Constitution review bound to fail without citizens’ participation — Stakeholders warn

Nigerians have called on the Houses of Assembly across the federation to engage citizens, organise public hearings and ensure proper implementation of emerging constitutional reforms for a better democratic experience.

Some of them who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reporters in Abia and Imo said that it was only by arming citizens with facts to encourage informed decision-making that constitutional amendments could be holistically effective.

One of the respondents, Chuka Okoye who is the Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and Wholesome Society (CEHRAWS) said citizens and lawmakers have roles to play in the laws they welcome.

“State Houses of Assembly have a crucial role because no constitutional amendment becomes law without the approval of at least two-thirds of the state assemblies, as provided under Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“They should therefore actively engage citizens, organise public hearings and ensure that both existing and future constitutional reforms are properly coordinated and implemented.

“Constitutional review should ultimately focus on strengthening democracy, improving governance, promoting accountability and delivering better lives for Nigerians,” he said.

Okoye said that democracy can only be strengthened if citizens are well informed and actively participate in the reform process.

He said that the ongoing constitutional review should not be reduced to a debate on state police alone.

He said while police decentralisation is important, several other critical issues equally deserved public attention.

The CEHRAWS executive director mentioned some of the constitutional issues requiring urgent attention to include devolution of powers, local government autonomy, judicial reforms, fiscal federalism, electoral reforms and the protection of citizens’ rights.

“It is also important to note that some constitutional amendments have already been made but have received little public attention.

“For example, the Nigerian Correctional Service has been moved from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, allowing states to establish their own correctional services.

“Similarly, reforms in the electricity sector now empower states to make laws and regulate electricity within their jurisdictions, a step already taken by states like Abia and Enugu,” he said.

Okoye called for effective implementation of such constitutional processes and amendments like the recent affirmation of local government financial autonomy affirmation and the judiciary autonomy as landmark reforms needing urgent effective implementation.

He urged lawmakers and the executive not to concentrate efforts on just one aspect of the constitutional amendment but to undertake the reforms wholly to ensure positive outcomes for Nigerians.

A legal practitioner, Ms Amaka Biachi, described the ongoing constitutional review as Nigeria’s most comprehensive amendment exercise in recent years.

Biachi said that the amendments targeted critical governance and structural issues confronting the country.

She said that the review covered key issues such as state police, devolution of powers, decentralisation of the power sector, local government autonomy and other long-standing governance concerns.

According to her, the amendment process presents an opportunity to strengthen Nigeria’s democratic institutions and address structural challenges that have persisted over the years.

She, however, expressed concern over what she described as inadequate public consultation by lawmakers, noting that legislators should engage more extensively with their constituents before taking positions on proposed amendments.

Biachi also warned that the proximity of the 2027 general elections could affect the amendment process, adding that political interests might overshadow objective constitutional debates.

“The constitutional amendment process is rigorous because it has to pass through the National Assembly and be approved by the various state Houses of Assembly.

“With elections drawing near and considering the number of weighty issues under review, time may not be sufficient for thorough deliberations,” she said.

The lawyer identified insecurity as the nation’s most pressing challenge, describing proposals for state police as one of the most significant amendments under consideration.

According to her, state police will improve response time to security threats and enhance intelligence gathering through community-based policing.

She, however, cautioned that constitutional safeguards must be established to prevent governors from abusing state-controlled police formations for political purposes.

“There must be clear safeguards against political interference and abuse to ensure that state police should serve the people, not political interests,” she said.

Biachi stressed that Nigeria’s greatest governance challenge was not the absence of laws but poor implementation and weak accountability.

She noted that the country already had numerous legal frameworks and international obligations that met global standards but lamented the lack of effective enforcement.

“What we lack is accountability because whenever there is failure, somebody must be held responsible.

“Without effective accountability mechanisms, there will be impunity and poor implementation of even the best constitutional provisions,” she said.

The legal practitioner called for proactive measures to close institutional loopholes that enable corruption and abuse of public resources instead of relying on reactive responses after violations had occurred.

She also advocated making Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution, which contains the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, fully justiciable.

According to her, making the provisions enforceable will strengthen citizens’ rights to quality education, healthcare, housing, water supply and other socio-economic services.

She cited countries such as Kenya and South Africa as examples where similar socio-economic rights are enforceable.

