EXECUTIVE Bill to the National AssemblyGiven the complexity and near unfeasibility of a national referendum process, another option is for an Executive Bill to be presented to the National Assembly by the President of the country, asking the Senate to pass a law for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference, SNC.

Such a law will formally initiate a process for the Executive arm to convene a SNC to return Nigeria to true federalism. Such a bill should establish a National Commission on Constitutional Restructuring, NCCR, which will have the mandate to undertake and oversee all aspects of the restructuring process. 

To ensure the independence of the commission, it should have its own direct budgetary allocation, it should operate at arms-length from the Executive arm of government, and should not be under any government ministry. Rather, it should report directly to the National Assembly. Having a Federal agency established by law to be in charge of restructuring will ensure continuity of the process irrespective of the government in power. 

For example, the 2014 report by the conference convened by President Goodluck Jonathan could have been pushed further even though he lost re-election, if there was a federal and independent agency mandated and established by law to implement the report. Given that restructuring is a long and continuous process that may spread over a long period and will include a transitional period, a national commission on restructuring can address the problem of lack of continuity that has bedevilled previous attempts. Such a commission will also remain in place to monitor and advise on the effective implementation of the restructuring process. 

While the NCCR will provide administrative support and oversight for the process, including overseeing the convening of the SNC with assistance of the electoral body, the SNC itself will be made up of elected representatives of the Nigerian people. To ensure fair and effective representation, the SNC should be convened and constituted to include two to three members from each state of the Nigerian federation, who are elected on zero party basis, as well as representatives of professional bodies who will be distinguished personalities with unimpeachable records.

The task of the SNC would be to review previous reports and recommendations on constitutional and political restructuring and to make recommendations on the way forward. The enabling law would ensure that the outcome of the SNC will receive the status of a draft constitutional reform bill which will be considered and passed by the National Assembly to produce a new constitution for the Nigerian people. 

 The foregoing process provides robust legal and institutional basis for constitutional restructuring in Nigeria. However, a key question remains whether the current crop of Nigerian leaders will have the political will to undertake such a comprehensive process in a free, fair and credible manner without party coloration or vested interests. Again, the winner takes it all mentality of our current polity creates an overwhelming inertia for our political class to do the right thing even when the impetus to act is compelling. 

For many years, the prosperity, peace and progress of the Nigerian nation has been held hostage by a clique of kleptocratic rulers who make the possible impossible, and make the impossible unattainable. Consequently, the search for transformational leadership across Nigeria’s political, economic, social and educational sectors remains complex, desperate and incomplete.

 Transformational Election: 

A third and most practicable option is for Nigerians to evolve a national awakening and decision that the next election will be a restructuring election. That is, the sole criterion for selecting the next crop of leaders in this country – across executive and legislative arms at federal, state and local government levels- should be unequivocal commitment and promise to implement a manifesto for transformational leadership in Nigeria. As I describe in the next section, the manifesto for transformational leadership is anchored on a promise and commitment by all elected leaders to constitutionally restructure Nigeria. It requires a personal decision and commitment by every voting Nigerian not to vote for anyone or political party that will not restructure this country. 

 Nigerians are not powerless. One thing that has not and can never be easily taken away from Nigerians is the ability to elect their own leaders, and to monitor the process to ensure that their votes count and matter. However, one of our biggest problems in this country is that we have never had ideological elections. Our election campaigns are like carnivals and money spraying events where people with little or no clear-cut agenda and plans for the country, sing, dance, merry and communicate nothing tangible in terms of developmental plans.

The end result is the recurring process of electing the highest bidder, who most often, becomes the highest looter. The present system and government encourage politicians to do everything and anything to attain power. The politicians see attainment of power not as a means to an end but as the end in itself. They will bribe, corrupt, intimidate, coarse, browbeat and indeed resort to every trick in the book to be a Senator, Rep member, Governor, Minister, Commissioner, Local Government Chairman, Member of the House of Assembly and even Local Government Councillor.

This has a direct effect on the quality of leadership available to the country. On their part, members of the electorate, many of whom have been affected by the downturn in the economy of the country, will easily be bought over with the huge resources available to the corrupt politicians. Nigerians are one of the most docile people in the world when it comes to participating in electoral processes.

While in many advanced countries, such as the US, Canada and the UK, elections are treated by every citizen as a serious life changing event, many of the most educated Nigerians do not even vote or participate in the process. We leave the future of our country and our children in the hands of the same political crooks who have mastered the art of crushing the unity, peace and progress of the country. 

 Nigerians have a right to mobilise and collectively insist that the next election in this country will be all about the big issue of restructuring. Without restructuring Nigeria may never know peace. Consequently, it is a most defining challenge of our time. All of us, leaders and followers in the Nigerian project, have pivotal, sacred and indispensable roles to play in contributing our strategic opinions and efforts to insist upon constitutional restructuring in Nigeria. As John Galbraith, an Economist and Public Intellectual, once noted:

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major problems of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

 Some of our celebrated leaders, such as Chief Obafemi Awolowo, tackled the wicked challenges of his time with great vigour, intellect and selflessness, and history will forever remain kind to him. What is the current generation doing to reverse the wicked problem of constitutional hopelessness facing the country? Nigerians cannot continue to wish and hope for a messiah or leader that will willingly do the right thing.

Now is the time for Nigerians to expect more from prospective leaders. We urgently need an ideological election in this country that is hinged upon constitutional reform. Having another election jamboree, that is based on nepotism and selection of cronies, without making it a restructuring election will be to plaster over the pressure cooker of violence and instability that currently threaten the future of the country Nigeria.