----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUNDAY MUSINGS: The Imperatives of Constitutional and Electoral Reforms
in Nigeria

by

Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD
Burtonsville, MD, USA

Sunday, May 6, 2001

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTRODUCTION
------------

I am often engaged in vigorous discussions with Nigerian compatriots who
argue that all Nigeria presently needs is a GOOD LEADER, some kind of
messiahnic figure, to lead us to Eldorado. My argument always is that NO
PERSON can rule Nigeria well the way it is presently constituted, and in
any case HOW would we get such a person - or preferably PERSONS AT VARIOUS
LEVELS of government - elected?

This is what has led me to this present discussion of constitutional and
electoral reforms.


CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
----------------------

No group of people can progress if they do not agree on certain RULES OF
ENGAGEMENT, REWARDS for obeying such rules and PUNISHMENT for flouting
them. For a nation, the "ground norm" for such rules is the NATIONAL
CONSTITUTION, which, if it is to be obeyed with dignity and not flouted
with impunitym should be a PEOPLE'S CONSTITUTION, with input from and
periodic changes by them, understood by them, and taught to them from
cradle to grave.

Our present 1999 Constitution is now agreed by an overwhelming number of
Nigerians to be UNSUITABLE for the kind of diverse-nations country that we
are. It is the product of thirty five years of military rule less four
years of civilian rule, exhibiting all the unitary features of such a
military rule, in anti-thetical opposition to a truly federal structure.

I do not intend to go into the nitty-gritty of the reforms needed for our
constitution - serious discussions are ongoing in the country - but simply
to assert that whatever the course:

(i) the people must be involved INTIMATELY in the construction and
approval of a new constitution. The semantic difference between
"Sovereign National Conference" or simply "National Conference" is
diversionary, because if the process is properly constructed, the final
rubber-stamp approvers of the new document - the National Assembly - would
be intimately involved in the formulation of the document. Nevertheless,
no free citizens worth their self-esteem would allow a small group of
people to simply tinker with decisions consciously and seriously arrived
at: that is the concept of "sovereignty" which supporters of a Sovereign
National Conference will continue to insist upon.

(ii) it must result in the greater devolution of power from the center to
the states and local government. The present situation where Abuja deals
with 36 governing state entities and 774 local government entities is
absolutely unwieldy and militates against progress.

(iii) it must result in a justiciable and easily-understood Individual
Bill of Rights and Responsibilities of the Nigerian citizen, which weds
him or her proudly to the nation.


ELECTORAL REFORMS
-----------------

Democracy takes many forms from nation to nation, but a PRIMA-FACIE
feature of any democracy are elections, through which the people should be
able to choose their representatives in a free (from intimidation) and
fair (in deed and in truth) manner, and change them periodically.

The basic components of an electoral process are of course the CANDIDATES
themselves, the PARTY PROCESS as well as the ELECTION(S) proper. Let us
look at each of these in turn.

Identifying the Candidates
--------------------------

First, how can we assure good candidates? In most places in the world,
the order of importance in considering a candidate is:

(i) track record in -

(a) prior elected position; and/or
(b) prior unelected (administrative or business) position;
and/or
(c) prior educational endeavors for those joining the electoral
process for the first time.

(ii) new and innovative ideas (both vision and ability of
articulation);

(iii) ability to raise and work in a team of implementors; this could
be evident in the political party or a smaller select group
of co-workers of the candidate.

(iv) access to money to campaign, part of which may or may not be
needed to buy........

(v) patronage from influential (or wealthy) citizens in the community
or party.

The problem in Nigeria is that our order of priority in identifying
candidates is both virtually REVERSED and truncated as follows:

(i) money (considered as "investment" in the candidate); and
(ii) patronage;

and that is it! In fact, in many situations, it is patronage followed by
money.

I posit that if a SUCCESSFUL TRACK RECORD were used as a prima-facie
basis, it would eliminate many failed school-certificate holders (eg. many
currently over-paid local government chairmen and councillors), failed
businessmen and failed former heads of states from the Nigerian electoral
scene. I bet you that NO candidate in the US or other developed country
would avoid this particular kind of scrutiny and win, even if he or she
perchance became a candidate.

Try building a house from the roof down, without certain ingredients, then
see whether the two houses would not be much different!


Party and Electoral Process Reforms
-----------------------------------

An equally important issue is that if the voters make a mistake their
first time around, the electoral process should be such that they can
change their representatives, and not have the situation where their
unworthy representatives use money obtained corruptly during their
representation to perpetuate themselves in power.

That is what is most frustrating about Nigeria, and why we need electoral
reforms.

