AFRICA

Sule Lamido To The Patriots: Nothing Wrong with Nigeria’s Constitution

Former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has faulted the call by The Patriots, led by a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, for the enactment of a new constitution for Nigeria, stating that there is nothing wrong with the 1999 Constitution.

Lamido, who is also a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, also faulted the practice of giving palliatives to Nigerians by the government, saying it has turned the people into beggars

Stressing that palliatives are given only to the victims of natural disasters, the former governor noted that by always giving Nigerians palliatives, the federal government is discouraging people from working.

Instead, he advised the government to provide the people with an enabling environment for them to work and feed themselves.

In an interview with THISDAY, Lamido said he supported the views of elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai, who had also faulted the call for a new constitution for the country.

He blamed the operators of the 1999 Constitution for the lapses in its implementation.

The chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said: “If you see smoke from the chimney and it is polluting the entire environment, and it is very black and you are choking from the smoke, what you have to do is to find out where the smoke is coming out from. Don’t blame the chimney; calm down and find out the source of the smoke. Find out the problem and deal with it. The symptoms are only a manifestation of something that has gone wrong.

“Why do you blame the Constitution? The Constitution does not reason like human beings. It cannot contain every solution to your problems. It is supposed to guide you and not solve your problems.

“The people who are supposed to operate and implement the constitution are Nigerians. Now tell me who is doing the right thing in Nigeria: From the motor parks to the schools to the banks. So why are we running away from our own shadow? How many constitutions do we need to have before we get it right? After any problem, we shout ‘Amend the constitution.’ How many new constitutions do we need to have?

“So no matter what you write as a constitution, so long as the operation is subverted, it can’t work. Look at the country, people are fighting each other: in the South-east, Southwest, South-South, North-east, North-west. Clans are fighting each other; anywhere you go, people are fighting each other. Is it the constitution or because of the operators? he queried.

He added further: “It is not the constitution; it is the operation of the constitution. There is no perfect human being or perfect constitution anywhere in the world but we the operators.

“In other climes, constitutions become good through the way they are managed. So we cannot run away from our shadows. No matter how fast you run, your shadow will follow you,” the former minister explained

On the car culture; so, if we fail to operate it like the cultures from where we imported them, then we should not blame anybody. It is not indigenous. All we need is just the change of attitudes as operators,” he added.

“Because they are alien to us, do we go to the old system; then declare the Ooni the head of the West; Sultan of Sokoto, the head of the North; the Shehu of Borno, the head of the Borno Empire, and declare the head of the Jukun; the head of the Kwarafa Kingdom. As I said earlier, the problems are not in the constitution but in us the operators. There is something fundamentally wrong with the implications of our various constitutions.

“Second, I align with the views expressed by President Olusegun Obasanjo that the core problem facing Nigeria is not necessarily the constitution or the tenure of office. The crux of our challenges lies in the attitude and character of those who operate the constitution,” he said.

Commenting on the recent national protests, he said: “The problems are all parts of the Nigerian contradictions; they are all the problems within us. How do we lead ourselves; how do we believe in ourselves; how do we govern ourselves and where there are failures, there will be protest.”

On how to solve the problems identified by the protesters, he said: “It should be solved holistically; you don’t solve problems in isolation. Why were there protests in the first instance? The work of government is not to give palliatives; the work of government is to develop an environment where people will be able to earn a living on their own.

“End insecurity and people will be able to unleash their potential. The work of government is not giving palliatives, it is simply destroying the dignity of the people and making the people look beggarly. By giving them palliatives, you are destroying their capacity and ability and making them more dependent. By that, the government becomes more condescending.

“Palliative is a temporary phenomenon to solve a problem that is not human-made like flood, drought, fire, earthquake or other hazards which are made by nature.

“The Nigerian problem is not something caused by nature like drought, earthquake or fire. It is man-made. Do we need to amend the Constitution to get these problems solved? The answer is no.

“Why do you stock a warehouse where there is hardship, misery, hunger, and food locked up there? So why don’t you open the door of that misery, of that agony where misery and hunger are locked up perpetually?

“So palliative is not part of the government’s duties at all. Palliative is given only to people whose natural disaster has destroyed their livelihood – their business. But in Nigeria, giving palliative is deliberate; it is a weapon to make the people dependent on the system. Create the necessary environment and there will be development. If the necessary environment is created, no one will need any so-called palliative,” Lamido added.

Chuks Okocha