The ongoing 1999 Constitution review by the National Assembly must deepen democracy and constitutionalism and strengthen national unity to justify the time and resources allocated to it, Comrade Issa Aremu has said.
Speaking at the prayers/ reception held by friends and relatives for him at his residence in Kaduna on Sunday, on his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari as the Director General of Micheal Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILIS), Aremu said the various presentations at the zonal and national public hearings showed that Nigeria has come of age in democratic practices.
Comrade Aremu hailed President Buhari’s administration and the leadership of the 9th National Assembly for providing Nigerians the chance to evaluate the 1999 Constitution promulgated after the demise of military.
He said the mass inputs at the zonal levels on the identified areas of alterations showed that Nigeria is a “democracy destination, alive and working, not a failed state as promoted by African pessimists”.
Comrade Aremu who is also a member of National Institute, Kuru Jos however advised that the “current Constitution review exercise must consolidate on the democratic gains of the past achievements and open new frontiers for new rights and responsibilities for national development”.
The Director General said the 1999 Constitution “with all its assumed flaws had ushered in uninterrupted democratic rule for 21 years, with 6 democratic presidential elections, hundreds of states elections and bye elections and testy transition following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar Adua in 2010″.
“I disagreed that 1999 constitution was military imposed. The 1999 constitution was a product of dated decade long struggles for democratization and resistance against military rule. Twenty years make up good time to reflect but we should not diminish the democratic gains under the 1999 constitution which guarantees freedoms of association, of press and rights to parties formation, to contest, vote and be voted for.” Aremu noted.
While supporting the devolution of some powers and resources to the states, Aremu warned against weakening the Federal power on the conditions of economic crisis, mass poverty, pandemic and insecurity.
“For a developing nation with diverse population and challenges of wealth creation, critical factors like labour, Army and policing, finance and banking, railways, aviation, power must be on exclusive list failing which national development plans are not sustainable,” he said.
