Voyage Now Berth? Will the Constitution Review

IN THE ARENA

On Tuesday, March 1, 2022, both chambers of the National Assembly voted separately on the amendment bills to the 1999 Constitution. Louis Achi examines the unfinished costly and ‘interminable’ voyage

A mendments allow American laws and policies to be refined rather than replaced outrightly. This is usually done through the ratification of relevant proposed amendments as they affect state or federal laws.

In Nigeria, the federal legislators last Tuesday used e-voting and not the voice-vote method often employed for the passing of bills and motions  to vote on 68 constitution amendment bills. The use of e-voting was to meet the requirements of sections 9(2) and (3) of the constitution, which outline the procedure for altering its provisions.

This approach was to ensure the total number of Senators or House of Representatives members in attendance did not fall below the minimum number required to adopt a proposed clause. It also  ensured that any proposal that was passed met the two-third majority approval criterion.

Section 9(2) of the Constitution requires two-third votes of each chamber of the National Assembly, while Section 9(3) imposes a higher requirement of a four-fifth majority where the amendments involve boundary adjustments, creation of new states, new local government areas, fundamental rights, or the mode for altering the constitution.

However, both chambers of the federal legislature will still have to set up a conference committee to harmonise the differences in the proposed amendments. This is because the two chambers are required to pass constitution amendment bills in identical format. If both chambers are not able to harmonise the differences, the bills will be returned to the respective chambers of the National Assembly for fresh voting.

After harmonisation, the bills are then transmitted to the state houses of assembly by the Clerk of the National Assembly for their concurrence. According to the Sections 9(2) and (3), two-thirds of all the State Houses of Assembly need to approve the bills. It simply means that the approval of 24 states will be required for each amendment to be ratified.

When two-thirds of the state assemblies approve each clause by simple majority, they are returned to the National Assembly. According to Section 58 of the constitution, bills also require the assent of the president.

Could this quirky constitution amendment marathon have been responsible for several botched efforts at revising the nation’s preeminent guide book? A snapshot of the peculiar voyage is instructive.

Since pre-independence, the nation has had series of constitutions, which include the colonial-era constitutions (1914-1960), Independence Constitution (1960), Republican Constitution (1963), Second Republic Constitution (1979-1983), aborted Third Republic Constitution (1992-1993) and the Fourth Republic Constitution (1999 to date). 

Since the Fourth Republic berthed in 1999, there have been attempts by various assemblies to amend the constitution. Efforts by the legislature were characterised by proposals that kept resurfacing, despite costing humungous billions of naira. Notwithstanding these hefty expenditures, several attempts made by the National Assembly to amend some provisions of the 1999 Constitution, were unsuccessful.

The first effort at amending the 1999 Constitution under the Chairmanship of former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu and House Deputy Speaker, Hon.  Austin Opara in the fifth National Assembly was a farce.

The exercise failed due to the alleged third term agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The project ran into quicksand when the legislators discovered that a clause to elongate the tenure of the then President was allegedly embedded in the document. The bill was thrown out.

The second attempt to review the constitution in the sixth Assembly, under the chairmanship of the then Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu  was only partially successful as just few sections were amended. The sections included the financial autonomy of the National Assembly, which gave it the power to draw its funds directly from the Federation Account, otherwise known as the first-line charge.

The third attempt, in the constitutional review exercise in the seventh Assembly was also partially successful. The National Assembly attempted to strip the President of the power to sign the constitution amendments, which is required for them to become law. It was however a failed attempt. The then President Goodluck Jonathan argued that the legislature overreached itself in seeking to abridge presidential power, especially the power to “check and balance” the lawmakers.

Under former Senate President, Dr..Bukola Saraki, the fourth attempt was made by the eighth Assembly.  

Available records showed that about 33 bills for constitutional review were available for review by the lawmakers,  with 28 of them passed by the House. Out of this number, 17 got concurrence from the Senate, while four were passed with differences.

Seventeen bills were sent to the State Houses of Assembly for concurrence, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. But 12 of these came back to the House ratified, while five, including the bill on Local Government Autonomy (surprisingly), were rejected by the State Houses of Assembly, having failed to receive the approval of two-thirds of the state lawmakers. Unfortunately, only five of these bills were signed as part of the constitutional amendment by the president.

Currently, with both chambers of the National Assembly last week voting separately on 68 amendment bills to the 1999 Constitution, with notable controversies and progressive positions captured, many bruised Nigerians are apparently daring to hope that the promise of the ninth National Assembly to give them a new lease of life may come true.

By stoutly rejecting pension for her principal officers, throwing out immunity for the Senate President/Deputy; the Speaker/Deputy and CJN; moving several key governance areas from the Exclusive to the Concurrent list and several more positives, there is indeed a ray of hope.

However, the journey is still far.