By: Dattijo Usman (Ubandoman Minna)
Change it, amend it, rework it, rejig it and do in fact whatever you may wish to do with it, it’s all a waste of time. A circus!
There can never be a perfect Constitution anywhere in the World. Nigeria has so far had nine constitutions from the colonial era to date. Have they changed anything? So why rewrite another one? What difference would it achieve that the ones before haven’t achieved? Another exercise in futility?
As a matter of fact, Britain has no written constitution. Yet the British society is governed to the admiration and acceptance of the British and even emulated and respected world wide.
Without doubt,it’s the attitude that matters. Our ATTITUDE as a people leaves much to be desired. We MUST change our ways of doing things. Polarity reversal of our psyche is sine qua non for any meaningful departure from the norm. There must be a new beginning in our orientation and disposition for a better society in our self enlightened interest. Break the Law, pay the price! No matter who’s involved. That should be our mantra.
To be sure, as faulty and as inadequate WE want to say the 1999 constitution is, if only we have operated it sincerely and conscientiously we would still have had a country and nation of our aspirations and desires.
Alas, the most basic irreducible minimum of law and order is absent. Without which, is the manifestation of what we have in the management and administration of our country in all the circuits of power – Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
Additionally, the corporate world, the civil society and even the fourth estate of the realm are not an exception. They fare no better in the decay. They are a microcosm of the macrocosm. They reflect and manifest the way and manner the larger society operates.
Sadly, there’s no enforcement whatsoever of all the provisions of the Statutes.
Let’s be clear, constitutions do not operate themselves. Indeed whatever document is produced at the end of the exercise and by whatever name so called, it cannot achieve the intendment of its drafters unless and until we operate its letters and spirits conscientiously.
It all starts with the basic honesty by all and sundry. Leadership is by example not by precept. People at the helms of affairs have grossly abused the trust thrust upon them. The malevolence has now permeated the whole society. The difference is just a question of degree. Shamefully, we are all complicit either by Commission or by Omission.
The PATRIOTS need to worry more about rejigging our Attitude and worry less about rewriting or amending the 1999 constitution.
As imperfect as it appears to be, it can work for us and serve the purpose of having a nation that delivers social justice to all and sundry if only we commit to operating it conscientiously for the good of all Nigerians.
To wit, Chapter 2 of the Constitution ” Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy” is sufficiently egalitarian in scope for the security and welfare of all citizens. In all honesty, can we say successive administrations have delivered the constitutional provisions of chapter 2?
The most fundamental requirement is having a modicum of basic honesty by all citizens.
