Awka Summit fallout: Ndigbo demands new constitution (Read full text)

Full text of the speech delivered on the occasion of Igbo Summit on Restructuring held at the Ekwueme Square, Awka, Anambra State on Monday 21 May 2018.

*Restructuring The Nigerian Federation: The Position of Ndi Igbo*

*”Nigeria: A Ga Akpa ya Akpa!”*

*EKWUEME DECLARATION 2018*

1. PREAMBLE:
The Nigerian project is at crossroads. It does not command universal acceptance at home and it is much diminished abroad. For large sections of the population, the promise of Nigeria: peace and unity, faith and progress are largely broken dreams. The capacity and objectivity of the Nigerian state, its leadership, critical institutions, and agencies are questioned by many. On the global stage, Nigeria is rapidly fading from any serious reckoning. It cannot secure and fend for its citizens at home, neither can it project power to protect it despite its abundant potentials and promise, most Nigerians agree that Nigeria as presently structured and governed is not sustainable.

John Nnia Nwodo, President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo

In the run up to Nigeria’s independence and after independence (in the 1963 Republican Constitution), our founding fathers Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and Ahmadu Bello negotiated and gave us truly federal constitutions which embodied the basic principles of federalism namely, autonomy of the federating regions, fiscal federalism, devolution of powers, citizenship/indigeneship rights, etc. Under these constitutions, especially the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions, freely negotiated by the Nigerian people, there was a consensus that a truly federal structure was the best for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society such as Nigeria to guarantee justice, fairness, equity, freedom, liberty, and balanced and competitive political and economic structure to give every citizen and section of the country a framework to maximize their God given potentials. The present 1999 Constitution foisted by the military regime (falsely dubbed a federal constitution) unhinged all the structures of true federalism and bequeathed a de facto unitary system with the concentration of powers and resources at the centre. With the choking unitary system and all its dysfunctionality for a diverse country, Nigeria has remained relatively unstable, oscillating unpredictably between the flickers of hope and despair.
Most Nigerians agree that this system cannot survive and endure for much longer. The genius, Albert Einstein, said that the definition of insanity is to repeat the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome. For several years, many organized groups, intellectuals, statesmen and women have persistently called for a revisit to the structure of the federation to make it work for all Nigerians. It started first as calls for a sovereign national conference. In recent times, the calls have become even more strident and desperate: the Yoruba nation has held a rally at Ibadan in September 2017 and published its agenda for restructuring Nigeria; the South South geopolitical zone held its own summit in Yenogoa in March 2018 and endorsed their template for restructuring; the All Progressives Congress (APC) set up a Committee on restructuring and its recommendations are public knowledge; the 19 states of the former Northern Region have also set up its own committee on restructuring and its report is expected; the Middle Belt zone is scheduled to hold its own summit on restructuring, while several political parties have made ‘true federalism’ the centre piece of their manifesto for a better Nigeria. At no time in Nigeria’s recent history has there been a greater broad support for restructuring the federation than now.
For the estimated 57 million Igbos scattered in all villages of Nigeria and the world, the demand for a restructured Nigeria that guarantees the security of life and property, freedom, and liberty, equity, and development, has a unique significance. No other ethnic group has a greater stake in the Nigerian project than Ndi Igbo by virtue of tens of millions of Ndi Igbo who live and invest everywhere in Nigeria outside Igboland. But they are also victims at every turn: every now and again, threats to their lives and properties, as well as brazen discrimination and marginalization in critical areas, raise doubts as to whether they are indeed fully welcome as equal citizens of Nigeria. Consequently, there is a segment of the Igbo society that has lost hope in the Nigerian dream; believes that Nigeria will never work for the Igbos and hence agitate for an exit from the union. But a preponderance of views among Igbos is that a restructured Nigeria that works for all remains the first best option.
The Agenda presented here distils from accumulated years of work on the subject by successive regimes of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, various Igbo Think-tanks especially the submissions of the Igbo Leaders of Thought for the 2014 national conference; report of the Committee set up by South East Governors on the review of the 1999 Constitution; the report of the World Igbo Summit by the Igbo Renaissance Centre, Uturu; various submissions/reports by Aka Ikenga; Izu Umunna; Nzuko Umunna; the Igbo Intelligentsia; Alaigbo Development Foundation; the World Igbo Congress; reports of various meetings and conferences of Igbo stakeholders and leaders; etc. The Ohanaeze Planning and Strategy Committee and the Organizing Committee for the Summit on restructuring also embarked on Town Hall -style consultative meetings at Abuja, Lagos, and Enugu to collate inputs from major segments of the Igbo society. Memoranda and inputs were also received from over 40 pan-Igbo groups, NGOs, and individuals. A draft was presented and debated at the National Executive Committee and the Imeobi of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
What is presented is a summary, and the issues remain work in progress. The position of Ndi Igbo is to seek for a transformed Nigeria that works for everyone— a level playing field for all Nigerians to enjoy freedom, liberty, fairness, equity, and justice to maximize their fullest potentials. Ndi Igbo are uniquely positioned, by virtue of their huge stake in Nigeria, to champion a pan-Nigeria agenda. We do not seek any preferential or differential treatment from Nigeria. Ndi Igbo want a Nigeria that works—to maximize their security, prosperity, and happiness. Igbos also want a Nigeria that allows every part of Nigeria the latitude and opportunity to develop at their own pace. Ndi Igbo want a national conversation to create a new and better Nigeria for everyone. The outline below is intended for that purpose.

