LESSONSFROM NIGERIAFOR AFRICA& EUROPE

by Dele Oguntimoju ECONOMIC RESEARCH COUNCIL

President Lord Biffen Chairman Damon de Laszlo

Vice-presidents Tim Congdon Russell Lewis Brian Reading

Hon. Secretary Jim Bourlet

Executive Secretary Professor Peter D;ivison

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Executive Committee 1 Damon de Laszlo (Chairman) Dulcibel McKenzie Tony Baron Christopher Meakin Jim Bourlet John Mills Peter Davison Alan B. Parker Peter L. Griffiths John T. Warburton Dele Oguntimoju Roben McGarvcy 2002 This paper is published by the Economic Research Council, but menibers of the Council are not necessarily conimitted to the concIusio~is. CONTENTS

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Foreword V Introduction 1 Identity and Development 5 Forming a Settled Identity 6 Settled Identity in Nigeria and Europe 9 Settled Identity and Deiiiocracy 14 Settled Identity and the Enterprise Culture 17 A Political Solution to a Political Problem 19 The Movement for National Reformation and a New Constitution for Nigeria 22 Nigeria and its Nationalities 25 Constructive Diversity 25 Languages 26 The Structure of the Federation 26 Allowing for Changes 30 Constitutional Arrangements for the Regions 31 Union Institutions 32 Parliamentary or Presidential 32 Head of State and Chief Executive 37 ! House of Nationalities 38 Keeping Representatives Representative 39 Number of Lawmakers 39 Mineral and Natural Resources 39 The Citizen and the State 41 i National Defence 42 Policing 43

Anticipated Outcomes 44

Biographical Note 47 FOREWORD

I have read ‘Identity and Development’ with the greatest interest and pleasure, for I am none other than the “one Sir Peter Smithers” referred to early on in the paper. After being an ‘umpire’ for the Ghanaian vote on independence Iwas Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for the Colonies throughout the negotiations which established the Nigerian Constitution. In those far off days the problems of setting tip an independent political structure of disparate elements were little understood. The administrative structure of Nigeria was functioning under the Colonial Office with admirable efficiency. There were plenty of experienced and able Nigerian civil servants. This was an achievement which HMG wished to pass intact as a functioning administrative system to the new rulers. So far as Ican remember the break-up of the system into its separate ethnic parts or groups of such was never seriously considered.

In the post-war period we in Europe had much to learn about federution. Many people mistakenly thought that the model of the USA could be followed in Europe. In the passage quoted from her book, on page 7, Margaret Thatcher gives the difference between the establishment of a federation in the USA and in Europe as the existence in the former of ‘a ~oininonlanguage, culture and values’, whereas in Europe of the post war none of the three were to be found. More important in my opinion is the fact that immigrants going to the United States went there in order to discard their nationality of origin and intending to become Americans. I cannot think of any country in Europe of which, nircfarismrrrcrndis, this was true in 1949 or of which it is true now. Is it true today of the many very different ethnic communities that compose post-colonial Nigeria? I do not know but I very much doubt it.

The model ofthe EU, the origins of which lie 52 years behind us, is therefore particularly relevant to the future of Nigeria, and the imponant questions to be asked are, therefore, ‘Has it worked so Far and is it likely to arrive at a These are not the attributes of a complex Federation or of a Regional fully functioning federal structure?’ To the first part ofthc question one may Organisation, in either of which many decisions are the result of prolonged answer with a clear and indisputable ‘yes’. The Treaty of Rome has brought negotiation between conflicting interests and are often deadlocked. many indisputable benefits to the member states of the EU. Dedicated federalists will answer the second part of the question by saying that the The EU and Nigeria were both established in an age when ‘big was ultimate development of a fully-fledged federation is necessary and beautiful’. The EU, it was hoped, would be even bigger than the US and inevitable. Having had experience of the process of European Unity since hence even more ‘beautiful’. Nigeria, a composite of many elements, would the foundations were laid in 1949 when the steps were taken to set up the be a big powerful and wealthy state, an element of stability in post-colonial first Regional Political Organization in Europe, I do not personally share that Africa. But on 11th September we saw that a private individual, with a opinion, I believe that the process has already been carried beyond the limits budget which was small compared to the results achieved, could oblige the of what is practicable. given the existing differences in culture, language and world’s remaining super-power to completely revise its defence policy and society of its various component parts. The EU has, in my opinion, reached scrap much of its equipment and training at a cost of many billions ofdollars. deadlock so far as completion of the federal structure is concerned. Even so the ability of the US to prevent attacks in the future remains in Committed federalists will disagree emphatically, but then. this is the kind doubt. of disagreement which politicians are called upon to resolve. We now live in a new world in which every government, business and many No direct comparisons between Europe and Africa c:ui give us an exact private individuals will be required to make radical changes to the way in answer to what will and will not work in the latter. But the circumstances of which they operate. In the new circumstances where big is not necessarily Europe and of Nigeria have so many similarities from a politic;il point of beautiful and may be quite the opposite, small begins to look rather pretty. view that a careful look at the development of the EU can tell LIS much about The assumptions under which post-colonial Nigeria was set up are no longer the problems of creating a successful Federation in Nigeria. necessarily valid. and a radical re-examination of the options which are open to Nigerians in the new circumstances is now imperative. This paper is a There is. however, a new dimension in the world of today with which the valuable basic document and an important first step upon a difficult, complex EU, Nigeria and all national governments will be obliged to come to terms. and extremely important inquiry. For many years I predicted that with the advance of technology governments would lose control of events. The vacuum thus caused would inevitably be I PETER SMITHERS filled by the evolution of a system independent of Governments and over IN DI PRADON 19 ! which they would have no control. They would be sub-systems of it and 692 I-VICO MORCOTE I I therefore dependent upon it. The new system, global and based upon SWITZERLAND advanced electronics, in due course made its appearance, :I spontaneous growth resulting from the activities of millions of businesses and individuals Tel: ++ (41) 91-996-1973 e-mail: [email protected] Fax: ++ (41) 91-996-2504 and governed only by ‘natural law’, of which the survival of the fittest is a I principal rule. Sir Peter Smithers was Secretary-General of the Council of Europe from 1964 - 1969. ‘I The secret of survival in the new system, where action is instantaneous, is 11 agility and speed in decision-making and prompt subsequent implementation. i INTRODUCTION

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The starting point for Dele Oguntimoju’s paper is the connection between I economic development and political legitimacy. He argues that for a 1 national economy to function properly (or, in the case of a post-colonial state, gain lift-oft), a basic affinity must exist between the people and their political institutions. More than that, there must be a sense of identification between the citizens and the nation they belong to - and which they should consider as belonging to them, as well. That sense of identification is not, in the strictest sense, based on pure reason. It calls to mind Pascal’s admonition to his rationalist contemporaries: the heart has reason, which reason does not understand. In the context of political institutions, that means taking account of the local, the familiar, the organic, as well as the abstract and rationalised. Indeed to fail to take account of such things is itself a form of unreason.

This unreasoning rationalism is a paradox at the heart of post-colonial politics, not only in Nigeria and other African states but also in many parts of Asia and the former Soviet Empire. Oguntimoju argues persuasively that the failure of many post-colonial states to reflect their people’s identities has retarded the development of political institutions, civil society and the ccononiy. If a ‘nation’ has no organic basis at all. but is merely a scries of lines on the map, then there is no reason for its politicians, business leaders or ‘ordinary’citizens to be loyal to it and make it work. Paradoxically, therefore, the attempt to design abstract new nations, lacking historical or cultural basis, does not create a new type of democratic civil society, as the more idealistic of ’de-colonisers’ had hoped. Instead, it accentuates both narrow individualism and collective loyalties of a more traditional kind, principally to kinsmen and co- religionists. This undermines the notions of secular democracy and the rule of law, leads to corruption (public and private) and the descent into dictatorship and economic chaos. Oguntimojtt’s analysis does a service to both economists and political Oguntimqju recognises that is impossible to put the clock back to the early scientists, because it examines the cultural and psychological roots of 1960s and begin decolonisation again. But he believes that Nigeria, and democratic breakdown and economic crisis. Too many economists assunie countries in similar situations, may go back to the constitutional drawing that ‘developing countries’ can simply replicate Western economic I board. This means more than merely churning out new constitutions and processes, or that the benefits of globalisation will trickle down to them charters of rights. It means a thorough questioning of the post- through some historically inevitable process (historical inevitability is 1 independence models of centralisation and clientelism. It means very much alive but now it wears a neo-liberal mask. instead ofa Marxist I devolution of power, political and economic, to the regions (and not just I one). Meanwhile, too many political scientists assume that democratic state governments, which can be as remote as the centre). At the heart of