Biachi urged the National Assembly and other stakeholders to demonstrate genuine commitment to constitutional reforms by prioritising accountability, implementation and citizens’ welfare over political considerations.

She expressed optimism that meaningful reforms would strengthen governance and improve service delivery if backed by effective enforcement mechanisms.

Another legal practitioner, Mr Godwin Ndubuisi, said that Nigeria’s constitutional review process requires that amendments passed by the National Assembly be approved by at least 24 of the 36 States Houses of Assembly before the President can assent to make it a law.

He added that the amended Constitution would then be cited as the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended in the year of assent.

Speaking on implementation of previous amendments, Ndubuisi cited the issue of local government autonomy and judicial autonomy as areas where implementation remained a challenge.

He said that the Supreme Court had given a judgment on the issue of local government autonomy to ensure that funds go directly to them.

“But still, the funds still go to the state. Even the judiciary, we are also fighting for our own autonomy: at the Abia state judiciary, we were on strike for about two months.

“Even judicial staff became agitated and embarked on strike yet most of them have not been paid till now, as I heard,” he said.

Ndubuisi lamented that court judgments are sometimes not implemented, alleging that “in Nigeria, they have laws for the rich and for the poor.

“Anything that does not favour the rich, they will sideline it because the government knows that if they implement this autonomy, some chunk of money will be diverted,” he further alleged.

Mr Mike Nduu, also a legal practitioner, described the ongoing constitutional amendment process as a positive step towards strengthening Nigeria’s democracy.

Nduu said this in an interview with NAN while reacting to ongoing efforts by the National Assembly to amend the 1999 Constitution.

He said that the proposed reforms would promote development and improve governance if eventually adopted.

Nduu, however, clarified that no constitutional amendment had been concluded, noting that the process remained incomplete until approved by at least two-thirds of the 36 State Houses of Assembly as stipulated under Section 9 of the Constitution.

“The constitutional amendment process has not been concluded because the prescribed procedure must be followed before any amendment can become law,” he said.

According to him, constitutional amendments are necessary because laws must evolve to address emerging realities and meet the changing needs of society.

He expressed optimism that the proposed amendments would strengthen governance, particularly in the areas of local government autonomy, state policing and decentralisation of the power sector.

On local government autonomy, Nduu said that granting financial and administrative independence to councils would accelerate grassroots development and enhance accountability.

He, however, expressed concern that some state governors might resist the proposal because of the influence they currently wield over local government administration.

“If local governments receive their allocations directly and operate independently, development at the grassroots will improve and elected officials can be held accountable by the people,” Nduu said.

Speaking on state police, the lawyer described the proposal as a welcome development capable of improving internal security, but warned against possible abuse by state governments.

He urged lawmakers to include constitutional safeguards that would prevent governors from using state police for political purposes or to intimidate opponents.

Nduu also supported further decentralisation of the electricity sector, saying greater involvement of states would promote rapid economic and infrastructural development.

He, however, expressed reservations over proposals relating to military autonomy, noting that any arrangement capable of reducing the constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces should be carefully examined.

The lawyer dismissed suggestions that the constitutional review was designed to protect the interests of those currently in power.

He noted that political office holders would not remain in office indefinitely and warned that any constitutional provisions enacted for selfish reasons could ultimately be used against them.

On public awareness, Nduu said the constitutional amendment process had received reasonable publicity through public hearings, media coverage and legislative consultations.

He added that elected representatives had a responsibility to engage their constituents throughout the amendment process, while the media should continue to enlighten Nigerians on the proposed reforms.

“The media, as the fourth estate of the realm, also has a constitutional responsibility to educate the public and hold leaders accountable,” he said.

Nduu urged members of the Abia State Houses of Assembly to support only amendments that reflect the aspirations of Nigerians and promote good governance.

He specifically called on the state lawmakers to back reforms on local government autonomy, state police and devolution of powers, while ensuring adequate constitutional checks against abuse of executive powers at the state level.

“The State Houses of Assembly should support every amendment that will improve the welfare of the people and strengthen democratic governance,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Solomon Akpulonu, lawmaker representing Obingwa East State Constituency, said that Abia House of Assembly is ready to deliberate on the proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution as soon as the documents are transmitted by the National Assembly.