Section 1: A New Constitution of Nigeria.
Ndi Igbo demand for a constitutional conference, backed by a law enacted by the National Assembly, where the people of Nigeria would agree on a new, truly federal Constitution. Such a Constitution should be approved by the people of Nigeria through a referendum to give it legitimacy.
Section 2: Form of Government
The presidential system of government shall continue to operate at the federal level, with bi-cameral legislature (House of Representatives and the the Senate). The regional or state governments shall determine the type of government to operate at that level as enshrined in their respective constitutions (whether parliamentary or separate Executive and legislative organs).

The tenure of office of the President shall be a single term of six years. There shall be five Vice-Presidents, one from each of the other geopolitical zones or regions (excluding the region/zone of the president), and each also to serve for a fixed term of six years. Each of the Vice-Presidents shall be assigned supervisory responsibility over two or more ministries such as Defence, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Infrastructure/Works, etc). This is to give every zone/region a sense of belonging and a strong voice in major decisionmaking. The office of President shall rotate among the six regions/zones of Nigeria.

The Governor and Deputy Governor of the Region/State should have a single term of six years only. The office of Governor shall rotate among the senatorial districts.

Section 3: Federating Units and Structure of the Nigerian State
Nigeria shall remain a federation with the existing six geopolitical zones forming the federating units or six regions of the country. There shall therefore be six regional governments, each comprising the current states within each zone and any other state(s) that may be created with the zone from time to time.
Each Regional Government shall have its own Constitution, for the good governance, peace and development of the region. Such Regional Constitutions shall clearly delineate levels of authority between the regional government and the component states (that is, defining powers that are exclusive to the Region and powers that are residual to the states). The Regional Constitutions shall not be inconsistent with the Constitution of the federation, and is invalidated to the extent of its inconsistency.
If the national consensus is that the states remain the federating units, the existing six geopolitical zones shall be entrenched in the constitution as the basis for sharing national political, economic and social amenities, offices and opportunities in an equitable manner among the zones.
In such a situation as in (c ) above, Ndi Igbo demand that Nigeria shall give effect to the recommendation of the 2014 National Conference which states that “ in the spirit of reconciliation, equity, fair play, and justice, there shall be created an additional state for the South East Zone; and all other requests for state creation shall be considered on merit”. One additional state in the South East should be the irreducible minimum. But if States remain the basis for sharing resources and opportunities in Nigeria, Ndi Igbo demand for equal number of states per geopolitical zone.
Local Governments should be scrapped from the Constitution of the Federation. Local Government should be in the Exclusive list of the Regional/State Constitutions.

If States remain the federating units and some states wish to merge to be viable in the absence of free resources from the centre, they may do so provided that :
A two-third majority of members of the Houses of Assembly of each of the affected states supports the merger by a resolution, and;
A referendum is conducted in each of the states proposing to merge, and 60% of voters is required to approve the merger.

Any group of people or communities that wish to belong to a contiguous zone other than the zone in which they currently belong, may do so provided that 60% of voters in the affected area approve the merger in a referendum.

Section 4: Equality of Regions or Geo-Political Zones
Whether the Regions or States become the federating units, and whether or not equal number of states are created in each zone, Ndi Igbo demand that equality of the six geopolitical zones should be entrenched in the Constitution. Politically, representation at the federal cabinet as well as the twin chambers of the federal legislature shall be based on equality of zones. Furthermore, sharing of revenues, distribution of infrastructure by the federal government, and federal character principle shall be applied on the basis of equality of zones.

