BY Odia Ofeimun

Last Friday we published the first installment of this discourse in which Odia Ofeimun made  case for a new constitution that would outlast its makers  and derive from collective ambitions that are not  driven by immediate or merely alimentary concerns. Today, we conclude the piece.

DERIVATION principle to be applicable to all revenues,  including  Value Added Tax (VAT)”.
A revenue allocation formula that takes cognizance of  items on first line draw; and shift of items on the Exclusive  and Residual list to the Concurrent list.

Drastic reduction in cost of governance through downsizing of ministries, commissions, parastatals, offices of special advisers and special assistants.
A  half-yearly report of actual cost of government to be undertaken by specially created Code of Conduct/Public protector’s office answerable to parliament.

“No expenditures without proper appropriation.” All budgets of such entities as the CBN, NNPC, NIMASA, Customs and Excise etc., to be laid before the National Assembly.
A separate office of the Attorney General of the Federation; distinct from the office of the Minister of Justice
The office of the Accountant General of the Federation to be distinguished from the office of the Accountant General of the Federal Government.

All who are convicted for electoral malpractice shall be banned from running for any office for nine years.
I must acknowledge the debt that these asterisked items owe to various constitutional conference reports, civil society soirees and special commissions. The empowering vision comes from tapping into the best that the Nigerian mind has framed in pursuit of a handle to collective aspirations. The ideals that they embody offer great opportunities for celebrating as well as transcending the challenges of our history.

True, not everyone of the asterisked items is argued or defended beyond the mere statement. But an over-view of  the social concerns that they are designed to address is at the heart of this book.
They are, in this sense, additives to arguments advanced in Taking Nigeria Seriously, and When Does A Civil War Come To An End. I make no claim to special knowledge and have avoided any such presumption.

This is one citizen’s plea to fellow citizens: to appreciate the necessity for a national dialogue, the insolvency of a sovereign national conference; and the imperative of facing up to the challenges of the national question with creativity.

I have added lectures and interventions  which  bear direct relevance to the issues that  this particular National Conference, or any self-respecting one, would consider. Ultimately, I am interested in how what was once described as a geographical expression can become a genuine cultural expression; how to create untrammeled conversations between Nigerian nationalities and  ethnic groups; and how to accommodate the role that the National Assembly has to play if we desire a law-governed approach to the resolution of the crisis that Nigeria has faced, almost as second nature, in over one hundred eventful years.

Internal colonialism
They were years, let’s not forget, in which issues of external and internal colonialism were compounded by not being able to count ourselves properly, not having a proper register of voters, not being able to put every child in school, create real jobs for the majority of those able and willing to work, and defend the sources of our incomes in a true people’s Republic free of  malfeasance.

A great commitment is what it calls for. It demands an exercise of will that won’t snap when confronted by the inevitability of practice.
I end this book with A Summing Up that may appear to repeat but actually advances the debates and why this constitution must be different.