~ institutions can be installed like computer software, with no account of this process is a new contract between the centre and the localities, the historical circumstances or local culture. When it encounters any individual and the state. a genuine federalism that encourages cultural and culties, this spirit of liberal optimism gives way to a negative, and economic diversity, but enshrines individual freedom under the rule of law. profoundly racist, assumption that democratic bretikdown is inevitable, that ‘they need a strong leader’ because of ‘their’ propensities towards With this in mind, Dele Oguntimoju prcsents the outline of what he hopes iniquity and corruption. In both its optimistic and its negative forms, this will be the first instalment of a Nigerian version of the Federalist Papers. view of ‘Third World’ politics continues the colonial attitude of He believes that the United States constitution offers the most workable ambivalence - a civilising (i.e. Westernising) mission on the one hand, ;I balance between federal and state government, state and locality, desire to control and profit on the other. It also enables Westerners, and individual freedom and public obligations. Its separation of powers allows elites from the developing world, to avoid addressing questions of identity for a diffusion of power and responsibility, and so provides a break against they find unsettling. tyranny (whether at national or local levels). Crucially for Oguntimoju, the Founding Fathers, unlike Nigeria’s ‘Founding Brothers’, took account of To Oguntimoju, then, the underlying problem with the Nigerian project existing popular institutions. practices and preferences in forging their has been the failure to build on the political identity which is rooted at the constitutional design. There was a strand of continuity between the town level of nationhood (for example Yoruba, Hausa or Ibo nationhood). meeting and the structures of the new Federal government. In post- Instead, there has been an attempt by the federal government to supplant colonial Africa, no such continuities exist. George Ayittey, the Ghanaian or replace the nation. Nigeria, a land of a hundred million souls, is political scientist: has pointed to the marked discontinuity between the nonetheless just as much a geographical expression as it was at the time of village politics of Africa (highly participatory and consensual) and the independence from Britain forty years ago. If anything, divisions of seemingly alien state bureaucracies. For Oguntimoju, this lack of nationality, tribe, clan and religious belief have been sharpened by post- continuity in Nigeria explains its political and economic vicissitudes. The independence politics. These divisions militate against political stability United States, by contrast - and despite the blunt-instrument judicial and economic development. Nigeria in its present form has failed, but not activism of recent decades - has maintained a reasonable political balance because of any lack of ability or democratic awareness amongst its and preserved its multi-cultural democracy. disparate peoples. On the contrary, that ability and awareness has not been reflected in the country’s political institutions or the assumptions on which An important subtext to Oguntimoju’s thesis brings the debate about ,, , they are based, namely those of a deracinated political elite. institutional legitimacy closer to home for British and continental European readers. In so doing, he banishes all convenient assumptions about the otherness of the developing world or its lack of relevance to our internal political discourse. For Oguntiinoju perceives in the present phase of European integration some of the problems associated with post- colonial nations. These nations were in fact super-nations, subsuming IDENTITY AND DEVELOPMENT historic nations and regions into an artificial union. There is a danger that in attempting lo take over the functions of Europe’s nation states, the European Union will repeat the mistakes of Nigeria’s founders. Crises of 1 Nigeria was granted political independence from Britain on 1st October 1960 legitimacy are by no means new in Europe, after all, and we still reel from but, more than 40 years on, democracy and development continue to elude the effects of badly drawn borders and ;irtificially imposed political the country. Why is this? institutions. But for Oguntimoju, a European super-state is no Inlore a solution to Europe’s cultural or ethnic cleavages than a Nigerian super- The country produces inore graduates per capita than any of the developed state has been for Nigeria’s peoples. Euro-federalism is less genuine nations but, up to the time of writing, it has never produced a graduate federalism and more a grand design. And, with good reason. grand designs president. How comes? alarm him. In the short period since independence we have tried the British Readers will notice that Dele Oguntimoju speaks both in a personal Parliamentary system and the American Presidential system; we have tried capacity - as a lawyer and political thinker - and as Director of Publicity multiparty and two-party democracy; we have had no less ,than six for the Movement for National Reformation of Nigeria (MNR). The MNR constitutional reviews; from the three Regions immediately after played an important role in keeping alive the ‘sacred flame of liberty’, as independence, we moved successively to four, to twelve, to nineteen, to Tocqueville called it. during the darkest hours of dictatorship and political twenty-one to thirty and most recently to thirty-six; the soldiers have had a corruption. Today, in what seems 10 be a inore hospitable climate, it is go and the civilians have had their turn; we started with Balewa, and then playing a leading role in the constitutional debate. The Economic there was Ironsi; Gowon followed him who, in turn, was followed by Research Council does not endorse the MNR, or any specific political Muhammed and then we had the first coniing of Obasanjo. He handed over party at home or abroad. Instead it seeks to encourage all organisations to Shagari who was shoved aside by Buhari who, in turn, was elbowed out ! and individuals who have political and economic freedom as their goal. by Babangida who, making as if to pass to Shonekan, handed over to Dele Oguntimoju is one such individual. His ideas are important and, I Abacha, who died in mysterious circumstances and enabled Abubakar to suspect, we shall be hearing a lot more from him iii the future. hold the fort .until the second coming of Obasanjo. Now despite all the twisting and turning, hardly a month passes by since the latest experiment Aidan Rankin with democracy started in May 1999 without news of killings by members Economic Research Council of one ethnic group of another. Why so?

lfever thought was given to these questions in the past, the excuse was either that we were operating the wrong political system or that we had the wrong political operators viz. the corrupt and the inexperienced. As a result, the prescribed solutions have centred on tinkering with the system and lighting corruption. The realisation is now rapidly gaining ground that the key to the democratic Scottish partnersliip in rrniorr cind empire had heen achieved tl~rorrgh and developmental deficit in Nigeria lies not so much with the political poliricd necessity .It was nor rmderpirined I,v history, by crtlrrtre or by system nor, for that matter, with the operators of the system but in the very poprrlctr entlirisimn. " ' composition and structure of the country itself. By contrast, the settled identity between the English and the Welsh was the Nigeria is like a car that was designed to be pushed from behind or towed result of outright conquest of the latter by the former that was made more from the front but not to be driven from the inside: it was not designed to tolerable for the conquered by the fact that they had themselves been move of its own propulsion. From its inception it lacked that essential admitted into the club of winners by association. quality of a settled identity which is what enables the citizens of any country to shift the focus of their energies from the relative internal positioning of Through these different routes, and with the help of lubrication from the their local groups to their collective positioning as against other countries. It dividends of the British Empire, all three came to share a settled identity as is that settled identity that frees a country up from the enemies within to Britons in which England was acknowledged as the senior partner. This focus on the competition from abroad. acknowledgment of England's premiership was critical to the stability of the union. FORMING A SETTLED IDENTITY In her new book, Stotecrafr, Margaret Thatcher pointed to the settled identity A settled identity between historically diverse peoples can only conie about that exists in the U.S.A. and which is the foundation of the success of that in one of two ways: by compact or by conquest. In the former case, the Union and the absence of such an identity between the members of the identity holds for as long as the common purpose of the parties is being European Union: realised. In the latter case, the identity holds for as long as the conqueror has the power to enforce his purpose. Both forms of compact are evident in the "The porrrllel [between the U.S.A. and the European Union] is both deeply making of Great Britain. flmved find cleeplv significorrr. It is flawed heccrrrse rlie Unired Stcites w.s busedfront its inception on (I coinnion Imgrrrrge, crtlrure mid vrtlrres - Errrope The Act of Settlement of 1707 between England and Scotland cane about litis none .f tlrese tliings. It is crlso flowed becarrse the United Stcrres \V(IS because the English, having failed to subdue the Scots by force, feared that forged in the 18th Century md trnrrsjiornted into tricly federcrl sysrenr in the Scotland would enter into a compact with England's old enemy, France. 19th Century throrrgh evetits, above all. throrrgh the necessities und Scotland's motive for entering the compact was economic: Scotland's efforts orr1conre.s of wfrr contrfist 'Ercrop?'is the resnlt of p/on.s. It is in fact a to establish an empire of its own having been sabotaged by the English, and cloisic rttopiun project. U inonrinient to the wnih of intellectrrcrls. a its economy having been ruined in the process, the compact with England IJrogrmnine diose irievituhle destiny isfidrtre. '" would at least entitle them to share in the fruits of, what was then, the English empire. Mrs Thatcher might have added by way of further contrast, that while America was essentially the product of a compact between individuals, As Norman Davies points out in his book, The Isles: Europe is an attempt at a compact between nations and, for that matter,

