ASSERTIONS OF A PROBING MIND THE DILEMMA CALLED NIGERIA AND HER MANY WOES Last night i was listening to a radio commetary on state creation and the issue of section 8 of the constitution as a possible answer to ethnic disunity in Nigeria. As convincing as the so called commentary seemed to sound two very fundamental questions kept popping through my mind as i took a listen, which are: (1)Does or will the creation of more states guarantee ethnic harmony in Nigeria,looking at the vehement agitation for the creation of more states by several discontent ethnic minorities (2)Does making the creation process a little/lot less cumbersome by amending the provisions of section 8 which exclusively governs the state creation process, hold the answer to this question that has lingered for so long? Let me further expantiate by way of providing a little insight into both questions for better comprehension and appreciation. The issue of state creation is not a new topic in the Nigerian political stratosphere. During the 1957 constitutional conference the Action Group proposed a motion for the creation of separate regions for ethnic minority groups. Though the motion was opposed by majority of the delegates, but in view of the continued agitation of ethnic minorities for political autonomy towards the tail end of colonial rule the British government was compelled to set up a commision of enquiry headed by sir Henry Willink to investigate the basis of such agitation and make appropriate recommendations....the rest is history. As for the issue of the provisions of section 8 of the 1999 constitution, constitutional lawyers would argue that the drafters of the constitution delibrately made the process rigid as the creation of a new state would lead to an amendment of the entire constitution in order to inculcate the name of the new state into it. The constitution as the grundnorm, they will warn, is not supposed to be subjected to incessant amendment every now and then..what do you think??????
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 08:58:35 +0000
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