₦airaland Forum

Members of the House of Representatives from the South-East geopolitical zone have called for a provision for referendum in the Nigerian constitution to open up avenues for discussions on self-determination by Nigerians.

They also insisted that Nigeria was due for restructuring and that it would be done, no matter how long it would take.



The 1999 Constitution makes no provision for a referendum, leaving the National Assembly as the only legal representative gathering for deliberations on the governance of Nigeria.

But South-East lawmakers, who spoke with Sunday PUNCH, said a provision for referendum was long due because it was part of the fundamental rights of the people to self-determination.

They noted that a referendum and the debate on restructuring of Nigeria were tied together.

The members were embittered that a South-East Development Commission Bill, which they introduced as a vehicle to develop the region, was thrown out by the House on Thursday.

According to them, such actions are largely responsible for the cries of marginalisation and agitation in the South-East and other parts of the country.

One of the lawmakers, Mr. Igariwey Iduma-Enwo, who is from Ebonyi State, told Sunday PUNCH that a referendum would further open up the democratic space.

Iduma-Enwo, a lawyer, said, “A referendum is an element of human rights. It is an avenue to feel the pulse of the people about a particular issue or issues.

“We should have it in our constitution because a referendum also falls within the context of the restructuring of Nigeria, which a lot of people are today talking about.

“Other countries and advanced democracies, including the US, have it in their constitutions. So, why can’t we have it in Nigeria?”

The Chairman, House Committee on Works, Mr. Toby Okechukwu, also supported the idea of a referendum if the “merits” of such a provision would be favourable to Nigeria.

“We have to discuss it on the basis of the merits. If we find it justifiable to use a referendum to discuss a progressive agenda for Nigeria, why not?” he added.

Okechukwu, who is from Enugu State, recalled that the country’s constitution in the 1960s, after independence, made provision for referendum and wondered why it was removed from the later versions.

“Why was it in the independence constitution in the 1960s? If our founding fathers, in their own wisdom, included it in the constitution, why was it removed?

“We should look at the issue of referendum and juxtapose it with the United Nations Charter on the Rights to Self-Determination,” he stated.

Reacting to the decision of the House on the South-East Development Commission Bill, Okechukwu told SUNDAY PUNCH that the zone was denied a rare opportunity to advance its development.

“This was an avenue to encourage development of infrastructure and investments, but it was thrown out just because of other factors,” he said.

In a similar vein, Jerry Alagboso said there was nothing wrong in having a referendum in the constitution.

He explained that all Nigerians would be better off with it, besides the Igbo, who were denied a development commission “for no justifiable reasons.”

Alagboso described the rejection of the development commission bill as “unfortunate,” noting that lawmakers from the North had a wrong impression that it was an agenda to promote Biafra.

However, when contacted, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, said, “The National Assembly is for all Nigerians. It is a representative assembly and every Nigerian is represented here.

“Whatever the grievances are, channel them through your representatives and they will be adequately addressed.”

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Telecommunication provider Airtel topped the chat of new subscribers for the month of September with 400,847 new subscriptions.

The number topped Globacom who recorded 215,700 new subscribers for the month under review. MTN was next with 60,558,569 and Etisalat recorded 64,870 new subscribers.

The figure is according to a subscriber/operator data by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which also showed that telecommunication subscribers in Nigeria had hit 153.2 million. It said that the active telecommunications service customers increased by 495,426 in September as against the figure in August which stood at 152,776,155.

According to the data, 152,836,997 of the 153,271,581 active numbers subscribed to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network services. The GSM operators’ active customers increased by 551,677 from 152,285,320 subscribers recorded in August. The reports stated that of the GSM operators, MTN had 60,558,569 users in September, which was the same figure recorded in August. Globacom figure increased in September by 215,700, giving a total of 36,967,712 customers as against 36,752,012 in August.

Airtel had 32,775,916 subscribers in the month under review, adding 400,847 users to the August record of 32,375,069. Etisalat, however, recorded a reduction in customers by 64,870, giving a customer base of 22,534,800 as against 22,599,670 users in August. The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators had 276,304 active users in September, showing a decrease of 52,789 from 329,093 customers they had in August.

Between the two surviving CDMA service providers, Visafone’s customers reduced to 271,844, as it lost 52,789 users in August to record 324,633, while Multi-Links maintained 4,460 customers in August.

The monthly subscriber/operator data showed that the Fixed Wireless network’s (landline) consumers decreased to 30,716 in September, as they lost 4,072 customers from their record of 34,788 in August. Also between the two Fixed Wireless operators, Visafone had 30,288 subscribers in September, losing 4,072 users from the August record of 34,360; while Multi-Links maintained its August record of 428 customers.

It also revealed that the Fixed Wired operators (landline) increased their subscriber base by 610, giving a total of 127,564 users in September, as against 126,954 recorded in August. In the Fixed Wired arena, MTN Fixed moved from 8,586 in August to 8,591 in September, thereby adding five users, Glo Fixed had 12,503 users in September, adding 677 to the August record of 11,826.

IpNX network moved from 2,665 subscriber base in August to 2,587, reducing its customers by 78 in September. It said that the 21st Century network had 103,887 customers in September, recording an increase of 10 users to its August record of 103,877. The regulatory body said in accordance with Section 89 Subsection 3(c) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 mandated it to monitor and report the state of telecommunications industry.