"This bvcs no love-niutclr. Englond crnd Scotlund entered info coristitrrtiotrrrl ' Norman Dwies, The Isles -A Hirtury (Macmillan) page 694-696 ntcrtrirnony only hecnrrse they fecrred tlre worst n~ithorrt it ... The Anglo- 2 Margm Thatcher. Surecrdt (liarper Collins) page 358 nations that had tried their level best to develop a settled identity amongst SETTLED IDENTITY IN NIGERIA AND EUROPE themselves through conquest. Baroness Thatcher would have been more impressed by the parallels The reality is that establishing a settled identity through a compact of nations between Europe and Nigeria had she given any thought to them although. is infinitely more difficult than with a compact between individuals. This is even here as we shall see, there are fundamental differences. because individuals only bring to the compact their limited personal histories and habits. Nations, on the other hand, carry into a compact all the The name ‘Nigeria’ first came into usage on January 1st 1900 when the historical and cultural baggage that is the very essence of a nation. Nations Governments of Northern and Southern Nigeria were created following the are then, by their very nature, obstacles to the development of a settled British Colonial Governments’ buy-out of the charter that it had granted to identity amongst different peoples. It is no surprise, therefore, that the the Royal Niger Company over the region of West Africa then called ‘the Oil champions of the super-state, whether in Europe or Nigeria, see it as a first Rivers Protectorate’. Thus, up to just 100 years ago, the peoples of the River- duty to kill off the nation state. Niger-area (hence Niger-ia) knew themselves and related to each other as Igbo, Hausa, Tiv, Yoruba, Jukun, Ogoni etc., and governed themselves as The matter is further complicated by the fact that a settled identity is a such. It is easy to forget just how recent this was. dynamic and not a static state. The identity, once established, is reinforced and weakened according to the ebb and flow of the fortunes ofthe political unit in ! Nigeria, the single political unit, was formed on January 1st 1914 when the respect of which it subsists. Thus, in the immediate afterniath of independence Governments of Southern and Northern Nigeria were amalgamated by the in Nigeria and during the oil boom of the early 198Os, all felt ‘Nigerian’ and , same British rulers. The coming together was not by a compact between the ethnic nationalism was a fringe activity. Similarly at the height of the might nationalities within the two blocs and neither was it by conquest of one of the of the British Empire, Scottish and Welsh nationalism was of interest only to other. It was dictated by the strategic interests of the British colonial rulers. The political nationalist5 as distinct from economic nationalists. Northern Protectorate had become :I burden on the British taxpayer while the Southern Protectorate was in surplus. The solution was to amalgamate the two But it is the bad times, not so much the good times, that is the real test ofthe territories. In the words of Lord Harcourt, the then British Colonial Secretary: strength of a settled identity through a compact. When things start to go I wrong, a compact between individuals will always be more enduring than a “We hcn~releosed north er^^ Nigerici from the leuditig strings of the Trecisirrp. compact between nations. Once the original glue (which is normally money , Tlie proitiisitig cind ivell-corrducred porrth is tiow on cui ulloivunce of his own or the prospect of the same) begins to lose its hold on the parties to the mid is cibou/ to effect (in cilliunce with (I Southern lady of mentis. I huve compact, they will, to different degrees, begin to look for an exit. issrierl the special license citid Sir Frederick Liigcird will perform the

cercrifotiy. Mny the Utiion he frrritfrtl crnd the couple cot~.s/ciiit.’I When disillusionment sets in with the shared identity, while an individual will typically have no past way of life to return to (their right of passage to ‘Nigeria’ then, like Europe, was a product of plans - a man-made country; their country of origin will likely have expired over time), nations can a synthetic fabrication. always remember a golden past when they were in charge of their own affairs. This is why even after more than 300 years of the Union, the Scottish In fact, both super states were fashioned in the Same design studios and to a Nationalists are growing in popularity now that the benefits of being British significant extent by the same designer. Ironically the designs were are not so apparent to the Scottish people. commissioned in both cases by a Tory-led British Government. IO 11/cnri1y orid Devclipnenr

The designer that the Nigerian and European federal structures had in these circrnnstuncesfrom (I British poirit qf view, there wus rnrrch tu he said common was one Sir Peter Smithers who was the Parliament:iry Private for crecrtirrg (I single lorge inarker, brrt notlring fit u11 tu he srtid fur Secretary to the Minister of State and the Secretary of State in the Colonial inregrotirig /Main puliticully into the remuins of Eurupe when she stood Office from 1952-59 in the run up to Nigeria’s independence. He was also victoriorrs wifh her Einpire cirrd srrppurted by the United Stares. ”’ i the Secretary General to the Council of Europe froni 1964-1969. ‘Europe’, then, was supposed to be just like ‘Nigeria’ - a single large He gave an insight into the thought process behind the Nigeria project in the market - the only problem being that, in the case of the European project, following letter which was published in the Times on July 15th 1998: the ringmaster inexplicably jumped into the ring as well.

“Sic Drrring rlie negotifrtionsfor the indeperrderice qfNigeriu rlie view of the Like the nations of Europe, the nations of Nigeria “lack a common language, Secrerary of Suite (it thnt time, witlr which I ugreed. ivas rhot in Nigericr IIJC culture or values”. Far from a common culture, the nations of Nigeria, like shorrld utternpt to pnr together (I large mid powerfiil srcrre with uniplc their European counterparts, were historically known more by their materid resurrrces. which would pluy a lecrding port in the rrff(rir.s of the animosity towards each other. Their national heroes derived their fame from continent und the world. This IVUS crrtrucrive hut it irrvoliwlfurcitrg severcrl what they did to the citizens of the other nationalities and not from what they dfferenr ethnic und cultrtrcil groups ii~t~ia single poliriccrl strriclrrre. did together with them. The negoticrtions were complex rind very dfjicirlt, the chief pruhlerrr us I remeinber reloting, sigtrijicuntly, to the conrrul oftlie police ulrd the inilirur)~. Indeed the cultural divide could not be more fundamental, especially, some 111 the retrospect of 40 yews it is clew thnr this I.VUS (I grcrve rnistcrke would argue, in the current world political climate. While thc nations of which /ius cost rircmy lives and will prububly conritrrie to (lo so. It worrlrl Itcrve Europe can at least look to Christianity as a source of shared values, the been better tu estcihlish severul snrcrller stutes in U free-trude ureu. nations of Nigeria have no common faith: the south and the middle-belt of 111 escrrlputiorr it I~IIISIhe .sui(/ thur we (lid nut then Iruw tlrr e.runrp1e.s of the country are predominantly Christian and lean to the West, while the north the collupse of Krgoslcivia crnd of the Soviet Union hejiire oirr eyes. It slrortld of the country is overwhelmingly Muslim and its sympathies lie with the now he cleur fur dl hut the wilfully blind to see thor if is e.rtremely Arab countries. Thus at the time of writing the two sides are unable to agree clurrgeruus to force diverse rocid (rid sociul entities into (1 single ri

Even in the south and the middle-belt where the English language through The most damaging aspect of ;in education system based on an alien the work of the missionaries, had greater penetration, its effect has been to language is the handicap it places on the whole educational experience. create a class divide between the English-speaking dwellers in the cities and While English, French, German and Japanese children are educated in the the majority of the people who live on the land. language that they have spoken from birth. the children of Nigeria are forced to switch out oftheir mother tongue and into the English language at the age More significantly, reliance on the English language has produced a two- of five before they can engage in the educational process. Thus while their fold detriment to the county’s development efforts. counterparts from the advanced countries can very quickly move to

~ absorbing and understanding what is being taught because the schooling In the first place, Nigerians have lost a wide range of commercial experience reinforces the existing language base, Nigerian children spend I opportunities in the educational and literary sectors, in publishing and the much of their schooling period mastering the correct way to write and speak. arts. Nigeria could have had a very diverse literary culture, had the It is not surprising, therefore, that the educational experience for most nationalities within it been allowed to base their development priinarily on Nigerians is highly formal: the emphasis is on retention and recall of data to their own languages. The lack of literary development in the indigenous pass exams rather the processing and use of the information gathered. Thinking skills are not developed because proficiency in the alien language Here then is the heart of the lie that is democracy in Nigeria. A country that has taken up too much of the learning experience. is made up, it has been said, of more than 250 natioiialitics that were lumped together as recently as 1914 and left alone together (at least nominally) at SETTLED IDENTITY AND DEMOCRACY independence in 1960 - and without the advantage of the hallucinating 4 effects of an ever rising standard of living or a common faith - is expected Can democracy work in the absence of a settled identity? The short answer to elect competent leaders on the basis of one man one vote. It is a feat that even the members of the European Union, with their proven democratic is that it can only work as it has worked in Nigeria. I credentials. baulk at. The theory that underpins the workings of a democracy is that the representative shares the same identity with his electors: the closer the In a country that is so dominated by so many intermediate national idcntities, identity in terms of language, culture and values, the more likely it is that the the inevitable outcome is that votes are cast not on the basis of the objective decisions made by the representative will accord with the decisions that the merits of the candidates but on the basis of group identities. Thus the Yoruba elcctors would have made for themselves had opportunity allowed.. It is in the South West of Nigeria are committed to voting for President Obasanjo where the settled identity between the electorate and the would be in the 2003 Presidential elections, however badly he performs during his representatives is a given that the elcctors are able to discriminate between current term, because he will be the only Yoruba on offer and because it is the candidates on their objective nierits and qualities rather than subjective still 'our turn': In a similar vein, General Buhari, a former military ruler, was considerations of identity. reported to have called on fellow Muslims not to vote for a Christian (Obasiinjo is one) at the same election. In its purest form, the practice of democracy presupposes a society of individuals whose freedom of choice is unencumbered by the potentially In the absence of a settled identity amongst the electors of Nigeria, it is no distorting claims on their loyalty to the political unit of intermediate surprise that a iiieritocratic democracy has proved impossible. The system is loyalties like family, clan, tribe or nation. In other words, the overriding duty such that it cannot allow capable leaders to come through on their merits of the elector in a democratic setting should be to obey his conscience. since there is no shared view of the future between the people -the wolf is Underpinning the presupposition is a high level of homogeneity in the still thought to be in the house rather than outside the door. electorate. That a settled identity has not taken hold in Nigeria is not for want of trying I Larry Seidentop in his book, Democracy in Europe, traces this critical plank on the part of those who are in charge of the Nigeria project. The problem is of Western democracies to Christianity: that their efforts have been driven by their sectional interests - to dominate or to exploit - and so their preoccupation has been to give the nationalities a "The defiiiifig chcircicteristic of Christiciliity ivcis its ~t~iiver.sci/i.sr~i.It ciiriied to hasty burial. Their principal strategy in this regard has been to redirect the crecite ei siiigle hiiiiioti society; U society coriipo.sed. thcrt is, of iridiviehrcils loyalties of the citizens to new states. Like the European colonial rulers rother thon tribes. c/ons or costes. "I before them, these local colonialists have sat round tables and drawn lines

