Nigeria Content Online

For Nigeria to
become a competitive player in the world, the country needs to do away
with the 1999 constitution which was imposed on Nigerians by the
military, a professor of sociology, Peter Ekeh has said.

Mr Ekeh, who
delivered a lecture on “Military rule and the damage to the spirit of
Nigerian constitution,” blamed the nation’s declining fortunes and poor
governance on the military and their decrees. Noting that the
post-independence constitutions of 1960 and 1963 ensured that “Nigerian
tribes fully co-existed,” the professor from the New York State
University, Buffalo stated that the present constitution ensures
“enforced co-existence.” “The 1999 constitution is against the spirit
of the people’s constitution,” he said.

Other problems
identified with the 1999 constitution is that “it is an imposition of
centralization of governance by the military,” which puts enormous
power and resources at the centre rather than encourage the federating
states/region to generate their incomes and make them economically
competitive and viable.

Mr Ekeh said the
local government has suffered as a result of the over-centralization of
power at the federal level. “There is a growing delineation of people
from the local government and this is encouraging wide-spread
corruption,” he said, adding that centralisation of policing denies
locals of the power to secure themselves.

The prohibition of
the creation of police by the state and local governments in the
constitution, he said, means that “these tiers of government cannot
provide security for their citizens.” He, called for “a dispassionate
review of the constitution which must be done and most include the
reversal of states and local governments receiving ready-made largesse
from the federal government.” Reclaim the country

The lecturer
expressed worries with the manner of governance seen in the last 12
years of the return of civil rule to the country and condemned the
ongoing moves by the national assembly to create more states
irrespective of their economic viabilities.

“Creating more
states will cripple Nigeria’s participation in the global economics as
some of these states and local governments will collapse without
subventions,” he said. “A new constitution should challenge all the
tiers of government and all government agencies to use their onus to
contribute to our commonwealth otherwise Nigeria will be left behind in
the race of survival in the 21st century.” The former Lagos State
governor, Bola Tinubu decried the preponderance of top soldiers in the
nation’s politics. He said former president, Olusegun Obasanjo (a
retired soldier) has “proved to be the most unsuited to lead the
country into democracy.” He further condemned the former leader for
going against the federalism preached by the constitution by
withholding funds allocated to Lagos state to fund its local
government, even in face of a Supreme Court ruling that said such
withholding was illegal.

He enjoined Nigerians to select leaders without military mindsets in
the next elections. “We say we are a federal republic, we are not
federal. We are unitary and over-centralised because all the power lies
with the federal government at the centre. We say we are a republic,
yet the royal fathers draw funds from the state treasury. We say we are
a secular state, yet we sponsor people to Israel and Saudi Arabia every
year. We are in self denial,” he said. “If we want to reclaim our
country, and democratise it, we must all vote for the right people and
protect our vote in 2011.” He concluded.