This post has already been read at least 11142 times!
….Says Insecurity, Governance Failures Rooted in Defective 1999 Constitution; Seeks Sovereign National Conference and Referendum
ABUJA — Renowned governance advocate, founder of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG) and former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili, has launched a fresh campaign for the comprehensive restructuring of Nigeria, urging the National Assembly, state legislatures, and President Bola Tinubu to immediately initiate a single-issue constitutional amendment that would pave the way for a Citizens-Led Sovereign National Conference and the eventual adoption of a new constitution through a national referendum.
In a strongly worded public memorandum addressed to “The People of Nigeria,” the Senate, House of Representatives, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ezekwesili argued that Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, political instability, economic distress, and governance challenges are symptoms of a deeper constitutional crisis that can no longer be addressed through piecemeal reforms.
According to her, the nation stands at a historic crossroads and faces an urgent choice between maintaining an increasingly dysfunctional constitutional order or embarking on a citizen-driven process capable of rebuilding the foundations of the Nigerian state.
“Nigeria is approaching a dangerous precipice,” Ezekwesili declared.
“The insecurity that now defines daily life across vast stretches of our country is not merely a law-and-order problem; it is evidence of a nation-state whose foundational architecture is no longer fit for purpose.”
She warned that terrorists, bandits, insurgents and organized criminal groups have become so entrenched across parts of the country that they now challenge the authority and sovereignty of the Nigerian state itself.
According to the former minister, while recent debates have focused on state policing as a solution to Nigeria’s security crisis, such proposals, though necessary, fail to address the fundamental problem.
“State police is necessary, overdue, and ultimately unavoidable. But it is not sufficient,” she stated.
“Our national dysfunction is structural, not episodic. No amount of administrative tinkering can repair a constitutional foundation that was defective from inception.”
At the centre of Ezekwesili’s argument is a direct challenge to the legitimacy and effectiveness of the 1999 Constitution, which she described as a document imposed on Nigerians without their participation or consent.
She argued that although the constitution provides mechanisms for its amendment under Section 9, it contains no provision allowing Nigerians to collectively design and adopt a completely new constitutional framework.
This omission, she said, has trapped the country in an endless cycle of constitutional debates without providing a legitimate pathway to fundamental restructuring.
“The 1999 Constitution has trapped the country in a cycle of paralysis,” she said.
“It provides a pathway for amending itself, but none for replacing itself. Section 9 empowers the National Assembly to alter the Constitution, yet nowhere does it empower citizens to design a new one.”
Ezekwesili therefore proposed what she described as a “Single-Issue Constitutional Amendment” that would specifically authorize a lawful, binding and time-bound process leading to a Citizens-Led Sovereign National Conference.
The conference, she explained, would be tasked with drafting a new constitution to be submitted directly to Nigerians for approval through a referendum.
She stressed that the proposed amendment would not amount to rebellion against the existing constitutional order but would instead derive its legitimacy from the constitution itself.
“Such an amendment would not be an act of rebellion against the existing order; it would be an act of fidelity to it,” she stated.
“By using the Constitution’s own amendment mechanism to authorize a new constitutional process, Nigeria would avoid the chaos of extra-legal improvisation while finally giving citizens the authority they have long been denied.”
The former minister emphasized that her proposal seeks to concentrate national attention on one transformative reform rather than dispersing energy across multiple constitutional amendments that may fail to address the country’s foundational problems.
“It is strategic because it avoids scattering national energy across dozens of contested amendment items,” she argued.
“It is legitimate because it grounds the birth of a new Constitution in the authority of the old.”
Ezekwesili revealed that the proposal is not entirely new, noting that the advocacy group FixPolitics had previously submitted a similar recommendation to the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review in 2021.
According to her, developments since then have only strengthened the case for a citizen-driven constitutional process.
“The logic remains compelling,” she noted.
“Nigeria’s problem is not one broken clause but a broken constitutional architecture. A house built on a faulty foundation cannot be repaired by rearranging the furniture.”
She outlined what she believes should constitute the framework for the proposed Sovereign National Conference, insisting that it must be broad-based, representative and insulated from domination by the political elite.