Larry Seidentop, Democrncy in Europe (Penguin Ruokr) page 1Y5 16 Identi5 mid Ilevclrpiicnr

across Nigeria to create these new artificial states that do violence to Agricultural Policy as European illustrations of how rhyme takes over from established national boundaries. Not surprisingly, these man-made identities reason in a tussle for power between different nationalities. with no historical foundation (of which there are presently 36 in total) have, in the most part, proved to be tinviable political units subtracting from the In the absence of a settled identity, the democratic experience becomes a established national identities and offering nothing in their place. hollow one and elections are more like multi-headed civil wars with the spoils going to the victors. Try as they might, those shouting loudest for ‘unity’ and ‘One Nigeria’ have I not been able to conceal the fact that Nigeria is like the Hydra of mythology SETTLED IDENTITY AND THE ENTERPRISE CULTURE with one head for each of its nationalities; each writhing, snarling and snapping at the others. As soon as one head is cut off in the name of political “It is the economy stupid!” many have said. The logic being that if Nigeria union, it grows back again more vocal and resilient than before. The lgbo can get the economy going by reducing unemployment and eliminating I who were supposed to have been silenced by their defeat in the Biafrlin war. corruption, the political problems would resolve themselves or, at least, diminish in importunce. 1 have started calling again for Biafra. The Ogoni, decapitated by General t. Abcha through the judicial murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa, are back demanding ! control over the exploitation of their oil resources. For the Yoruba, the It is this thinking that has informed the measures that have been tried in the past i anaesthetic of the Obasanjo presidency has started to wear off. It was towards resolving Nigeria’s predicament. The priority has always been to get i thrown in to soothe the Yoruba agony following the abortion of the election the econoniy moving through more aid, trade and investment. It is the same i of June 12th 1993 that their standard-bearer, Chief M.K.O. Abiola, had won. thinking that underlies the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) The Yoruba are still insisting on self-government. the Mushall-type plan for Africa that Presidents Obasanjo, of Nigeria, Thabo Mbeki, of South Africa and Abdelaziz Bouteflika, of Algeria, are pushing. In such a situation where there is no shared vision of the long term, there is no alternative but for the people to live for the moment. This produces the While a healthy economy would certainly help to ease the pain of the culttiral paradox where a person who steals the money of his village or politic;illy dislocated state, it cannot reset the bones. For as long as the nationality becomes, along with his family, an outcast but if the same person economy continues to grow faster than the feeling of disillusionment, it will were to steal ‘Nigeria’s’ money he would be hailed as a conquering hero on serve to disguise the gravity of the problem. But sustained economic growth in his return to his village or nationality. This is the background to the reign of the politically unsettled state assumes that those who are providing the aid, the mediocrity and corruption in Nigeria. preferential trade and investment are sufficiently magnanimous to surrender the advantage that they are in a position to take of this lame state. The reality Lest it be thought that the tendency to vote on national lines is a peculiarly is that they are not, never have been and never will be. Nigerian or Africa trait, one should consider what would happen if the nations of Europe were called upon to directly elect a President, particularly In an interview given to London’s Financial Times on 9th April 2002, a President with real power. In the absence of a settled identity, whenever President Obasanjo said as follows: opportunities for advantage arise, the contest will always be between the i nationalities rather than between individuals and votes will be cast ”In three )wvs I went rorrnd the world cind I didti ‘r get onyrhing. I.‘roni &ri/ 1 accordingly. One need only point to the haggling over the location of the 1999 I wit roirtrd the coitritrics in Eirrope. twice ovec I wetit 10 Jupuri to I i European Central Bank and the constant wrangling over the Common Americci to Cuirutlu und I got good words... urlcl 110 crction ut ull. *’ I The key precondition for sustainable development is a settled identity: one increasing amounts of money to be pumped into the economy over a who is harbouring doubts as to his legal title to land is unlikely to engage in sustained period to persuade the ghosts of the nations that have been woken much development of that land. Clarity as to who owns what is essential to to return to their graves. This is a level of investment that those who are development because it is ownership that is the engine of industry and only interested in the short term are simply not prepared to make. enterprise. It is where there is :I closeness of identity between the worker and the owner of the fruits of his labour that the level of industry is at its highest A POLITICAL SOLUTION TO A POLITICAL PROBLEM and the scope for corruption is at its lowest. Having identified the problem, our artentibn must move to the solutions The identity between the workers and the owners becomes looser as you move from the extreme of the sole trader, through to the partnership What is clear is that for Nigeria even to stand still in political terms, it has to enterprise, to the family owned business, to the small private company, to achieve real and sustained economic growth. It has no hope of meeting this the large PLC or multi-national company and to the state owned enterprise. development challenge unless and until it acquires a settled identity. In this It is at the extreme of the enterprise owned by a multi-nationality state that regard the choice is between a unitary identity to be achieved by a military the sense of ownership is at its weakest with the consequence that the level solution and a shared identity - one that respects the diversity of the of industry is at its lowest and the scope for corruption at its greatest. nationalities - which requires a political solution.

There are of course those who do not see this as a problem. These are the The reality is that Nigeria is too big relative to any one of its nationalities and people and organisations that view any gathering 01: people first and too complex in its composition for the military solution to be feasible. foremost as a market - the multi-nationals and the international trade lobby. Ultimately the only way forward is the political solution which requires the This market view of humanity is superficially appealing because it knows no establishment of a shared identity through a compact or constitution. racial discrimination or disharmony. To the multi-nationals and their 1 acolytes, a profit is a profit in whatever currency it is realised, whether It is not that Nigeria has never had a constitution. On the contrary it has had dollars, yen, lira or Naira. Their slogans like “one world” and J, more constitutions than any country of its age. There have been nine “globalisation” are seductive in their inclusivity - almost post-Christian in constitutions in total in the period from 1945 to the year 2000. The problem their appeal. For these people. linguistic and cultural differences between is that the constitutions have not, to date, endured because they were not the peoples are as much a nuisance and hindrance to trade as tarilfs and quotas work of the people. The latest constitution, which was rolled out in 1999 and should be eliminated in the interests of greater commerce. (after the election), is already under review.