Section 5: Citizenship/Indigeneship Rights:
Nigerian citizenship is acquired through the criteria for citizenship as provided in the Nigerian Constitution.

The concept of State of Origin should be scrapped from the Constitution of the Federation, and replaced with State of Residence.

c) Any child born of Nigerian parents anywhere in Nigeria shall acquire the indigeneship (residency) rights of the area at birth.

d) Similarly, any Nigerian citizen who has resided in any part of Nigeria for a period of five (5) years shall acquire the indigeneship (residency) rights of the area, except for the right to their traditional stool.

Section 6: Internal Security:

There shall be established a two or three tier police structure with defined responsibilities as follows: a Police Force for the Federal Government, and the Regional/State Constitutions to establish separate Police Forces for each region and each state.
The Police Force at every level shall be headed by a non-partisan professional. The appointment and removal of such a head of police shall be vested in an independent body.

Section 7: Sharing of Financial Resources: Fiscal Federalism
Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution is a negation of the principle of federalism. It should be abrogated. In its place, a truly federal system that gives control of resources to the component units and replaces the indolent system of unconditional transfers with conditional transfers from the centre as follows:

The states shall have control over all the natural resources within their territory. Fiscal federalism presupposes the revocation of the Land Use Act of 1978, the Solid Minerals Act, as well as the various Petroleum/Gas Acts and amendments since 1969. The right of ownership, control and exploitation of these and other assets should be returned to the states and/ or federating units.

The taxation powers of the various tiers of government should be reviewed to give the federating units greater flexibility and scope to generate revenue internally.

States within the federating units should collect and keep 50% of rents, royalties and profit taxes on minerals derived from their states; pay 20% to the regional government, and 30% to the federal government.

The Federal Government should set aside 40% of revenue collected from the states/regions as a Distributable Pool Account (DPA). The balance of 60% plus its own independent revenues such as customs duties, federal VAT, federal income tax, etc shall be deployed to its diminished responsibilities. The sharing of DPA should be equitable and should replace the present unconditional revenue allocation to the states and local governments. Among other things, the DPA should be deployed to the following:
i) Emergency transfers from the DPA made only to distressed states/zones consequent upon natural and environmental emergencies, such as, floods, erosion, earthquakes, desert encroachment, man–made disasters – conflicts insurgency and war.
ii) Distributable Capital Account (DCA) – The balance in the DPA would serve as distributable capital (DCA) from which conditional grants are made to the federating units for capital projects only, on the basis of accountability subject to project- performance monitoring. The DCA would replace the current unconditional monthly allocation, and operate almost as matching grants.

f) The states within a region shall collectively decide what percentage of their consolidated revenue they shall allocate to the regional government for its operations provided that such contributions shall not be less than 10 percent of the respective states gross revenue.

Section 8: Merit and Federal Character Principle
Nigeria must maintain an appropriate balance between merit and affirmative action in the conduct of national and regional/state affairs, and the distribution of appointments, amenities, opportunities and privileges among constituent parts. For example, while 60% should be reserved to merit, 40% could be reserved to ensure federal character principle or affirmative action.

We recommend that the Federal Character Commission be replaced with Merit and Equal Opportunities Commission.

Section 9: Elections

Elections into the office of the President and federal legislature shall be conducted by the Electoral body of the Federal Government. Elections into regional/state offices shall be conducted by electoral bodies set up by the regional/state Constitutions or laws.
It is believed that the current system of simple Plurality System (with simple relative majority as winner) encourages minority governments and is considered out of date. We hereby propose a Majoritarian System whereby a winner must score at least 50% of the Votes to win an election.
Independent candidates serve as a form of protest to political parties and should be allowed in the electoral system provided that such candidates meet a minimum criteria to be on the ballot.

Section 10: Judiciary
Each federating unit shall have its judicial system with courts of first instance, appellate court and Supreme courts to adjudicate on matters that are in the concurrent and residual lists as well as matters exclusively preserved for the federating units.
Where the states are the federating units, there shall be state high courts, and zonal/regional court of appeal and zonal/regional supreme court on matters pertaining to the states and zones/regions.
It is the states or regional courts and their appellate courts that will have jurisdiction over electoral matters in their respective states or regions except matters pertaining to the presidential election or federal elections.

There shall also be the federal high court, federal appeal court and federal supreme court— to deal with matters on the exclusive list of the Constitution, as well as constitutional matters or conflicts between the federating units and the federal government.

ANNEX A: DEVOLUTION OF POWER:

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