By Sola Ebiseni

SHORT of sounding repetitive like a broken record, for the umpteenth time, we reiterate that the current steps by the National Assembly seeking to amend the Nigerian Constitution, just like the jamboree of town hall meetings held throughout the country last year, wasting taxpayers money, is like the Shakespeare’s tale of sounds and fury. It will signify nothing at the end of the day.

Our position on the exercise is too well known. Nothing short of restructuring the polity will be of any significance. A million amendments remain an exercise in futility. To say we are vindicated is to appear to be rejoicing at national misfortunes. Several submissions have been made regarding the fact that the 1999 Constitution cannot be legitimately altered to achieve a true federal state which is the foundational covenant among the promoters of corporate Nigeria.

The Constitution proclaims federalism and insists that the security of life and property shall be the primary purpose of government. Even without the current intractable security challenges, it behoves any government properly so-called to have the capacity to protect life and property of the citizens within its territorial jurisdiction.

In a federation, the federating states, unions or regions, whatever nomenclature the units are ascribed, each of them has co-ordinate powers among themselves and with the central government in ensuring the safety of the citizens with respect to internal security. With the current situation where the states control no form of coercive apparatus to both enforce its laws and secure the lives of the residents within its territory, any reference to the governors as chief security officers of their respective states is an amusing verbal decoration of meaningless title.

 Whatever informed the National Assembly to jettison an amendment of the Exclusive Legislative list to give the states and the Federal Government concurrent powers with specifications over police and security services has just exposed the Federal legislature as being not in tune with the principles and precepts of federalism, prejudiced by extraneous considerations which reduces their considerations for the people from its prime position in their agenda.

It was expected that the National Assembly would be conscious of the imperative of state police from the rudimentary efforts in that regards by the state governments. The other time, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State was so impressed with the activities of the Civilian Joint Task Force, CJTF, in the war against Boko Haram insurgency in the North East region that he gave its members salary bonuses in December 2021.

As reported by the media on the December 22, 2021 after a meeting with the different sector commanders of this para-police outfit, Governor Zulum announced that he had approved one month salary bonus for 12,735 CJTF members and hunters for their gallantry in fighting Boko Haram terrorists.

He said: “Our gallant Civilian JTF members and hunters have been working assiduously to secure this state since the commencement of insurgency in July 2009. Even though you are in thousands, there is no amount of support that is too much considering the sacrifices you are making.

On behalf of the entire people of Borno State, I convey our deepest appreciation. We are eternally grateful for all the sacrifices you have been making”. Responding, the leaders of CJTF and hunters pledged to continue to fight Boko Haram insurgents as part of their contribution to restore peace in the state.

The common belief is that the Boko Haram terrorists dread the CJTF more than the conventional security forces. In Borno alone, more than 12,735 of these men are under arm courtesy of the state government and their impact is most salutary as revealed by officials of the state government.

Other states in the region have their own CJTF or equivalent organisations. Long before the Boko Haram insurgency began, most of the North-West states, at least since 2003, have their own Hisbah which has similar powers as the Police to arrest, detain and prosecute alleged offenders. In Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, etc., this “State Police” was established to enforce Islamic laws.

Other local security forces such as local hunters, vigilante and young people have sprung up with state backing to defend with patriotic zeal their culture and inheritance under existential pressure from terrorism. Of course, the South West Amotekun Security Network has more than lived up to the expectations of the people of the region.

Like the animal which name was chosen for its operations, Amotekun has remained fearless with no part of the state declared inaccessible for them unlike some other conventional security agencies. The South East has its own Ebube Agu, while states in the South-South and the Middle Belt have also come up with their own security outfits.

The point we are making here is that it is sheer hypocrisy on the part of the National Assembly members to refuse to give official recognition to a system which is already part of us. In the final analysis, non-recognition of state police through the much-orchestrated constitutional amendment has far-reaching implications for the polity. First and as earlier said, it rendered the states which are federating units as so-called government or as not properly constituted.

Secondly, since security is an inalienable right, individual families, street organisations, clubs and all types of associations are encouraged to seek alternative means of providing security for themselves and households. Talking of proliferation of arms, the genesis is not far-fetched.

Thirdly, the Police will be more than overwhelmed by the activities of terrorists and lose what it is left of its integrity among the people. The beauty of federalism is competitive development and total absence of monopoly.

Except for the defence of the nation’s territorial integrity which is exclusive to the military, security is competitive between the central and regional governments and even among the units inter se. Some of the ills associated with the Nigeria Police is the monopoly accorded it in internal security.

Other federal security agencies like the State Security Service, SSS, and the recently created Nigerian Civil Defence Corps are deliberately limited by their laws compared with the Police with unlimited jurisdiction in internal security. In effect, these other security agencies pose no challenges to the Police to make it effective in its operations.

One other issue in which the National Assembly grossly goofed is the local government system and administration. On the surface, the public may be deceived by the worn out issue of local government autonomy. Eternally envious of governors and holding them responsible for all ills bedevilling local government administration in the warped Nigerian federation, the National Assembly simply reasons that the abolition of the Joint Allocation Account in which it is paid all amount standing to the credits of all local governments in the state from the federation accounts is the panacea for cutting the influence of the governors over local governments councils.

Fundamental issue of equity in the local government system which is at the very root of monumental crisis in the Nigerian federation is not addressed. We say without equivocation that the Nigerian Constitution is the only one in the universe in which the names and numbers of local authorities are enshrined and could only be altered by the same standard of amendments of other sections.

Members of the Nigerian federal legislature are forever so afraid to interrogate the equity behind the allocation of local government per state. They could not see the inequity of using the arbitrarily created local governments as basis of revenue allocation from the federation account which is iniquitous and evil.

No wonder the Assembly is preoccupied with such platitudes as changing the name of such councils as Afikpo North and Afikpo South local government areas of Ebonyi State; Kunchi Local Government Area of Kano State; Egbado North and Egbado South local government areas of Ogun State; Barikin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State; Atigbo Local Government Area of Oyo State; and Obia/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

In an ideal situation, where the names of local governments are not listed in the Constitution, such things as harmless as change of name would be achieved through a resolution of the legislative council of the local government concerned to be ratified by the State House of Assembly.

But in our strange system, it would require the resolutions of the Houses of Assembly in two-thirds of the states of the Federation to change Ilaje to Aiyemafuge. Forever under this Constitution, no matter how large a local government becomes in terms of development, a new one cannot be created therefrom.

It is only in Nigeria that development is shrunk on altar of ethnic politics. In the final analysis, we insist that what we require is not this jaundiced piecemeal alteration of the Constitution in the innocuous area of comical platitudes. We need restructuring using the 2014 National Conference and the El-Rufai APC True Federalism Reports as blended templates. Nigeria! We hail thee.