For these interest groups, organic integration between diverse peoples is I The constitutions that Nigeria has had have been the expression of the fears simply too uncertain and too slow a process -time is money after all. To and aspirations of their promoters: colonial rulers and military dictators. To accelerate the process, they sponsor political parties and regimes that will be be precise the British Colonial Government was responsible for the Clifford, advocates for their cause and guardians of their interests. Richards, Macpherson, Lyttleton and Independence constitutions, while the military were responsible for the 1979, 1989, 1995 and 1999 constitutions. The problem for these groups, however, is that once disillusionment has The mechanistic insertion of “We the people” has not succeeded in been allowed to set in with a super-national project like Nigeria before the disguising the identity of the originators of these constitutions since a new generic identity has firmly established itself, it requires ever constitution will always betray the fingerprints of its makers. In contrast the U.S. constitution has, with minor amendments, endured in "A first series uf ciuestiorrs /hut ueeds to be put coticern.s how the division the same form since it was adopted in 1787. That the same compact has ufcotnpetence can he nrdc more trans/~urent.Cun we thus niuke a clecrrer taken this vast country from its settler-agrarian beginnings through the distinctioti betweetr three types of coinpeterice: the exclusive competence of industrial revolution to the information age where it now bestrides the the Uuion, the competence of tlre Member Stutes nnd the shared world as the sole super-power, is a credit to the vision, sincerity and sense c~~tt~petet~~eof the Uuiou crud the Meniber Stores? At what level is of purpose of the Founding Fathers: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison \ conrpetencc exercised irr the inost efficietrt wq.7 How is the priuciple of and John Jay. sirb.sidiurity to be upplied here? And slrould we not make it cleur that cniy 6 powers not assigned by the Treaties to the Uniotr fall within the exclusive It is also a reflection of the extent to which the people of America were sphere of coinpetetice of the Meniber States? And whut would be the involved in the process of making the constitution because the durability of con.seqiieuce.s this? The uext series of yitestions .should uinr, withiti this any constitution is a function of the extent to which the pcople have been new Jruntework and while respectirig the 'acyuis conrtnunautuire', to involved in its making. A constitution should be a mirror in which the people detenuine whether there needs to he my reorgurrisution of conrpeteuce. can see theinselves in terins of their past, their present and their future. They HOW cuu citizens' e.rpectution.s be takerr as U guide here? Whnt nrissiorrs should be able to recognise their fears, experiences and aspirations in the worrkd this produce fur the UniotrY And, vice versu, what tusks could better document. Unless they can do so they will not readily uphold it. be left to tke Meniber States.? Brit their. ,should not the d~)i-t(~-d~yudtnitristration rind itn~~letnriitrrtioir On the 15th of December 2001, the nations of Nigeria were given another .f tlre Utiion :s pulicy he leji inore eniphaticully to the Member Stcites and, precedent to follow in the process of constitution making. By what is known where their coristitutiotrs so provide. to the regions? Should they trot />e as the Laeken Declaration, the leaders of the European Union took :I prueicled with guururitees /hot their spheres of competence will not be decision to convene a "Convention on the future of the Union" because: uffected? Lustlj,, there is the qrrestioti of how to ensure thut (I redefined division of cotnpetence cloes not lead to a creeping expunsion of the "...the Uniorr stcnids ut U crussrouds, (I defining niotnetrt in its e.ri.stetrce. The conrpeterrce of the Uuiorr or to encrouchnreut upon the exclusive arecis cf iruificrrtiorr ofErtrupe is nem The Union is ubout to expaud to bring in nrore conrpeterrce of the Meinher States und, where there is provisiorr for this, than ten new Meinher States, ~Jre~l~Jt~~it~~rtitlyCentrcil and Eu.stertr EW

But, because Nigerians have to date been lacking the visionary leadership There can be no denying thc fact that the task facing the nations of Nigeria that made it possible for the Americans, in 1790, and the Europeans, in 2001, is infinitely more difticult than that which the nations of Europe are facing and that which the original 13 colonies of America had to nieet back in the 28th October 2000 edition. Above all we have drawn on our own experiences 1790s. John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers, defined the parameters of since the making 01’ Nigeria. Our views on the issues are set out below. the challenge they were kicing as follows: Nigeria and its Nationalities ”The luwgiver.s of u~rtiquity,.. legislated for single cities [but I who calf legislute for 20 or 30 stares. euch of which is greuter thori Greece or Ronfe The failure of Nigeria can be attributed to the perennial tension and conflict a/ rhose riiiies. ” between its nationalities resulting from mutual insecurities, jealousies and fears. The country has reached a stage wherc if it fails to define a role for Joseph Ellis in his book ‘Founding Brothers’ expressed the same challenge the nationalities within the Nigerian body politic they will define a role for as follows: themselves thc extent of which may not be readily predictable or containable.

“No one had ever estah/i.shed U re~Jfib/icuffgovernrffcrfr 011 /he .sccf/c of‘lhe The MNR’s proposal is that any new Constitution for Nigeria must recognise Uiiited Srcrre.~. orid the oi,erwhehiring jridgiileirt of the IIIO.SI respected the nationalities that preceded the formation of Nigeria by Britain in 1914 as ari/horitie.s IVUS tho/ it could irot be doiie. ”’ the true partners and stakeholders in the Union. The existing artificial, arbitrary and unviable states are a poor substitute for the natural, historic and The scale of the task for the European Union is to move from its present 15 established nationalities as the foundation stones for :I strong and dynamic members to admit more than 10 new Member States taking the total to 25 fedcration. member nations. For Nigeria, the challenge is to accomplish the same feat in respect of what are conservatively estimated as more than 100 nations. This position, which is informed by the experience of successful multi- nationality sliltes like Britain and (arguably some might say) the European To guard against a National Conference turning into a talking shop, the Union and unsuccessful ones like Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, is that parameters of what is to be discussed and decided must be clearly delined. these ancient identities as Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa etc. cannot, need not and As earlier noted, many of the issues set out in the Laeken Declaration for should not, be wished away simply because the people have acquired another discussion at the convention of the members of the European Union identity as ’Nigerians’. correspond with those that the nationalities of Nigeria will need to address. Borrowing from the example of the making of the U.S. constitution, it would Constructive Diversity also be helpful if a blueprint of a new constitution was available for consideration at the conference. The quest for unity in the past has been conducted at the expense of the diversity amongst the people. This need not and. indeed, should not be so. It To this end MNR has done some advance thinking on the key issues for an is not necessary, and neither is it sensible, [hat the people should abandon enduring constitution for Nigeria. In compiling our thoughts wc have drawn their established identities and heritage in order to be patriotic Nigerians. on the constitutions of the USA., Switzerland, Ethiopia, and the discussion The new Constitution should make it clear that citizenship of the Union is draft constitution for the European Union published by The Economist in their additional to citizenship of the component nationalities and not a replacement for those natural allegiances. In this way Nigeria will come into line with countries like Britain, where a inan is no less British because he is