Akpulonu, a former Majority Leader and longest-serving member of the House, said the Assembly had not received any document from the National Assembly regarding the ongoing review.

“The National Assembly has not transmitted the documents to us.

“If the documents are transmitted to us, we will then look at it, deliberate on the ones we will accept and the ones we will not accept.

“But we have not seen the documents. We don’t even know the contents of these documents,” he said.

An Owerri-based lawyer, Ms Kemdi Ugochukwu, said that without disciplined legislative oversight, amendments risk becoming elite bargains, rushed votes, or poorly vetted changes that fail to reflect public interest.

She said that in Nigeria, constitutional alteration is deliberately designed to be demanding.

According to her, the process requires two-thirds support in both chambers of the National Assembly and approval by at least two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly.

She however noted that some sensitive issues demand an even higher threshold to protect the integrity of the nation’s primary legal framework.

“That structure exists to prevent casual tampering with the grundnorm and to ensure that any change has broad democratic legitimacy.

“Yet the same rigor can be undermined when oversight is weak.

“I think that constitutional amendment proposals must be handled through careful committee review, public hearings, clause-by-clause voting, harmonisation, and transmission to the states, with electronic voting used to preserve accuracy and transparency.

“The danger is that if those stages are treated as formalities, powerful actors can steer amendments for narrow political advantage rather than national benefit,” Ugochukwu said.

Contributing, the Chairman of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), Mr Goodluck Ibem called for youth involvement for more sensitisation on amendments.

Ibem hailed the new state police law, adding that Nigeria does not need a faster constitution amendment process more than it needs a better supervised one.

He said that many Nigerians might not know about recent constitutional reforms because of lack of sensitisation, especially in an age where the country’s youth are engrossed in self-development.

The chairman expressed hope that relevant institutions would cooperate with the implementation of the reforms and that they would not become jeopardised by political interference.

“Legislative oversight should be the firewall that protects constitutional reform from haste, partisanship, and hidden agenda, while still allowing urgent reforms like state police to move forward in a disciplined way.

“Without that discipline, amendments may pass through the chamber but fail in the country, especially when many citizens remain unaware of the reforms as a result of poor sensitisation,” he said.

A Political Scientist and Public Commentator, Mr Chris Akachi, said that constitutional alteration also shows how fragile reforms can be when institutions are not fully coordinated.

Akachi called for citizen-driven reforms that consider Civil Society Organisation’

s contributions rather than reforms that appear imposed on the public by a legislature whose members come more from the ruling party than from the opposition.

According to him, Nigeria’s political diversity can give room for mistrust when constitutional amendments appear to be shrouded in secrecy.

“A promising amendment can still produce harm if oversight fails to test its feasibility, enforceability, funding model, and abuse-prevention mechanisms.

“Civil society has repeatedly insisted that constitutional reform must remain transparent and citizen-driven.

“I believe that citizens should be able to see who is proposing what, why it is being proposed, and how each clause affects governance,” he said.

Another public affairs analyst and lecturer at the Imo State University, Owerri, Dr Ikenna Onuoha, identified poor constituency engagements as a hindrance toward the implementation of the constitutional amendments.

Onuoha said that the gap between constituency representatives and their constituents often results in poor enlightenment.

The lecturer lamented the lackadaisical attitude of lawmakers who would rather give in to the whims of governors and completely disregard their roles as lawmakers and constituency representatives.

He added that it leaves the citizenry bereft of their rights.

“Most of these amendments require the input of the citizenry and this should be done through public enlightenment programmes which could come as constituency briefings and public sittings.

“Unfortunately, most of these lawmakers do not even have constituency offices or make efforts to engage with their constituents in any way, through briefings or otherwise,” he said.

Onuoha also observed that there would be limited success to the implementation of amendments, especially in states with no minority in their houses of assembly.

He stressed the need for public engagements for proper constitutional amendments which he described as an “important aspect in the rule of law”.

“Constitution amendments become necessary when obnoxious laws override the interest of the citizenry.

“If such laws are thoroughly scrutinised and amendments to them are substantiated, the gains will cut across board and the entire nation will be better for it,” he said.

Onuoha noted that implementing the amendments would not only sustain the functionality of the constitution, but ensure it continues to function effectively and efficiently.
NAN