CONCERNS about the future of Nigeria are growing, unfortunately they tend to centre more on whether elections are conducted or not. Demands for conferences, summits, to address the challenges the country faces, usually start and end as more opportunities to recount the issues and apportion blames. Most of the attention goes to the 1999 Constitution, which some have pointed out began with a fallacy about “we the people”.

They forget that the spirit of the Constitution can only be evoked and sustained by the operators and “we the people”. What is “we the people” when governments that represent us are self-serving?

The preamble to our Constitution starts off:

We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria                                                                                                                                                                      Having firmly and solemnly resolved, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God,            Dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding                                                      And to provide for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people                                                                                              Do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution.

Nigerians never gave themselves the 1999 Constitution. The military did!   The House of Representatives’ effort through town hall meetings in Nigeria ’s 774 local government areas to amend the Constitution was shot down only on issues that would have affected the well-being of “we the people”.

State Houses of Assembly voted overwhelmingly against financial autonomy for local government administrations. These administrations are the closest to the people and it would have been possible for the people to hold them accountable. Why would the legislators oppose financial autonomy for local government administrations? Ironically, the legislators were aware enough about the importance of financial autonomy that they included it in the Constitution for state legislatures.

Their short-sightedness is captured when we consider the preambles of other constitutions. We intend to make constitutions for ourselves, not posterity.

We the people of the United States , in order to …secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…
We, the people of Kenya …adopt, enact and give this Constitution to ourselves and our future generations. Parliament passed the Kenyan constitution on 1 April (Fools’ Day) 2010. Kenyans voted (66.9 per cent in a referendum) on 4 August 2010 in its favour.

“We the people” get no better chances to express our feelings about Nigeria and its future than at elections. As the votes are cast next month, our decisions should reflect our concerns about Nigeria and its future. These votes could be more profound than constitutional amendments.