Constitutional reform: Factoring in the poor

According to the National Bureau for Statistics, the proportion of the poor in our society has risen from 54% to the 69% of the population since the commencement of the Fourth Republic. There can be no clearer statement that our democracy has no plans or capacity to provide “dividends of democracy” to the teeming and toiling masses. Last Friday, a demolition exercise was once again carried out in Abuja. Officials of the Development Control Department of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) stormed Apo, around NEPA junction, for the demolition exercise with armed policemen. The residents whose houses were to be demolished thought they had rights in our democracy. They resisted the demolition on the grounds that they had nowhere else to live. They also pointed out that their case was in court and they had been properly advised not to relocate until the case has been judged by the court. This, in my view, is the correct way for citizens to act in a democracy. The police thought otherwise. They opened fire on the people. The result was that 20-year- old Lucy was shot to death. She was at her work place, a photo studio trying to earn a living. According to the studio owner, Emeka Ani “Police surrounded our area. They said they came for demolition.

Suddenly, they started to shoot anyhow. Through that shooting, they shot through my shop glass and look at the result (pointing at the dead girl). She is my sales girl and they have killed her. Even my boy too sustained injury from the gunshot. She (the victim) has been with me for nearly a month now. Her sister brought her to me from Cross River”(http://www.tribune.com.ng). The Apo incident is the third eviction-related police killing in the last two years. That is not counting many that were shot and wounded. None of the officers involved in these killings have been brought to justice. Apparently, shooting the poor is no offence. Currently, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians are in intense suffering after floods ravaged their habitations all over the country. There is a lot of talk about helping them but very little is happening in terms of catering for their needs. We only get reports of women successfully giving birth in the precarious camps where they have taken refuge.

The core problem is that the Governments of this country and the ruling elite are not very conscious of the level of poverty in the country and the risk we face of a complete breakdown of our political and social system provoked by rising poverty for over a hundred million Nigerians while the rich celebrate their entry into the Forbes list of the richest people in the world. One of Nigeria’s rich men with a conscience, Afe Babalola tells his story of an encounter with four poor women in Ibadan. For months, they staked his office in Ibadan and after four months, they were able to corner him on his way in. He listened to their stories – they were all in distress and two had young children while the others were old. They were all begging for about 10,000 naira each to start businesses, one selling plantain (boli); another selling maize and the other trying to start a yam business. He was so shocked that all they needed to start addressing their endemic poverty was a capital outlay of only 10,000 naira each. In shock, he ran into his toilet to weep in secret at a society that refuses to take care of the poor (The nation, 14/10/2012). Indeed, one of the tragedies of our ruling classes is that they barricade themselves against the people and they have no clue about their suffering so they do not even bother to think about what sorts of action are possible in addressing the problems of mass poverty.

One member of the Nigerian elite that is very conscious about the ravaging impact of poverty on our people and the need to address it is my good friend the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah. When he organised a public presentation of his latest book and celebration of his sixtieth birthday just over a week ago, he used the occasion to debate Chapter Two of our Constitution rather than raise money for himself. The speakers included Chidi Odinkalu, Maryam Uwais, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Anyim Pius Anyim, Adams Oshiomole and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. They all acknowledged that Chapter Two has incredibly good provisions for enhancing the social and economic rights of people. Indeed, sections 13 – 24 of Chapter Two provides for the right of all citizens to engage in economic activities, maximum welfare and happiness for all, suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, unemployment and sick benefits, welfare of the disabled, adequate medical and health facilities and free education at all levels including free adult literacy programme. The problem is that no government has bothered to even attempt to implement them in any serious way.

The reason is that the provisions on social and economic rights in the 1999 Constitution are not justiciable (i.e.) citizens cannot go to the court to claim damages for breach of the provisions. Maryam Uwais and Chidi Odinkalu therefore argued strongly that the current constitutional review process should be used as an opportunity to make the provisions of Chapter Two justiciable. The argued that the Constitution ought to ensure that government meets its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil social and economic rights of the citizens. In response, Governor Adams Oshiomole, S.G.F. Anyim Pius Anyim and Speaker Waziri Tambuwal all argued that the solution is not in constitution amendment but in the masses sanctioning politicians who do not perform. They argued that when non performing politicians are voted out of office, the newly elected ones will see the need to change their behaviour. It was a strange argument because we all know that elections are not always a reflection of the people’s choices. In addition, both Chidi and Maryam had assured them that they were aware that there is insufficient resources to meet all the provisions in the chapter immediately and had pointed out that the proposed amendment is based on the progressive realisation principle in which Governments will be compelled to provide for the people based on progressively providing services based on the availability of resources. The clear implication of the rejection of the proposal by these eminent members of the Nigerian ruling class is that they do not want to be compelled to provide dividends of democracy to the masses