What are those reforms? I suggest ten of them:

1. The first part of electoral reform is to ALLOW INDEPENDENT
CANDIDACY. By definition, an independent candidate operating outside
a party will choose whether he wishes to accept patronage or not, and
how much money that he will spend.

2. Another electoral reform is to ALLOW AS MANY PARTIES AS POSSIBLE. By
forcing people into just two or three parties, the tendency is for
DESPERATION to set in - hence seeking patronage and using money to grease
one's way. The more parties there are, the greater the possibility that
there will be a few of them that will eschew PATRONAGE and adopt
IDEOLOGIES. A party system without ideology merely encourages patronage
and opportunism.

3. A third issue is one of CITIZENS' PARTY MEMBERSHIP and FINANCE
CONTRIBUTION, coupled with GOVERNMENT FINANCING of parties. Party
membership in Nigeria right now seems confined to the money bags who
finance virtually 99% of the party expenses, and hence the grassroots
people are mere observers looking up from way down there! There should be
demonstration of party membership and financial support, together with a
cap on contributions by any one member (say N200,000?), followed by
provisions for matching (one-to-one or even one-to-three as the case may
be) from the government. These provisions should be followed by
requirements for STRICT transparency in party accounts: no mago-mago,
wuru-wuru!

4 Adequate time to register to vote (e.g. three months) must be provided.

5. Voter registers should be published two to three months ahead of
time for all interested parties to have at hand and to verify
randomly.

6. Staggered ELECTIONS. With three tiers of government, conducting all
elections at once, with ALL elected government functionaries concerned
about elections ALL AT THE SAME TIME creates a CIRCUS ATMOSPHERE. Each
tier should conduct their elections in separate years, or one-third (or
any determined fraction) of the elected candidates in each tier should be
up for re-election during each year, so that we do not have a whole-sale
turnover in governments throughout the country at the same time.

7. The notion of INDEPENDENT MONITORS at each and every polling station,
including international ones, should be enshrined in the reforms, to
verify AT THE VERY LEAST that the number of voters who show up at a given
polling station equals the total number of votes cast for ALL CANDIDATES.
The sad situation in our presidential elections in February 1999 where
Jimmy Carter physically counted only 60 voters in a particular polling
station, and yet soon thereafter there were 500 votes announced should
never be able to be allowed to pass. Such a polling at that particular
booth should have been CANCELLED, and such a strict compliance need not
await the use of National Identification Cards.

8. The retention of ALL POLLING BOXES for at least a month after the
elections to enable random checks for authenticity of results.

9. Traditionally disadvantaged states (eg due to low education or
poor physical infrastructure) should be given special attention
during elections to reduce suspicion of deliberate delays in
announcing their election results.

10. The publication of a Voters Bill of Rights in as many languages as
possible to explain to citizens that under no circumstances must their
ability to vote be abridged.


CONCLUSION
----------

Nigerians are quick to point out that it is not some of these ideas are
not already known by the powers that be, but that it is just that many
gain from the chaos that exists by their non-implementation. That might
well be - but that must not stop us from continuing to call for
constitutional and electoral reforms. It certainly will not stop me. In
fact, electoral reform in particular is a crusade that lawyer-activist
Olisa Agbakoba of the United Action for Democracy (UAD) has embarked on
through both legal and other means. Agbakoba has engaged the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) in some court suits, and is also
circulating a signature drive in the newspapers asking for a number of the
reforms listed above.

The cause needs our active support.

Have a good week.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

RELATED READINGS

http://www.vanguardngr.com/30042001/pl1040501.htm
The drama of constitution review presentation
VANGUARD: Politics this week FRIDAY, 4TH MAY, 2001

http://www.vanguardngr.com/19032001/nn10190301.htm
Agbakoba queries Guobadia's eligibility as INEC boss
VANGUARD : National Newsreel MONDAY, 19TH MARCH, 2001

http://www.vanguardngr.com/12032001/sw715301.htm
Agbakoba faults constitution review committee report
VANGUARD : South west THURSDAY, 15TH MARCH, 2001

http://www.vanguardngr.com/02022001/f2020201.htm
Agbakoba faults Electoral Reform Bill
Vanguard: Major Headlines FRIDAY, 2nd FEBRUARY, 2001

http://www.vanguardngr.com/19022001/w1200201.htm
Stability of democracy depends on durable constitution - Nwuche
Vanguard: South-West TUESDAY, 20TH FEBRUARY, 2001

http://www.vanguardngr.com/09042001/pt115401.htm
A nation's tortuous search for true federalism
SUNDAY VANGUARD : Politics SUNDAY, 15th APRIL, 2001

------------------------------------------------------------------