NewsConstitution Amendment: National Assembly Meant Well For Nigerians – Oker-Jev

Constitution Amendment: National Assembly Meant Well For Nigerians – Oker-Jev

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June 27, (THEWILL) – In this interview with AUSTINE JOR, Senator Emmanuel -Oker-Jev, representing Benue North-West Senatorial District, speaks on the ongoing constitution amendment exercise. Excerpts:

The National Assembly recently held public sittings nationwide as part of its effort towards amending the constitution. How was the exercise and what responses were you able to get from the public?

In Jos where I went and from what I read in the newspapers I can tell you that the situation was the same. The fact that Nigerians are agitating means the present constitution is less than ideal. Nobody will in any good conscience say that we have a perfect constitution. The hurried manner in which the military gave us the constitution when they were leaving never ensured it was a true product of the people and so, it has failed to address the concerns of most Nigerians.

Section nine of the same constitution describes how it can be amended. The term, which the 1999 constitution uses, is alteration and it says the National Assembly can kick-start the process of altering any section of the constitution. Any other thing outside this will be a coup d’etat because it has to be done in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

Some senior lawyers have faulted the ongoing constitution review process. What is your take on the matter?

With all due respect to the senior advocates, it was not the National Assembly that gave rise to the 1999 constitution. The National Assembly itself is a product of the same constitution. The elections that gave rise to the National Assembly derived legitimacy from the 1999 constitution. So it is not right to say that the National Assembly is creating a constitution for Nigerians. As representatives of the people, members of the assembly are also part of the process. Whatever we do, we must go back to the people and ask them what they want so that we can insert it in the amendment exercise. This is exactly what Nigerians have seen the Senate do. So it is not right to say that the National Assembly is creating the constitution. The constitution is less than ideal. Even Americans have tinkered with their country’s constitution at different times in the past. In Nigeria’s case where the constitution was hurriedly put in place, it means that many areas need to be amended.

Isn’t it better for the National Assembly to embark on the process of writing a new constitution as some Nigerians are saying?

I don’t know how this can be done without altering the fundamental laws of the land. Only Section nine can do that. So I wonder how it can be achieved. You can’t just come and say this constitution is wrong and it should be thrown away and another one written. It has to go through a process because once you don’t do that people will go to court, based on the provisions of the same constitution. You can’t come when we are making efforts to get a better constitution and say that the whole thing is void. I don’t think those senior lawyers will have their way if the matter gets to the court. To me, it amounts to double speak.

They are quoting the constitution of 1966

With due respect, I want to argue that the circumstances back in 1966 and what we have today are not the same. The constitution we have today was meant to be a federal document. There is a lot of errors in it and that is why we are trying to make it a better document . You cannot compare what the then Head of State, Gen Aguiyi Ironsi, did by fiat with what the military gave us in 1999, which was less than ideal. It is based on this constitution that we have celebrated over 20 years of democratic rule. For me, you cannot derive democratic rule from that constitution and turn around to say we don’t have a constitution or that we want to run a unitary system. I agree that the constitution is less than ideal, but to say it is not a constitution or it is a unitary constitution is what I strongly beg to disagree with.

The senior lawyers argued that most of the sections being amended do not reflect the yearnings and aspirations of ordinary Nigerians. What is your reaction to this?

You see, what used to happen in previous attempts to amend the constitution was that all the issues were lumped together and taken to the President for assent. When he had issues with certain sections of the amendment, he just dumped the whole thing. We learnt our lessons and decided that any amendment that comes should be treated as a single bill so that when it is taken to the Executive, you cannot blame us.

All issues canvassed by our people have been captured and will be sent to the President eventually. At that level, the onus will lie on the executive which has the duty of giving assent to the amendments . So at the end of the day our people should not blame us if some of the issues they canvassed and we actually worked on as their representatives are not seen to be given assent to by the executive.

Was that what happened during the tenure of the Seventh National Assembly?

That is why I said we have learnt our lessons. Every agitation was thrown out as one single bill. That was what happened. Even when you have different items in one bill, each of them will be voted differently. We tried to avoid the mistake of the Eighth Assembly by treating each item separately so that if, at the end of the day, the President is not comfortable with some, others can still survive and be given assent.

Will this not slow down the process, given the high level of agitations by Nigerians at the moment?

Not at all. Although they are treated as different bills, the whole thing is done at the same time. It is just for the sake of convenience and the experience that we had in the Seventh Assembly when the whole thing was thrown out. The bills were brought by both chambers of the National Assembly, but when they went to the Constitution Amendment Committee they were treated at the same time. If you ask me, it is a better approach.

Now that you have heard from the people, what will be the next step?

The next step is that when the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment concludes its report and brings it to the National Assembly it will be voted upon. The House of Representatives will also do the same and when that is concluded the report will be sent to the states to get their input because the constitution says the states are also involved in the voting.

What efforts is the National Assembly making towards ensuring cohesion with the State Houses of Assembly in terms of endorsing some of the vital things contained in the amendment act?

Unfortunately, that is the nature of the society that we have. We have a very large country that is made up of people of different backgrounds. There are different persuasions. The National Assembly itself is comprises people of different backgrounds. So when the bill gets to the state houses of assembly, you cannot say because the National Assembly voted this way and so they too must vote in the same direction. They have the latitude to vote according to their persuasions.

What about lobbying and enlightenment towards those things Nigerians are yearning for?

That has always been the practice. Normally when this report is sent to the state houses of assembly, in most cases, the leadership of the National Assembly would engage their leaders. Ultimately, each state will have its own position, like what we saw during the last public hearing. If such a position contradicts that of the National Assembly, it means that such state house of assembly will vote against the position of the National Assembly. Remember the other time we gave state legislators their autonomy and they rejected it. So these are some of the intricacies that are involved when it comes to this process.

In the course of holding public sittings on constitution review, did anything change?

Yes a lot has changed. Personally I voted against state police twice in the past, but I will vote for it now because of the situation I the country. My reasoning then was that we didn’t want state governors to take control of the state police and begin to use them to settle personal scores. That was my fear, given what the state governors were using the state electoral commissions to do during the conduct of local government elections. I felt the state police would be used in the same manner. But, considering what is happening across the country, I think it has become necessary to create state police. Most Nigerians are yearning for this at the moment. That was the same feeling in almost all the places that we went to. Nigerians are also yearning for issues such as devolution of power. I believe that when it comes to voting, most Nigerians will vote in that direction.

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