The constitution of a country, especially in a democracy, is intricately tied to the performance and destiny of that country. Systems and individuals within the country are guided and bound by the design of the constitution. Therefore when a country appears to be failing to achieve it becomes imperative to look at the constitution among other areas.

Let us begin by analyzing the important roles of a constitution in a country which include the following; 1. Create a structure of government organization between federal, state and local and an understanding of resource sharing. 2. Create a system of government and the manner that individuals are placed in leadership and are held accountable to the citizens. 3. Establish the laws of the land including rule application and justice and in so doing the rights of the citizens. 4. Establish the ideals by which citizens should live and identify with.

We can look at the performance of Nigeria and recognize that it is failing in resource management and the other roles listed above. There is a disappointing inability to use the rich natural and human resources to satisfactorily advance the development of the nation and the welfare of the citizens. Yet numerous other countries with less natural wealth have found ways to advance. The advancement of Nigeria can actually be described rather than as progress but rather as one of regression. For instance in looking at numerous facets of performance such as poverty rates, security, law enforcement, education, health care and even sports there is decline such that the 70s were better than the 80s which were better than the 90s which were better than the 2000s and so on to this point. Many Nigerians are facing failures of government and resulting hardships that they would never have imagined will be their fate even just 20 years ago. Major infrastructure projects such as power generation, roads, railway have not only failed to meet modern expectations but in many cases have fallen behind levels of the past.

More concerning perhaps is the rights and even safety of the people are not sufficiently protected. Public wealth is squandered with impunity thereby placing those who have done so above the law. Numerous crimes including in some cases from government officials and law enforcement go unpunished indicating that the rights of the people to justice are not satisfactorily provided. Crimes that were non existent in the past such as kidnapping have become common.

Nigeria as a country is not only failing to thrive but is actually falling ill and complete collapse is no longer an implausible notion. As such, Nigerians for existential reasons have to rise to the challenge and find solutions. This starts with identifying some of the root causes resulting in failure and this process begins with an analysis of the current constitution and its impact on our present plight.

Generally speaking, consistently good results are usually not based on luck and persistentlybad results not accidental. So the current state of affairs in the country is perhaps because we have intentionally or inadvertently designed a system to produce failure. The corruption and other evidence of bad leadership and bad results is therefore by design.

One aspect of poor design is seen in the fiscal performance of the country which is an obvious failure. Generally economics is a cycle of needs and resources. People and societies are obligated to conduct activities to generate resources to satisfy their needs. This is controlled by government and the systems it creates.

In spite of the significant natural and human resources that the Nigerian state has too many needs of the people have remained unmet leading to avoidable suffering by millions. This situation forces us to again analyze what the constitution has done to allow the people to be able to meet their needs and why the natural resources fail to ensure that they are met.

The Nigerian constitution allocates resources to state governments based on population. This has created an incentive to falsify census figures. Again, this is not done by accident but by design as the constitution has created a reward for this behavior. States in Nigeria have been structured with an apparent purpose of receiving constitutionally mandated funds which has resulted in the creation of more and more states without proper consideration for fiscal viability. They simply get a monthly slice of the cake. Money is allocated simply because the state exists. In addition, our constitution has provided money to equalize development however again it may have created an unintended incentive. The absurdity of this is that states that underperform will continue to receive the funds to perform. A cycle of stagnation.

In the system we have created, various states and their citizens are not incentivized to look for leaders with ideas that generate revenue but rather leaders with a willingness to share the revenue. That is how resources by design meet the needs of the ruling class but not the rest of the population.

It therefore seems that our constitution as is encourages underperformance and corruption. One can therefore accept that corruption and the resulting pilfering across the board is not in spite of the system but actually attributable to the system we have designed. Corruption has been ascribed as the biggest singular impediment to progress in the country.

The Nigerian constitution, the resulting political leadership, the corruption and the disappointing quality of leadership are all directly correlated. Bad design has led to bad results for most of the citizens but paradise for others who can not only attain unimaginable wealth but can do so openly and act above the law with impunity. This has threatened the moral fabric of the country as bad behavior including looting of funds is handsomely rewarded and good behavior is not. The ideals of the land are upside down as it is now expected to get results by giving bribes to policemen, judges, lecturers, government workers and essentially everywhere and anywhere. Money and wealth are often celebrated irrespective of the means by which it was earned. The ideals are therefore often to simply acquire wealth.

Paradoxically one can say that Nigerian is actually succeeding because it is doing what it was designed to do which is fail. To achieve success, Nigerians have to change the constitution and create one that is fair, provides equal opportunity, protects individual rights and creates an enabling environment for the success of its citizens. As the saying goes, if you don’t change the direction you are going then you will end up where you are heading.

OFIAR is committed to working with all Nigerians to reverse our our wrong direction by accepting the need for a revised constitution and getting the best representative minds on the table to deliver this. Our team is made up of Nigerians from all parts of the country and diaspora and is committed to doing what ever is necessary to right the wrongs. We need your help. We welcome fellow citizens who believe in this effort to join our team and help us achieve constitutional reform.

​AEO