‘Joseph Ellis. 14runding Brothers (F;ibcr and Fabcr) page I I :dso English. Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish. To symbolise the new approach of managing rather than suppressing the governance. Nigeria, in our estimation, has a little more than 100 (others say inherent diversity within Nigeria, the new Constitution should allow each 250) nationalities none of which has any substantive experience of western ’ nationality and sub-nationality to have its own flag in addition to the Union style democracy. Furthermore, the record of leadership and governance in 1 flag. Again we can point to the example of the nations of Britain with their Nigeria has been nothing short of abysmal. , distinct English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish flags hut who then also share the Union Jack. Similarly, the nations of Europe Ily their national flags as It is these realities, combined with bitter experience, acquired over the four Britons, French, Germans, Italians etc alongside the European flag. decades since independence, that has informed the MNR’s view that the key to peace and progress in Nigeria is to abandon the futile search for a Languages superman who can cope with the existing structure and, instead, to work towards putting in place a superstructure that can be effectively governed by Previous constitutions have provided for Hausa, lgbo and Yoruba to be the ordinary Nigerians. official languages alongside English. This discrimination bctween the nationalities on the basis of size should no longer be acceptable. The MNR’s original position, first put forward in 1991, was that the country should be restructured into eight regions. Since then, the movement’s Consistently with the principle of equity between the nationalities, the new thinking on the issue has moved on to take account of the events that have Constitution should provide for English, as a neutral language, to be retained happened in Nigeria, and in the world at large, in the context of peaceful co- as the sole official language of the Union. The Constitution should require existence between peoples of different races and ethnic groups. all Union Government publications to be made in the English Language. The MNR now proposes that any new constitution for Nigeria should be on the At the Union level it can be fairly said that language is no more than a means basis a Federation of Constituent Nationalities within which the Nationalities of communication between the 100 or more nationalities so that any will be grouped into Regions. Each Region will itself be a federation. language will do and the people might as well continue with the English language. However, at the level of the nationalities, language is 21 way of life Where a Region consists ofa single Nationality, its federating units will be the and Nigerians cannot hope to earn the respect of others by building their way contiguous component Sub - Nationalities of the Nationality. Where a Region of life on another country’s language. consists of multiple Nationalities, its federating units will be the contiguous component Natioiialities of the Region. Under these proposals ii Nationality or : Towards the revival and development of the indigenous languages, Sub-Nationality cannot form, or be pnrt of, more.than one Region. ,; therefore, we would recommend that a new Constitution for Nigeria should 1: at provide that the level of the Regions, the native languages should be used k From this arrangement, it follows that the federating Sub-Nationalities of a ij as the official language and for all government publications to be made in Mono-Nationality Region should be designated ‘Provinces’ and will have the native languages in addition to English. specified territorial powers which will be greater than those of local government councils but will be less than those of a Region. The federating The Structure of the Federation Nationalities of a Multi-Nationality Region will be designated ‘Associated Territories’ and will each have (or they inay choose to share with The membership of the European Union prcsently stands at 15 nations. Each neighbouring Nationalities) autonomy in a range of subjects (chieftaincy, I of these is a mature democracy with :in enviable track of leiidership and cultural affairs, primary education, language development). /I i‘ On the basis of these principles and criteria, it has been suggested that the iv)One Federation comprising the Minority total number of Regions should be 18 of which 12 will be Mono-Nationality Nationalities in West Middle Belt (i.e. Zuru, Regions as follows: Kambari, Bariba, Bussa. Karekare, Ngizim, Angaino, Bola, Funne, etc). - lbibio Federation v) One Federation comprising the Minority - ljaw Federation Nationalities in Central Middle Belt i.e.: - lgbo Federation (a) Ebira Group: Ebira, Uku, Ebira - - Urhobo Federation Ugu, Ebira - Panda, Etuno - - Edo Federation Igarra, Ebira Mozun, Bassa - Nge. - Yoruba Federation (b) Igala Group - Nupe Federation - Tiv Federation (c) Upper Benue Group: Alago, Eggon, Gwandara. Mada. - Fulah Federation Kakanda, Mighili, Bassa - Komu, - Cbagyi Federation Ninzoni, Arum, etc. - Hausa' Federation (d) Nok Group: Atyap, Ham, Bajju, - Kanuri Federation Ninzam, Ikullu, Kamanton, and 6 will be Multi-Nationality Regions as follows: Cwandara, Kahugu, Kwasam, Hori, Ninkyop, etc. i) One Federation comprising Minority Nationalities in Cross River and Akwa lboin vi)One Fedemtion comprising the Minority States (i.e. Eket, Annang, Oron, Ibeno, Etik, Nationalities in East Middle Belt, i.e.: Ejagham, Korop, Boki, Bakwara, Ydkurr. Yala). a) Plateau Group: Ngas, Berom, ii) One Federation comprising the Minority Afezere. Taroh, Goemai, Mavo - Nationalities in Rivers and Bayelsa States (i.e. Jukun, Amu, Pyem, Youn, etc. Ikwerre, Etchei, Ekpeye, Engeni, Ogha, Elcine, Ndoni. Ogoni, Andoni). b) Taraba Group: Chamba, Jukun, Kuteb, Mambila, Kona, Kunni, iii)Onc Federation comprising the Minority Kannab, Ndoro, Abakwa, Nationalities in Delta State (i.e. Ika, Ndokwa, Mumuye, Yububcn, etc. Warri, Isoko). c) Savanna Group: Burra, Tangale i judgment. President Obasanjo has helpfully opened the discussion in his book. - Waja, Bachama, Manghi, T/ii.sAniniri/CdkdMcu7, where he stated that any future Constitution of Nigeria Kilba, Yungur, Mwanna, Bwazza, must contain a right of self deterniination clause. This is but a recognition of the Mbula, etc. I reality that, short of force, the only way different nationalities can be kept together over the longer tenn is by their will to stay together. The underlying principle of the structure put forward above is that all the Nationalities, regardless of size, are autonomous federating units of equal It might be expected that in a new Nigeria in which a11 nationalities are equal, value to the whole. no nationality will be given cause to secede. It is nevertlieless prudent that provision should be made for this eventuality, howcver remote it inay now Allowing for Changes seem. The peace and stability of the departing nationality, no less than the peace and stability of the rest of the Union, require that a prc-agreed A good Constitution niust be designed to cope with the dynamics of human procedure should be followed. relationships. It must have in-built shock absorbers since the aspirations of nationalities are never static. To guard against Nigeria's past experience of The procedure suggested by the MNR for the new Constitution is one that lurching from one constitutional crisis to another, the design of the new would ensure that the initiative has genuine popular support within the Constitution must combine stability with responsiveness. It must be flexible Nationality concerned. For this, the best indicator would be a 75% majority enough to accommodate new aspirations of nationalities and Regions of the separate vote of the legislature of the tcrritory and in a referendum of without upsetting the whole structure. the people of the territory concerned. It would also be wise to allow a three- year interval between the initial formal proposal of the legislature and the In the course of time, nationalities that start out as part of a Region may wish referendum of the people in support. This is to allow time for proper to become Regions in their own right. The Constitution niust allow for this I rellection and for alternatives and compromises to be considered. when they are able to satisfy the criteria. We propose a dual criteria for the I I creation or recognition of a Region viz: ! However, since under these proposals the nationalities will have, through their freely chosen representatives at a National Conference, adopted the (i) Adequate Economic Resources (i.e. viability of the area concerned with new arrangements, it would not be unfair or unreasonable for the regard to the scope of Regional powers and functions); and Constitution to say that a period of 15 years must elapse from the adoption I of the new arrangements before any new Regions can be created or before (ii) Adequate Human Resources (i.e. combined population of not less than any secession moves can be considered. one million people living within the area concerned). Constitutional Arrangements for the Regions The combined criteria underlines our belief that neither size nor resources I alone can be the single determining factor as to which Nationalities can Striking the right balance between the local and the central organs of ! constitute Regions by themselves. government is the key to a successful federation. The tribulations of Nigeria can in a large nieasiire be traced to the steady and progressive accumulation 1 Should the Constitution allow for secession? In the past this has been treated as of power and resources in the centre producing, in the process, a winner- ! a taboo topic but the absence of thought about the issue is ;I poor substitute for takes-all political philosophy. Nigeria should, therefore, move away from the practice of concurrent more cost effective and inclusive system of government that is better suited jurisdiction as between the local and central tiers of government because this to Nigeria’s ethnic and sub ethnic complexity, leads to unnecessary competition. Instead the underlying principle of the

