Tony Nnadi
14 January 2024

“Those who wonder why Development has eluded Nigeria despite its vast Human and Material Resources, the answer lies in the Federal Exclusive Legislative List of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution which constitutes a Comprehensive Blockade to Nigeria’s Development as it Confiscates and Confers upon the Federal Government of Nigeria, Exclusive Control Over Key Economic Assets and the Power to Work those Assets as well as Powers over a wide range of subject matters that are Central to the Development of any Society including Security, Electricity, Railways, Telecommunications, Aviation, Ports, Highways and other Critical Infrastructure” – NINAS Secretariat, December 11, 2018.

Responding to enquiries trailing the January 2024 Decision of the Supreme Court in Favour of the Federal Government in a 2018 Suit brought by Lagos State Government and its Waterways Agencies against the Federal Inland Waterways Agency, NIMASA and Related Federal Agencies Raising the question of who, between the States and Federal Government of Nigeria had Jurisdiction and Control over Inland Waterways, (link to the reporting article HERE: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/01/supreme-court-grants-fg-exclusive-control-of-all-inland-waterways/).

Tony Nnadi of NINAS wrote as follows:

• (1) – By its Judgment in Suit No: SC/CV/17/2018, the Supreme Court of Nigeria stated that under Nigeria’s Current Constitutional Order, all matters on the Federal Exclusive Legislative List in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, only the Federal Government, via the National Assembly can Legislate, and that it will be unconstitutional for the States to venture into any of the Subject matters on that List.
• (2) – The Supreme Court went on to advise the States of Nigeria and other concerned Stakeholders seeking a departure from the current Constitutional arrangements to seek amendments to the Constitution by approaching the National Assembly.
• (3) – Under the 1999 Constitution, all Assets, Resources and Powers Listed in the Federal Exclusive Legislative List (including Inland Waterways), are Vested EXCLUSIVELY in the Federal Government of Nigeria. By the Centralized Ownership and Control Structures Stipulated by that Exclusive List, Nigeria of today is effectively a Unitary Entity, and the States are mere appendages operating at the mercy and sufferance of the Federal Government.
• (4) – Under this Unitary Constitution, the Sovereignty of the Constituent Peoples of Nigeria are Hijacked and Confiscated by the Illicit Federal Government that emerged after the 1966 Collapse of the Federation of Nigeria.
• (5) – There are 68 Items on that Exclusive List including Arms and Ammunition, Police, Security Services, Oil and Gas, Solid Minerals, Ports and Maritime Assets, Aviation, Railways, Highways, Electricity Generation and Transmission. Elections into Federal and State Offices amongst many others. All Campaigns about “Resource Control”, “State Police” and the like under the 1999 Constitution are driven by ignorance.
• (6) – The solution to the terrible dysfunctions of Nigeria lies in the Wholesale Jettisoning of that 1999 Constitution especially because of the Self-Evident Fraudulence of its Making.
• (7) – The States are completely locked out of the powers to venture into subject matter contained in that Exclusive List, and should it become necessary to so do, can only do so by the express license and conditions stipulated by the Federal Government (for example when the States have to Repair or Reconstruct Federal Highways in their domains or when the States Venture into Power Generation).
• (8) – The so-called Concurrent List (30 Items) that allows the States to co-perform the 30 functions Listed there along with the Federal Government, expressly subjugates the Interests and Powers of the States to those of the Federal Government meaning that even where the States venture into those functions, the Powers of the Federal Government override those of the States on the subject matters if the Federal Government has any interests.
• (9) – The Supreme Court in that judgment noted that under the 1999 Constitution, that is how things are and that is how things will be; suggesting that the States and other Stakeholders could approach the National Assembly to Amend the Constitution to grant the States powers that are currently unavailable to them under that Constitution. That suggestion of the Supreme Court for Constitution Amendments by the National Assembly is itself fundamentally flawed because Amendments cannot be the cure to the Self-Evident Foundational Fraud upon which that Constitution is erected as we see in its Preamble, neither does the National Assembly which itself is a Creation of that Fraudulent Constitution, possess the Constituent Powers required to make or remake Constitutional Arrangements since those Powers reside EXCLUSIVELY with the Constituent Peoples of Nigeria as an Incident of their Sovereignty.
• (10) – This brings us to the central Contention and Campaign of NINAS about the urgent need to Decommission and Dismantle the Unitary Constitution of Nigeria to free the Sovereignty of the Constituent Components Hijacked and Confiscated by the Instrumentality of that Constitution.
• (11) – Every other suggestion about how anything can change in Nigeria to usher in Development, Security, Rule of Law, or to bring to an End, Corruption, and Impunity will go to naught unless the Foundations of the Problems are Uprooted.

  In the aftermath of Nigeria’s Wrecked Electoral Voyage of 2023, the NINAS 5-Point Proposition offers Nigeria and Nigerians a Comprehensive Framework and Strategy for Undertaking the Constitutional Reconfiguration in the immediate via a Transitioning Process that accommodates existing Governance Structures whilst locking the prospect of Anarchy or Power Vacuum.

Tony Nnadi
NINAS Secretariat.
January 14, 2024.