Some Members of the House of Representatives, particularly, Southern and Middle Belt leaders, under the aegis of Southern and Middle Belt Forum had called for a halt to the ongoing Constitution review geared toward a new Constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Representatives are divided on whether what Nigeria needs is an amendments to the 1999 Constitution or a new Constitution as demanded by a segment of the society, to address fundamental issues in the country. However, they are united in their observation that Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution did not provide for a referendum that will lead to the making of a new Constitution.

Some of the House of Reps. Members who addressed newsmen recently said the following:

I proposed a new Constitution by repealing Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution — Hon. Kingsley Chinda (Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency of Rivers State)

“I sincerely believe that we need a new Constitution and not to continue to patch the inappropriate and skewed 1999 Constitution. For this reason I am least excited over the Constitution amendment that is ongoing as I don’t believe in the exercise.

“The zonal tours that we are presently on is a mere formality, I won’t call it jamboree. I doubt if the benefit that will come from the tours will be worth the cost of the exercise. I have already proposed a new Constitution by repealing Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution. This work commenced in the 8th Assembly by some colleague and I but we didn’t conclude it and many of those colleagues didn’t come back to the Assembly.

“In the new Constitution that we proposed, some of the highlights are: Unicameral legislature; Fiscal Federalism; Political Federalism; Unbundled Security Architecture up to Community Level and subject to ability to fund same, with clear functions and jurisdiction for each tier; Unbundled Exclusive List to allow state management of resources; Total fiscal autonomy of arms of government and tiers of government; Easier recall system for non-performing public officers and Indigeneship”.

The major issue with the present Constitution is the overloaded Exclusive List — Hon Solomon Maren (Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency of Plateau State)

“May I say they are right to clamour for that because of the inability of past Assemblies to effect meaningful changes to the Constitution despite the huge cost associated with the process and the societal ills resulting from the failure of such alterations? There is no provision in the present Constitution that gives us power to switch from this Constitution to another. However, we can achieve the 1963 Constitution by amending the present Constitution.

“The major issue with the present Constitution is the overloaded Exclusive List. Once we unbundle the Exclusive List our problem would have been solved. We will as well need to include the right to referendum on any matter to give Nigerians the right to take decision on any matter of interest.

“Voting on the issues either in the National Assembly or state Houses of Assembly should be monitored by all Nigerians to know who voted in support of what? Nigerians are being killed daily, corruption is on steady rise and poverty is on the increase; so, definitely any Nigerian who is truly patriotic will want any form of change if it guarantees peace and prosperity for the nation”.

Nigerians should lobby for the ongoing alteration to contain plebiscite/referendum —Hon. Serguis Ogun (Esan North-East Federal Constituency of Edo State)

“Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution as amended allows for alteration of the Constitution, doesn’t empower NASS to rewrite the Constitution. What can be achieved by this alteration is plebiscite or referendum; by so doing, the people can, in the future, vote for a new Constitution and the modalities for its emergence.

“The pathway to achieving this is the piecemeal alteration which is ongoing.

“If Nigerians vote to adopt the 1963 Constitution, it gives it credibility and will be widely accepted by all. They should lobby for the ongoing alteration to contain plebiscite/referendum”.

Going back to the 1963 Constitution will usher in a new Nigeria – Hon. Bede Eke (Abor Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State)

“I concur with the fact that we should go back to the 1963 Constitution which gave the geo-political zones the leverage to develop independently. That was the reason we have Cocoa House in the South-West and the coal era in the South-East.

“Sir. Michael Okpara, as then-governor of the South-East was able to distribute dividends of democracy round his region, built the Metropolitan Hotel, Calabar and Presidential Hotels in Enugu and Port Harcourt. All the regions’ economies were concentrated on where they have comparative advantage but because we do not have a government at the federal level that is ready to listen to the representatives of the people it becomes difficult to achieve.

“My take is that instead of losing everything, we can go piece meal and ensure that we, at least, have true federalism where state police can be guaranteed because of our security challenges, fiscal federalism and having a large and significant part of the Executive List move to the Concurrent List. If possible, going back to the 1963 Constitution will usher in a new Nigeria”.

My problem is the operators of the Constitution and not the constitution itself — Hon, Mohammed Garba Datti (Sabongari Federal Constituency of Kaduna State)

“This issue of Constitution review, the elites are looking for a way. How can you go back to the 1963 Constitution? If you are from Abia, can you revert to the former Eastern Region so that there will be no Abia again? Everybody is just confused. When you say restructuring, everybody has a way of looking at it.

“People of the South-South are calling for fiscal federalism so that everybody will control his own resources. The people of the South-East, the Igbo, some will say, need more states to be at par with other zones. Zone is a creation of Alex Ekwueme in 1996. Nigeria only has states but when he went to Constitutional Conference, he came with the idea of six geopolitical zones.

“It has not been adopted anywhere. Did anybody from the military participate in the making of the 1999 Constitution? Was it not Justice Nikky Toby of the Supreme Court that oversaw the making of the 1999 Constitution? There was no single military man in the Conference.