new Constitution should be that everything is residual (and therefore for the I One compensation that Nigeria can lay claim to from its chaotic political Regions) except to the extent that the matter has been clearly assigned to the record is that it is one ofthe few countries that has actually operated the two Union government. The new Constitution must therefore clearly and systems at different stages of its history. While it may be fairly said that if definitively enumerate the matters for which the Union is to be responsible. the operators lack sincerity no political system can be right, the fact remains that a bad condition can be made worse by the use of the wrong system and The government of a multi-nationality Region stands in the siinie position in different systems are more suited to particular environments. relation to its component Associated Territories as the Union government does in relation to the Regions. Thus, as with the Union Government, the A careful examination of the institutional dimensions of the presidential and principle should be that only those things that have to be done at the centre parliamentary systems will show that there are material differences between should be done there. the two systems in terms of the way is structured, the styles of leadership, the relations between the Presidenuprime Minister, between the political elites The new Constitution should allow each Region to have its own Constitution and society at large and the ways in which power is exercised and conflicts in which the division of responsibilities between the Regional Government are resolved. and the lower tier governments will be spelt out. This is to ensure that I subject to a set number of mandatory provisions, the Constitution of each I It is to the American success story that most people look to in order to nationality will reflect the particular experience, fears and aspirations of the support the adoption of the presidential system of government by the people of that nationality. relatively new African states. But, as well as the key consideration of the settled identity earlier discussed, the system owes its success in America to Union Institutions the following factors: the development of the Supreme Court as an arbiter I between the other two branches of government; the firm tradition of civilian The underlying principle of any new Constitution should be that the centre is control of the military; the practice of federalism which concentrated power owned equally by all nationalities large and small. To avoid the situation whcre for generations at the state rather than the national level: and the unforeseen some nationalities see themselves as more equal than others, we recommend devclopnient of distinct political parties organized in a two-party system. r that the composition of the key Union institutions (the Central Bank, the Supreme Court, the Civil Service Commission, the Auditor Gencral’s office, Many of the states in Africa and Latin America that have tried to copy the the Accountant General’s Office etc) should be organised in a way that will presidential system of government have failed in their efforts because they ensure that the voice of each Region will be heard. This requires collegiate lack these infrastructural supports. The result has been a corruption of the offices in which each Region has a seat rather than single officers. very essence of federalism: most of these states remain highly centralized politically and the President becomes almost indistinguishable from a King. Parliamentary or Presidential With the President’s office in these countries being seen as fountain of a11 things good. a ‘winner-takes-all’ mentality develops and elections become a The new Constitution should be modelled on the system of parliamentary ‘do-or-die’ affair. The courts being subject to executive control are powerless government (as opposed to the presidential system) on the basis that it is a to maintain the b;il;ince. The reality is that these multi-ethnic states would be better served by a Thus when, in 1978, the outgoing military regime set up a constitution collegiate executive than by one powerful President who will, more likely review committee to consider whether the country should revert back to the than not, simply end up its a champion of his own ethnic nationality. parliamentary system of governnient or adopt the presidential system, the constitution drafting committee recommended a presidential system for The Nigerian State inherited the parliamentary system from the British Nigeria on the basis of her 'needs'. Colonial Authority before her independence in I960 and experimented with this system until 1966 when her democratic government was In their words: terminated in a military coitp d'lraf. Between 1966 and 1979 the country was ruled by different military regimes. "A coilstitrrtioil shorrld he cccl(rpted to the i1eed.s of the cortr~trycind to the ctsl~irution.sof its cilizeiis. The poririifoloitneed of Nigeria isfor develop~i~enr. This original experiment with parliamentary democracy. coming as it did at we WUIlt IO he (Ible t0 deW/op 0111' C~oilolll):10 lllfJde1'llite (llld illtegrOte ollr the height of the struggle between the bigger nationalities to take over the society, to secitre crrid proiuote stcibility iil the comiwtiliry, md to scfegrtcrrd erstwhile master's chair, was doomed to failure. It was characterised by civil liberty. " tensions between ethnic groups and tensions between the central government and the three autonomous regions, which were perceived to be None of these aspirations has, in fact, been realised. The rigidity and the \ too powerful for the centre. This crisis having emerged so soon in the new winner-takes-all nature of the system led to massive corruption, a crisis government's life, it quickly developed beyond what the civilians could prone society and, ultimately, to a military take over in 1983. The Failure in control giving the military an opportunity to present itself as the only the arca of economic development, which was the central plank of the institution that could prevent the country descending into chaos. argument for the need to change over to the presidential system of government, is particularly remarkable: the country is poorer than it was 30 The period of military rule that followed, from 1966 to 1979, ushered in a years ago. Neither has national integration been achieved: the country is centralised command structure that revoked the autonomy of the more divided that it was in the 1960s. regionsktates, which then became little more than administrative satellites of the centre. It was during this period that Nigeria shed ils federal character May 1999 marked the beginning of the first four-year fern1 of Nigeria's and became a unitary state with :I federal label. The change of system was return to democracy. Alrcady it is cle:ir that the people possess neither the accompanied by the systematic breaking up of the states into a larger culture, the political understanding, nor the temperament to accommodate 1, number of smaller states thereby diffusing and further weakening the power !he required division of power in a presidential system of government. of the periphery in relation to the centre. I The popular belief in the country is that the executive arm of government By the time the military regime of General Obasanjo came to hand over alone is the governrnent making it easy for the legislature to be demonised power to a civilian regime in 1979, the political elites had become resigned and so defeating the concept of the separation of powers. The result has been 10 the belief that a civilian system that maintained a semblance of the a state of perpetual contlict between the presidcnt and the legislature 1: military command structure was what the country needed. The thinking was characterised by the latter's refusal to approve the Budget and the refusal of that such an administration would be best able to manage the ethnic the former to release funds for the salaries and allowilnces of the legislators? differences, the full scope and intensity of which had not become fully manifest by then. To make matters worse, any individual or group that holds a contrary view For a people that has just come out of over 15 years of military and ethnic on any issue is perceived by the public to be an enemy of the government. dictatorships, which left the country more divided than it was at Under a parliamentary system, there would be an official opposition independence, what is required in Nigeria is an institutional context that government, which in seeking to present itself as a credible alternative encourages the formation of coalitions among parties and groups and government, would be equally motivated to work on policy issues to keep minimises the scope for dictatorial tendencies. the government on its toes. Having regard to its ethnic complexity and experiences, what Nigeria needs Events in Nigeria since 1999 have shown that the legislature does not and is a political system that encourages genuine representation but not party cannot constitute an effective opposition to the government in the way that fragmentation or disproportionate influence of fringe parties. It needs to an official opposition could under a parliamentary system. For one, the avoid a winner-takes-all voting system. It needs to mitigate the phenomenon members of the legislature are inexperienced and, therefore, no match for of ‘surge candidacics’ that succeed in gaining office through access to the the executive arm of the government. The more experienced politicians and mass media but command little or no organizational base upon which to form 1I technocrats have all congregated on the executive side of the government. a government. It needs to encourage the formation of majority coalitions, providing strong incentives for representatives from different parties to bind Under a parliamentary system, these experienced people would have together. It needs a system that can avoid creating sharp divisions between enriched the legislature and yet would still have been available for party leaders who seek the presidency or ministerial positions and those who recruitment to the executive. This would also have improved co-operation go to the legislature. between the two arms of the government. Only a parliamentary system can achieve this. A majoritarian (plebiscitary) The cost of providing an official role for the opposition would have been system of electing the national leader is unsuitable for a society as cheaper than the cost of the current system, which is t‘ull of duplications heterogeneous as Nigeria. The almost existential problems and issues facing without being effective. Under the current dispensation, in the absence of an Nigeria today require a broader base of consensus than that which one person effective opposition, such opposition as there is has been unoflicially in the form of a President can command by being elected by majority of the provided by the various ethnic nationality organisations and the media. eligible voters. The personalization of power is inherent in authoritarian regimes and it is easier to slide into autocracy from a presidential system. That It is equally noticeable under the current dispensation that there is a high level this has not happened in the United States is due to a far-sighted constitution of tension between the President and his party, as he is perceived to be that entrenched a truly a federal system and underpinned a two-hundred-year unaccountable to the party. This is possible in a presidential system since the unbroken democratic tradition. Nigeria’s situation is quite different. President can claim to have obtained his mandate from the people. In a parliamentary system, on the other hand, the leader is responsihle to the party Head of State and Chief Executive who can remove him without the need for a general election. The leader is equally responsible to the legislature and the opposition. This has the The sheer size of the country makes it inevitable that Nigeria will have a advantage of deterring dictatorial tendencies in any incumbent. It also helps major profile in international affairs. However, the size of the country to ensure that government is accountable to the electorate since the equally means that the job of managing its domestic affairs is a full time opposition can demand answers on almost any issue. occupation. This dictates the nced for the vesting of the duties of Head of State and Chief Executive in separate persons. The concern with such a split in the responsibilities between two diflerent Regions through the Council of Ministers: to the nationalities, through the people is often the risk of a power struggle between the personalities. The House of Nationalities; and to the individual citizens through the House of scope for such conflict will he sufficiently contained provided the Representatives. Constitution strictly defines the President’s responsibilities. The I Constitution should also ensure that the President is only indirectly elected Keeping Representatives Representative so that he cannot claim a mandate direct from the people. The MNR’s suggestion is that the President should he elected by an electoral college One of the weaknesses of Nigeria’s democratic experience has been the lack made up of all the legislative houses in the country (Regional and Federal). of real representation. No sooner are the legislators elected than they lose sight of their duty to faithfully represent their constituents. The best way to Consistently with the Parliamentary system of government, the Prime keep the legislators in touch with their constituents is to require thein to Minister should he the leader of the majority party in the Parliament. The renew their authority at more frequent intervals. For this reason the MNR MNR recommends a collegiate executive. again based on the recoininends that the shortest practicable term of office for members of the i Parliamentary system of government, to guard against the over- House of Representatives (three years maximum) in the new Constitution. 1 personalisation of the executive power of the Union government. Such an Over time, once a culture of representative politics has set in properly, the I executive inay be called the Council of Ministers and he made up of one term of olfice can always be extended by amendment of the constitution. A

~ , representative for each Region. In this way we can seek to ensure that the longer term of oftice (say four years) is appropriate for members of the I House of Nation:ilities who are principally conccrncd with macro issues as I interests and concerns of all the Regions will he taken into account when the Union government formulates.policy. With such a collegiate executive they affect their respective nationalities. I in place, it will then he feasible for the olfice of Prime Minister to he rotated between the Regions, in alphabetical order, so that all nationalities Number of Lawmakers ! can feel a sense of ownership. The law of diminishing returns applies to lawmakers as it does to other House of Nationalities aspects of life so that every additional member of the House of Assembly does not translate into an equal and equivalent addition to the quality of Although Nigeria has always had two legislative chambers, there has never legislation and deliberations. The new Constitution should therefore provide been any qualitative difference between the two houses. Rather than each for the sinallest possible number of members for the assembly that is house adding a unique value to the representlltion of the pcople. the coiisistent with fair representation. This will encourage quality of selection, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate have simply which in turn should enhance the quality of deliberations. The MNR suggests

duplicated each other. i that there should he no more than 240 members for the House of Representatives. The membership of the House of Nationalities will he A way out of this impasse would be to restructure the second Chamber as a dictated by the number of nationalities. House of Nationalities to serve as the voice of the nationalities that make tip the Union. Each Nationality. regardless of size, will have an equal number Mineral and Natural Resources of members who will he selected by their national legislature. The House of Representatives will remain as the voice of the people as individuals. With Ownership and exploitation of the country’s natural resources has been at the this arrangement, a voice will he given to all the partners in the Union: to the root of Nigeria’s political problems. To this political problem, the present Government has sought a legal solution by instituting proceedings before the basis, the interested governments are the Union Government and the Supreme Court against the 36 state governments for a declaration as to the Government of the Region of which the waters forin part and MNR ownership of the country’s oil and gas resources. The court’s ruling that the suggests that the proceeds should be shared between the two. country’s offshore oil and gas belongs to the central government has come I as no surprise to anyone given that all the judges were drawl) from non-oil The Citizen and the State producing areas. The principal weakness of Nigeria’s past constitutional arrangements has Nigeria needs a more permanent solution to this political problem than a been the lack of ownership by the people. The people having never had any judgment handed down by a body ofjudges whose partiality is suspect. That real input into the making of the constitutions, they similarly had no facility solution can only be a political one. I to amend it when they wished. i Any political solution must seek to balance the strict claims of the oil A new Constitution for Nigeria must contain the facility for the people producing nationalities against the equitable interests that hnve come into (independently of the legislature) to initiate amendments to the Constitution being by virtue of their co-existence with the other nalionalities since the along the lines of the facility afforded to the Swiss people in their Nigeria project began. MNR suggests the following as a nieans of Constitution. addressing the diversity of interests in such resources with a view to ensuring that all interests (direct and indirect) are providcd for. A new constitutional crime should be recognised viz. “A crime against the people”. This will embrace amongst others: (a) soldiers who abuse the trust A distinction should be drawn between such resources as are to be found reposed in them by overthrowing or attempting to overthrow the peoples on the land of a nationality and such resources as are to be found in the representatives; (b) individuals who engage in election malpractices; and (c) waters. public officers who engage in corrupt practices.

