming from?
... The House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives, or what did you say? Okay. I am not in the House of Representatives anyway and I don’t know about that. However, if we pass it in the senate, we can send it to them for concurrence and it's left to them to decide.    
I think we need to give the new members time to study the bill and allay fears about it. The bill is not for an individual, it is a bill that will enthrone transparency, honesty, which I think the present House stands for, by the probes. It is a bill that will help in the correction of oversight. So,I think they should embrace the bill. During the contribution to debate, I contributed.  I spoke on the strength of the fact that the bill is not for journalists. It is a bill for Nigerians. We don’t need any lobbying on it. It’s a bill that cuts across both the private and public sectors.  So, I want to urge the present House of Representatives to take their time and study the bill and try to be in constant liaison with the promoters of that bill. You know in bill passage, if you present a bill to the House, the House refers the bill to the relevant committee, which is the committee on Information and the Committee will ask the promoters of the bill to bring what they call justification – the reason why they want the bill to be passed into law.  So, they should look for the justification. If they get the justification, I am convinced they will be equally convinced that the bill should be passed into law in the interest of Nigeria. And some of them are saying, like one Honourable member I met, saying that it is running foul to the Official Secrets Act, which we have already passed.  These are certain documents that has secrets in the interest of Nigeria. I believe so. So, they need to look at it both ways, to try to understand the bill.  We don’t need to rush them because this present parliament has only stayed one year and they have a tenure of four years. So, I think if the promoters will continue with this pace, I believe before two years, they will pass the bill. So, let us not confront, or abuse them. Let us continue to tell them the reason why it is necessary for this bill to be passed.
Talking about your party, the PDP, a lot of people are of the opinion, that the national chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, maybe because of the way he emerged may not be firm enough in running the party.
This is a man that was the minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He later became Secretary of the party.  These are very high positions that he has held. First, he became minister, and then, party secretary and he aspired to be chairman of the party. Nobody faulted him at the time he was aspiring, but now that he is now the chairman of the party. I am sure we should know he is a man of history. Let him play his part and by the time he leaves, we should be able to assess him. I think it will be too early in the day for anybody to begin to question his capability. So, I am sure we have to wait and allow him to perform first. I think what we should do at this point is to give him the benefit of doubt. I believe he will succeed. I’ve no doubt about that. We are going to encourage him to succeed.
For quite sometime now, there has been strident calls for creation of more states. Are we to expect it as part of the job of the constitution Amendment Committee?
Yes, why not?  You see, the interesting thing is that the business of constitutional review is the business of the parliament. So, all we need to do is to talk to our colleagues. So, if for instance, you want a state in Ibadan, those of them from that part of the country can talk to the rest and be able to put across the reasons for the demand. Then if they are genuine and are viable, it will sail through. It’s something we can deal with. And having people sit around a table to talk it over makes it easier to deal with. Like the case of the South-east. I can tell you they have the sympathy of almost all the members of the National Assembly, but the truth of the matter is that there are other cases of genuine demand, which we all need to look at. So, it’s a matter of first of all, settling down to decide how many states we want as a country.  Then how many will each zone get and we look at what we have already, and how do we do it that it will not upset the fragile bond among brothers. So, these are issues we have to tackle first. So, once those issues are settled, the cause of state creation will be as easy as anything. I don’t see any difficulty in state creation.  It is a matter of making sure that everybody buys into it and the important people to buy into it are the parliamentarians.
Over time, local governments have often being criticised for doing nothing, whereas their funds go to a joint purse called Joint State - LG Accounts controlled by the states. What do you intend to do about this?
My problem in all these is the possibility of my chairing the committee on constitutional review.  I have my personal opinion though in all these.  First as a lawyer, two as a politician, and then as a practitioner in the Nigerian project. I’ve been a local government chairman, and when I was local government chairman, nobody ever tampered with it by force. As little as it was, we were able to do a lot with it. We didn’t borrow money from anywhere. At that time, the average money we were getting as a local government was N2.5million a month. It was during the Military regime but the money was coming straight. We will go to Central Bank, get the money, pay into the local government account and begin to operate the way we want. Now, when democracy came back to Nigeria in 1999, and this issue of joint account came up, it upset all of the previous arrangement. The essence of joint account was for the state government to bring some of the excess fund into a
common pool where the local government will also benefit. But inmost cases, they turned into a different thing. They don’t even bring what they are supposed to bring into the pool and then they have common projects. They have various kinds of deductions, at the end of the day the local government account will be empty. So, it is not a matter of the law. The law itself is as good as anything, but the operators have been abusing those provisions. That’s the problem.  So, what’s the place of local government in Federal constitution? It may sound academic, but you see, as I said earlier, since we said we are going to practice federalism, we have to practice it in its best form. Will the local governments be the federating units in Nigeria or will the states be the federating units?  It is not possible that the states will start telling the local governments what they want? They will say the number of local governments they want. If we want to practice federal system of government, will the federal government send money to the local governments, which is not their business anyway? So, these are issues we have to resolve and like I said, I don’t want to begin to dig into it because they will now say, I have made up my mind. The same thing with the issue of governors being chief security officers in the state, when they are not controlling anybody. How can Nigeria operate a federal system and have a unitary system of police?  How can that work?  We have one IG in charge of everywhere and everything pertaining to security, including villages in far-flung places. So, this is the first of its kind. I don’t know of any country with this type of system we are running, with that type of policing and you expect it to work? That’s why we have problem with NEPA and communications all these years because we wanted to centralise it. It cannot work. We need to realise this and begin to deal with it. I wish I am not heading the committee so that I can air my views.
Earlier, you talked about electoral reforms but a majority of Nigerians are of the opinion that no credible election can be held in Nigeria with Professor Maurice Iwu as INEC chairman.
I don’t want to answer a question with a question. If not, I would have asked you if Iwu is an impediment to electoral reforms.  Let’s be sincere, Iwu is not the problem. He has tenure and his tenure will come to an end some day and this problem will remain if we do not solve it. It was there before Iwu came. So, it has nothing to do with Iwu, honestly.  Removing Iwu is not the problem. Iwu did not create any problem. It is the problem of the system. Iwu didn’t send anybody to go and rig election, to falsify election results. He had to endorse it because he is not God. He is not everywhere. He endorsed what was given to him. We all have to share in the blame. We have to look at our value system. The way we do things. It’s more important than removing Iwu, who is only a single individual in the system. Unless we will bring God to come and do it Himself, the problems will always be there unless the system changes. Because any person you bring will still have to face the same system.