AMENDING THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION
The Nigerian constitutional amendment is quite apt, in view of the declining
political, economic and social conditions characterizing the polity today. This can be traced to the improper and undemocratic method in which the constitution as we have it today in Nigeria was fashioned. These factors, among other factors have continued to bedevil and hound the existence of the Nigerian State and has continued to eat up the sovereignty of the constitution, giving rise to entities and individuals who are assuming positions that are apparently superior to the constitution and the country itself. In my view nothing should be more important in the political culture and existence of a nation than the constitution by which its citizens are governed. The Nigerian political and historical records have made us to understand that the Nigerian constitutional evolution was hijacked by the imperial government and subsequently the military government by the acclaimed supreme military council. However, this has continued to create a lot of agitation amongst the citizens because a worthy constitution should be made by the citizens and their elected representatives. I agree with John Locke and Rousseau who maintained that sovereignty belongs to the people. The people must understand that their future welfare and destiny will be shaped and determined to a large extent by the constitution that they make, but how then can the aspirations and wishes of the generality of the people be captured and enshrined in the constitution. Section 14(2) of the constitution states that “it is hereby accordingly declared that sovereignty belongs t the people of Nigeria from whom government through this constitution derives all its powers and authority. Nnaemeka Agu J.S.C defines the constitution as the organic law, a system or body of fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed. There are two aspects of any good constitution that deserves recognition these are the process by which the constitution is constructed and the contents usually stated in the articles. Evidently, most Nigerians are ignorant of the provision of the constitution because the people have been alienated from the constitution making process. This should serve as a warning to those on whom the solemn responsibility of constitution or law making falls, to understand the weight of their decision fro posterity will judge them. The legislature is expected and has thus been vested with the powers of making laws pursuant to section 4(1) of the constitution which states that “the legislative powers of the federal republic of Nigeria shall be vested in the National assembly for the Federation which shall consist of a senate and a House of Representatives. Modern constitutional processes take years to draft based on debates which leads to compromise and negotiations. However, in the ongoing process it is assumed that the house will take care of the interests of the citizens who have grave fears about their political future. The question begging for answer is are the people satisfied with the recent amendment processes and amendments so far? Recently certain sections of the constitution have been moved for amendment and some of them have caused uproars among a good number of people notable among which is the celebrity actress Stella Damascus who could not hide her disgust about the amendment of section 29 (4) which is evidently becoming a reference point. It appears that the powers that be have craftily imposed a controversial and undesirable provision into the constitution and upon the rest of the country by implication. It is quite humorous to imagine that a few microscopic number of persons by virtue of their position in the oval chamber, whether appointed or selected have pronounced judgment on some fragile, delicate, innocent flowers of rare specie. The female children of this country. It is pertinent to note that the psychological, physiological and social consequence of this pronouncement has been completely made irrelevant. It has been made clear that the popular opinion of the people have also been ignored. The citizens have an active role to play in choosing who and how they should be governed, for Nigeria to grow it must begin to learn from past experiences and avoid them as much as possible.
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