In the first instance MNR recommends that Nigerians should revert to the These are the people who have been principally responsible for reducing the basic principle that the owner of land owns a11 that is on the land and country to its present state. These transgressions have, historically, not been beneath il. Any new Constitution must not only recognisc the exclusive dealt with the seriousness that they deserve even though they are the worst interest of the nationality to those resources as against other nationalities, of crimes being that they serve to destroy the very fabric of the society. but must also make provision for the owners of the land (whether an individual, family, community) to receive Pair Compensation for their good As these offences are injuries against each and every citizen, the Constitution fortune and to participate in the fruits of the exploitation of their natural should provide for any citizen to have the right to bring the prosecution if the resources. The identity of the owner of the land should be determined authorities are unwilling or unable to act. There should be no time limit on according to the laws and customs of the people of the land. such prosecutions. Ideally, these offences should only be pardonable by the people in a referendum so as to guard against the use of intluence to secure Since rivers and oceans cannot be privately owned, it makes sense that pardons and the tendency of violators to pardon each other or to grant natural and mineral resources that are contained within Nigeria’s immunity to themselves. territorial waters should be treated as inter-governmental assets. On this National Defence Policing

The main lesson from the country's recent political history is thal the The record of policing and internal security in Nigeria has been one of business of the defence of the liberties of the Nigerian people cannot be left l excessive reliance on force generating fear and distrust between the police to professional soldiers alone. and the citizens. The police and security services, rather than being part of the community, are remote and hostile in the nature of an army of When more advanced states like the USA and Britain continue to require occupation. significant numbers of their civilian population to share the responsibility of national defence through the National Guard and the Territorial Army Further, it cannot be said that this form of police/civilian relationship has respectively. it is foolhardy and reckless for the people of Nigeria to leave succeeded in reducing the level of criminality in the country or the level of the responsibility entirely to professional soldiers. It is this over-delegation detection and apprehension of offenders. Indeed the contrary would appear of the task of national defence that has led to the 'them and us' attitude to be the case. between the soldiers and the people they are supposed to protect. A situation where soldiers can take the law into their own hands and use weapons Any new Constitution should, in our opinion, contain provisions to localise entrusted to them for the protection of the people to exterminate whole policing and the security services to make them pait of the community. Any villages iii retribution for the killing of their colleagues. should no more be I new Constitution should provide for each nationality to establish its own tolerated.9 police force.

Any new Constitution must contain provisions to bridge the divide that has Given the multi-ethnic sensitivities in Nigeria. the Constitution should also opened up between the soldiers and the people. For this reason MNR make it clear that no policeman should be deployed to the territory of a proposes that the people should remain involved in the matter of their nationality unless he is a citizen of that nationality or he is fluent in their defence by the establishment of a popular militia. Military service should be language. In our view, a policeman who is from the community he is policing compulsory for men and women between the age of 18 and 60. This will or who, not being a native of the territory, has, at least, interacted with the allow the country to reduce the size of the standing army. In the event of an community to such a level as to be able to communicate with the people in external attack, the militia will be available to compliment the professional their language, is likely to be less trigger-happy in the discharge of the duties soldiers while at the same time standing ready to defend the peoples' , of his office and will find it easier to enlist the support of the community for liberties against any misplaced ambitions of the professional soldiers. his work.

r The argument that allowing each nationality to maintain its own police force '"On Octohrr 22 to 24,2001, 6evcr:il hundred soldiers of the Nigeriaii ;,my killed more than two hundred will be a licence for the use ofthe police to settle political scores, is spurious unirmed civilians ;ind destroyed homes. shops, public huildingr and other pnrpcny in more thin hcvell given the woeful level of professionalism within the force at present. Any towns and villager in Benue Svate . in central-eastern Nigeria. Thc smrll town of Gkji wns ;mwng lllc risk of abuse posed by allowing the people to police themselves pales into wont-hit Ikxiltions: inore than 150 peaplc were killed there alunc. whilc mure than twenty wcrc killed in the hrgcr market town 01 %Li.Binm. and others were killcd in acvcrsl ~)thcrvill;!ges. It wiis it well- insignificance when compared with the proven track of abuses when planned military operation. carried out in repririil for the killing oinineteen soldiers in thc area two weeks strangers with no local ties are asked to police it community. earlier. which WJP nnrihuted 10 incmhcn of the 'Ti" ethnic group. Those who died ill thc hands uf thc military were victims of collective punirhment. rsgetcd simply kcaure they bclonged 10 the Silllle ethnic group." (Xliikm Jwm ibc summrrr? ./ rbr mprr ou Nigcrio hy llummz Kig1if.v IVurch Vol. 14, N(t.2, (11) April 2002) ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES The Movement for National Reformation, under the leadership of Chief Anthony Enahoro, has demonstrated its willingness to take the lead in "It /ius been freqrrently retnnrked tliut it seenis to hrive heen reserved to tlie formulating a coherent plan for a permanent solution for Nigeria's people of this cortntn! by rkeir conduct cind exantple. IO decide rhe iriiporttrnt developmental and democratic deficit. What remains to be seen is whether question, whether societies of n~enfire really cupahle not of estuhlishirig the rest of the world is committed. In this regard one cannot but recall to good government from reflecriori urid choice, or whether they fire forever mind the counsel of George Washington in his Farewell Address to the destined to depend for their politicul cori.stitrttiori.s on occiderit cnid force. If American people: there he any tnith in the reniurk. the crisis ut which we [ire urrived muy with propriety he regurded us the eru in which tlie decision is to he inode: rind a '' 'Tisfol/yfor one Nution to /ookJiir rlisiiiterested~~~~ors wrong election of the pur? that we shall NCI mu): in this view cleserve to he froin uriother ... There CN~he no greuter error thuri to expect, or culcrilute upon red favourtv froin Nation to considered US the generul iiiiSfOrtiiiie of niatikiiid " Nution. 'Tis un illusion which experience mist cure. This was the challenge outlined for the American people in 1787 by which a just pride ought to discurd. '' Alexander Hamilton in his opening contribution to The Federalist papers. It now falls to the people of Nigeria, more than 200 years on, to address the same question.

But while the question remains the same, the context in which it is to be answered could not be more different. Put simply, the world is so much inore interconnected than it WJS in the 1780s that the decision no longer rests exclusively with the country in question.

In his address to the Millennium Summit of the United Nations on 6th September 2000, British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the impression that the rest of the world might just be ready to extend the political goodwill that has been in such short supply over the centuries of the relationship betwcen the developed and the yet-to-develop world. In the course of his address, he issued the following appeal to his fellow world leaders: r "Weneed u new prrrrrier.shi~~forAjricfi, in which Africuns letid brit the rest cif tlie world is conimittetl: where ull tlie prohlenu ure deult with not .seporurely hiit together in a coherent uiid irnificd pluti. Brituiri stcnicls reucly to pluy ow purt with the rest of the world ond tlie 1ecider.s OfAfricu in Jiirnirtlnting srrch (I thn.'' Dele Ogiintimoju was born in Nigeria in 1962. He was raised in his father’s village in Ikale, Yoruba land, until the age of 7 when he was brought to London for his education. Following an early education at Highbury Grove School and the Polytechnic of North London, he was called to the English Bar in 1985 and the Nigerian Bar in 1986. He was a City tax lawyer from 1987 to 1997 when he established his own law firm Ogun@Law. He became active in the Movement for National Rerormation in 1998 and has since become the Director of Publicity for the organization in Europe. He is the principal draftsman of the new draft constitution for Nigeria that has been published by MNR reflecting the ideas discussed in this paper.

Ogun@Law 391 City Road London EC IV INE

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