According to Ezekwesili, participants should include representatives of ethnic nationalities, women, youth groups, labour unions, civil society organizations, traditional institutions, faith communities, persons with disabilities, the private sector, members of the Nigerian diaspora, and elected officials.
She stressed that the process must be transparent, participatory and open to public scrutiny, while its final outcome should be subjected to a nationwide referendum.
“A Citizens-Led Sovereign National Conference, properly constituted, would negotiate the federal structure, fiscal arrangements, security architecture, human rights protections, and national identity that a modern Nigerian state requires,” she stated.
The governance advocate also took issue with claims by some supporters of the current administration that recent policy reforms amount to restructuring.
Without dismissing such initiatives outright, she argued that administrative adjustments cannot substitute for genuine constitutional transformation.
“Piecemal adjustments are not restructuring,” she said.
“They are, at best, administrative conveniences. At worst, they are distractions that obscure the deeper crisis.”
According to her, authentic restructuring must emerge from a process owned and driven by citizens rather than government-directed reforms that leave existing power structures intact.
“True restructuring requires a collectively owned, citizen-driven constitutional process—not executive-led policy tweaks that leave the underlying power imbalances intact.”
Ezekwesili further warned against what she described as the continued reliance on elite negotiations to determine the future of the country.
“Nigeria cannot continue outsourcing its future to elite bargains,” she declared.
“A country of more than 200 million people cannot be remade through backroom negotiations.”
She therefore called on Nigerians to mobilize civic pressure on the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly to approve a constitutional amendment restoring constitution-making authority to citizens.
“The National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly must therefore be called upon—through collective civic action—to pass one urgent amendment: the amendment that returns constitution-making authority to the people.”
She insisted that Nigerians do not need numerous constitutional alterations or cosmetic reforms.
“Not many amendments. Not cosmetic amendments. Not amendments that pretend to restructure Nigeria on behalf of the people.
“Just one: the amendment that empowers Nigerians to restructure Nigeria for themselves.”
Painting a grim picture of the nation’s current trajectory, Ezekwesili linked rising insecurity and governance failures to excessive centralization of power and weak accountability mechanisms embedded within the present constitutional framework.
“Our condition is dire. Our window is narrowing,” she warned.
“The insecurity that now engulfs the country is not merely a failure of policing; it is the predictable outcome of a constitutional order that concentrates power without accountability, centralizes authority without capacity, and imposes unity without consent.”
She cautioned that Nigeria may struggle to remain stable if it continues operating under what she described as an outdated constitutional framework.
“Nigeria cannot survive the next decade on the foundation of the last one,” she said.
As part of her argument, Ezekwesili pointed to Kenya’s constitutional transition as a model worthy of consideration.
Referencing Kenya’s 2010 constitutional referendum, she argued that citizen participation in constitution-making helped strengthen national unity and democratic legitimacy after periods of severe ethnic conflict.
“There is no reason to be paralyzed by the fear that a constitutional referendum will unravel Nigeria,” she said.
“Far from it. Look across at Kenya which escaped the abyss of the worst ethnic conflict by using its 2010 constitutional referendum to give their citizens the power to remake and unify their country.”
In what appeared to be a rallying call to Nigerians across generations, especially young people, Ezekwesili framed the constitutional debate as a defining moment in the country’s history.
She described the present period as perhaps the most important opportunity since independence to fundamentally reset Nigeria’s political and governance foundations.
“Now is the next best time to reset Nigeria since independence,” she declared.
“The question that is to be answered by each of us is the one that has haunted our national journey for decades: Can Nigeria ever become and lead the rest of Africa to claim the 21st Century?”
Concluding her memorandum with an appeal for civic engagement, Ezekwesili urged Nigerians to assume collective responsibility for shaping the nation’s future.
“The answer, dear compatriots, is in our hands,” she said.
“Nigeria desperately needs those who will step up to carry her matter for their heads.
“Are you in for the right kind of collective actions that Nigeria deserves from her citizens?
“The answer is in your hand.”
Her intervention is expected to reignite longstanding national conversations on restructuring, constitutional reform, federalism, devolution of powers, and the future of governance in Africa’s most populous nation, at a time when growing insecurity and economic pressures continue to fuel calls for a fundamental reassessment of Nigeria’s constitutional framework.
This post has already been read at least 11142 times!
About the Author