”The commission is mandated to provide statistical analyses and identify industry trends with regard to services, tariffs, operators, technology, subscribers, issues of competition and dominance. “This is with a view to identifying areas where regulatory intervention will be needed.

”The commission regularly conducts studies, surveys and produces reports on the telecommunications industry.

”Therefore, telecommunications operators are obligated, under the terms of the licenses, to provide NCC with such data on a regular basis for analytical review and publishing,” it said.

The Economist — the English newspaper that referred to Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s finance minister, as “poorly qualified” eight months ago — now says she is a “tenacious minister” fixing the country’s economy.

In November 2015, The Economist said Adeosun, who has over two decades of experience in financing and capital management, had only managed one of Nigeria’s smaller  states.

“However, the new finance minister, an accountant who cleaned up the books of one of Nigeria’s smaller states, is poorly qualified for the job,” The Economist had said.

But in less than a year on her job, the paper now sees Adeosun as helping Nigeria get control of its earnings.

“In an effort to fix this, a tenacious finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, has told skint governors that they must make their finances public before they receive a second federal bailout,” the newspaper said.

“She has struck thousands of ghost workers off the public payroll. Her ‘treasury single account’ (TSA) may be the biggest coup of all. It replaced a labyrinth of government piggy banks, giving Nigeria more control of its earnings.”

It added that financiers reckon that Nigeria’s TSA “could serve as a lesson to others in West Africa as well”.

The Economist further explained how President Muhammadu Buhari has been fighting corruption in Africa’s  largest economy.

“Mr Buhari’s government has been learning from other crusading countries, such as Georgia. But not everyone is impressed. His political opponents, who ruled Nigeria for 16 years until 2015, call the campaign a witch-hunt.

“There are reasons to doubt the capacity of the anti-corruption agency—and of the courts—to hold the powerful to account. The EFCC is yet to send down any of its most influential adversaries, though it is splurging on training for prosecutors.

“Under new management, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has grown slightly less opaque: it now publishes monthly financial reports.”

Embattled former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation on Wednesday raised 20 questions for Speaker Yakubu Dogara bordering on the unfolding budget padding scandal.

Mr. Jibrin said Mr. Dogara must respond to the questions individually. The House was thrown into chaos following a decision the leadership took to remove Mr. Jibrin as Appropriation Committee chairman last week Wednesday.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara said Mr. Jibrin was removed because he allegedly betrayed the House and lacked competence in steering the committee.
Mr. Jibrin, however, said he stepped down willingly and denied the charges that he committed treachery and lacked competence.

The 20 questions are as follows:

1. Why did you take the decision to fraudulently shortchange the House by taken away 40 billion naira out of the 100 billion naira allocated for constituency projects and distributing same to yourself and others without the approval of the House?
2. Why did you approach the former house appropriation chairman with written personal requests and list of about 30 billion naira to be inserted into the 2016 budget and his inability to get that done caused a major rift between you all and him?
3. Why did you insert wasteful projects for your various constituencies worth about 20billion naira despite the former appropriation chairman professional advice against such?


4. Why did you ignore his complaint to you that just about 10 standing committees of the House inserted over 2000 projects worth 284 billion naira?
5. Why did you take away the appropriation committee secretariat on two occasions where several insertions were made into the budget which created avoidable tension during the budget process?
6. Why did you direct the former appropriation chair which he rejected to create a strange line item in the service wide vote to allow for a 20 billion naira insertion into the budget under the name of NASS using a former PDP Senator and top politician?
7. Why are you trying to scam members with a fraudulent arrangement to deduct monthly from money meant for members office running cost to fund a so called mortgage arrangement?
8. Why did you abuse your office in a conflict of interest directed an agency to grant loans and a construction company to work on your Asokoro plot and arrange frequent private meetings with heads of MDA’s?
9. Why did you allocate to yourselves the entire 20% inputs reserved for the House after the harmonization exercise?
10. How much did you collect for rent of house and guests houses and how much did Hon Herma Hembe steal from the money that caused the outburst of Lasun?

11. why are you trying to drag the entire House and illegally using the official spokesman of the House into allegations that were made on you and the 3 others ONLY?
12. Why did you consistently block the former chairman appropriation from briefing Hon members and denied him his right to be heard by his colleagues on this matter?
13. Why did you scuttle his effort and Sen Goje’s to assist Mr. President after working so hard consulting ministers on the budget out of envy and vindictiveness that Mr. President granted them audience without you?
14. Why did you insist and ensured that the immunity clause for the House principal officers is inserted into our agenda despite huge resistance from members and the general public?
15. Why did you connive with 5 other members of the House to use some elements of the Nigerian police and thugs in an attempt to blackmail, kidnap, intimidate and silence him and his family?
16. Why are you desperately going round media houses offering money to silent the statements of the former appropriation chairman?
17. Why has it taken you this long to put together such a lame storyt of why you “sacked” the former appropriation chairman after admitting on national TV that he resigned?
18. Is it true that you left a huge mess and allegations of money laundering against you as chairman House services both in the 6th and 7th House?
19. Why have you refused to open up the financial dealings and details of internal budget of the House to your colleagues, Hon members?
20. Why do you have problems with reconvening the House immediately to allow for an independent investigation on the allegations?