Constitutionalism is a political ideology that gives credence to being lawful. It is the process of living according to the dictates of laws or constitution which is always goal specific.
The development of the culture and practice of constitutionalism in the United States of America (USA) is a classic beauty to behold. While most nations, especially developing countries like Nigeria often fail in harkening to basic dictates of constitutional provisions, America has proven itself relatively faithful in doing so. Just recently when the country's President, Joseph Biden Jr was scheduled for what was referred to as "routine medical procedure", the president demonstrated with great patriotism the power of constitution and constitutionalism by way of seamless transmission of power to the Vice President, Kamala Haris through a letter transmitted to the Senate and addressed to the Senate President Protempore, Honourable Patrick Leahy, on November 19, 2023.
Because of the importance of the letter to this discourse, the main body of it is reproduced here and it reads:
"Dear Senator Leahy,
Today I will be under a routine medical procedure requiring sedation. In view of present circumstances, I have determine to transfer temporarily the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States to the Vice President during the brief period of the procedure and recovery.
In accordance with the provision of section of the Twenty - Fifth Amendment to the United States constitution, the letter shall constitute my written declaration that I am presently unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of the President of the United States. Pursuant to section 3, the Vice President shall discharge these powers and duties as Acting President until I transmit to you a written declaration that I am able to resume the discharge of those powers and duties.
Sincerely,
Joseph Biden, President of the United States of America."
As I read and meditate on the soothing contents of this letter, my heart bleeds for Nigeria, my country because I was also reflecting on how difficult it has always been for Nigerian leaders (and followers) to do the needful even in critical and glaring cases of incapacitation. I remember, for instance, how difficult it was for power to be transferred to the then Vice President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan when Late President Umaru Yar'Adua became very sick I'll and eventually died. In fact, there are clearly indications that most Nigerian leaders would rather prefer to die in power than to die honouring the constitution they sow to protect which should not be the case.
But, by the way, what is the secret of America's breakthrough in constitution and constitutionalism? Coyle (1957) provides a hint as follow: 'The (American) Federal Government created by the constitution was a synthetic sovereign state and it was made, not born; the living flesh that now covers it's bones has been added by men who have made it to work - That is, by Americans practice the art of political and sometimes of statesmanship.' In other words, pramatic - cum -patriotic involvement and engagement of the citizenry is the magic behind America's towering profile in constitutionalism!
The constitution is the ground norm of a society or country. In the profound words of Madison (1957), one of the most respected 'Founding Fathers' and signatories to America's historic Constitution which heralded the country's independence on July 4, 1776, "The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first, to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern and most virtue to pursue the common good of the society and; in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous while they continue to hold their public trust." A very noble objective here but,often times, hard to be realised especially in developing countries like Nigeria that seems to be suffocating from many developmental contradictions.
Muhammad, Nazariah and Isa (2019) observed generally that, "The process of evolution/attainment and development of nation/statehood is not achieved overnight mistakes are made, lessons are learned; considerations, concession, compromises, sacrifices, loses, and gains are made; symbiotic, parasitic or commensalism relations and co-habitation occur and do change with time and circumstances; conflicts of different dimensions occur and never ending, while controversies trail some other issues, even wars are sometimes fought and reconciliations made in the long or short run." The scholars further observed that "This is typical to the Nigerian state and her evolution and development process." What this implies is that Nigeria's development trajectory is fractured or dislocated by myriad problems and, therefore, in need of structural face-lift and constitutional coherence through ultruistic motivations and patriotic pragmatism. But what is Patriotism, by the way?
Patriotism is the emotional attachment and love for ones country. It is an intrinsic and instinctive drive toward the achievement of pubic or national interest; instead of parochial or personal interest that is often rooted in greed fed by corruption. Patriotism is the oil that lubricates the wheel of nationalism which can be described, succinctly, as the emotive desire for self determination from all forms of serfdom or slavery. It is the anchor of hope for national liberation and transformation which is in all things most desirable in every given circumstance.
National transformation can be seen as holistic and spontaneous change in the structural configuration of a country. It has to do with sustained breakthrough in all facets of a country's life, be it economic, social, political, security and diplomatic relations. This breakthrough, for all intents and purposes, has to be seen to be practically reflecting in the overall welfare and security of the lives and properties of the citizenry. This is exactly the level of development every nation, and Nigeria in particular, craves for obvious reasons.
To be frank, the intense clamour for constitutional revolution or restructuring in Nigeria, especially, in the current democratic dispensation that began in 1999, is a clear pointer that most Nigerians are disinchanted with the slow pace of development in the country, given its abundant blessings in both human and material resources.
Despite Nigeria's huge potentials for development, most of the country's development indices: Human Development Index (HDI) which covers knowledge, purchasing power and Life Expectancy; Macroeconomic Indicators like unemployment and poverty, economic growth, inflation, interest rate, etc.; Terrorism Index and Corruption Index if not all, are showing bad signals. For instance, for Nigeria's unemployment rate was as high as 33.3 percent throughout the last quarter of 2020 (Olurounbi, 2021). Apart from being rated 'the poverty capital of the world' from 2019 and still maintains status with over 86 million out of the over 209 million of it people living in abject poverty; it is ranked, 146th position out of 180 countries, as one of the most corrupt countries in the world too and also the Third most terrorised countries after Afghanistan and Iraq (World Data Lab, 2021,Transparency [TI] International, 2021 and Institute of Economic and Peace [IEP], 2021 respectively). Hence, the need to make adjustments as passionately convassed by many but nearly frustrated appostles of restructuring in the country.
The main thesis of this reflective expository essay is that the hope of Nigeria's breakthrough lies in the capacity to make the country's restructuring agenda human driven. This is because the human factor is the single most important resource that could make or mare the ambition to develop. It takes human beings (citizens) to mobilise other resources, make good laws and ensure they are followed to the later. With pragmatic and patriotic citizens who are garnished or baked with sound emotional, social, intellectual and moral capital, changing the relevant aspects of the Nigerian constitution as the first step toward restructuring and living by the laws (constitutionalism) after they have been changed, will be a work over exercise. In other words, with constitutionalism sustained by patriotism, Nigeria's dream of achieving greatness is guaranteed, all things being equal.
We cannot afford to live under the ellusion that all is well in Nigeria; there are challenges, really, "But we must set new aims And go on growing that one day we may be The respected equals of all other nations" as Hendrik Lund (2012) will put it. There is hope for Nigeria: You and I can make the country work and for the good of all of us!
(Modest Thoughts with Ayuba Yilgak'ha, November 26, 2023; SMS: 08116181263; Email: loisayuba420@gmail.com)
References
Coyle, C. D. (1957). The United States political system and how it works. New York: Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government London.
2. Olorounbi, R. (2021). Nigeria's unemployment rate rises to 33%, second highest on global list. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-15/nigeria-unemployment-rate-rises-to-second-highest-on-global-list. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
3. IEP (2021). Global terrorism index 2020: Measuring impact of terrorism. https://www.reliefweb.int/report/world/global-terrorism-index-2020-measuring-impact-terrrorism. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
4. World Data Lab (2021). World poverty clock. https://www.worldpoverty.io/headlines. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
