Who else but Benjamin Nwabueze ( 1931- 2023) ( 2)

Continued from yesterday

IT was in this subcommittee that Professor Nwabueze served his country best. His footprints are all over in the 1979 Constitution. Professor Nwabueze subcommittee’s main objectives were ( 1) to consider and make recommendations on the desirability of embodying National Objectives and Directive Principles in the Nigerian Constitution ( 2) to suggest what such principles and objectives should be ( 3) to consider and make recommendations regarding constitutional arrangements to ensure observance of and conformity to such principles and objectives including the procedure to amend this part of the Constitution and ( 4) to examine and make recommendations on institutional and other arrangements to prevent corruption and abuse of power on the part of all persons holding public offices or exercising power ( be it executive, legislative or judicial). The committee’s recommendations were that the Federal Republic of Nigeria is one, indivisible and indissoluble, sovereign state based on the principles of democracy and social justice and accordingly, ( a) Sovereignty belongs to the people from whom government, through this constitution derives all its powers and authorities; ( b) the welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government; ( c) Government shall be responsible and accountable to the people; ( d) participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this constitution; ( e) the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this constitution and to ensure and facilitate the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people; ( f) the state shall not adopt any religion as the state religion but the freedom of every individual to preach, to teach and to practice the religion of his choice shall be respected and protected. It was Professor Nwabueze’s subcommittee that recommended the fifteen codes which a public officer must adhere to. If those codes had been enforced, I am sure this country would have been a better place. The codes were “a leader shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his responsibilities as a leader, or which enables him to explore others; without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, a leader shall not ( a) hold more one public office ( b) engage in any private, trade or profession ( c) receive any remuneration, gain or profit other than the emolument payable to him in respect of the specified office held by him. 4. A leader shall not, after his retirement from public service and while receiving pension from public funds, accept a remunerative position as chairman, director or employee of a public company or receive any other remuneration from public funds in addition to his pension. Notwithstanding anything in paragraphs 3 and 4, a leader shall entitled to earn, in addition to his emoluments as a leader—- ( a) interest on money deposited in a bank, building society or other financial institutions; ( b) dividends or other profits from stocks or shares held by him in any registered company; ( c) interest on Government stock; ( d) gains or advantage derived through personal labour on land owned or occupied by him. 6. No person shall own or occupy more than one plot of State land throughout the country. Any person who at the coming into force of this Code owns or occupies more than one plot of State land shall sell the excess over one plot to the State. The price—- ( a) as regards the ground shall be at a rate at which allocations of State land in the area in which the plot is located are made by the Government at the time of sale; ( b) as regards any building erected on the plot, shall be such as may be agreed or determined by the court in default of agreement. A leader shall not ask for nor accept any property or benefit of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything done, to be done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties, nor accept gifts of whatever nature other than from relatives and personal friends. A leader who holds a position as President or Vice- President of the Republic, minister, permanent secretary or head of any public corporation, university, or other parastatal organization shall not accept. ( a) a loan except from a bank, building society or other financial institution; ( b) any benefit of whatever nature from any company, contractor, business or their nominee or agent. No person shall offer to leader any property, gift or benefit of any kind as an inducement or bribe for the granting of any favour or the discharge in his favour of the leader’s duties; a leader shall not do or direct to be done in abusive of his office, any arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of any other person; a leader shall not put to his personal advantage or to the advantage of any other person materially or otherwise any information acquired by him during his term of office as a leader; a leader shall not be a member of, belong to, or take part in the organization or management of the Ogboni or Owegbe societies or any other secret society of a similar nature. Every leader shall, ( a) within three months after the coming into force of the code or after taking office, as the case may be, ( b) at the end of each year ( c) at the end of his term of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau of the Government which employs him, a written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed to, him, his spouse or unmarried children under the age of twenty- one; any false information in such declarations shall be deemed to be breached of this code; any property or asset acquired by a leader after the initial declaration required by paragraph 13 ( 1) ( a) above and which is not fairly attributable to income, gift, or loan approved in this Code shall be deemed to have been acquired in breach of this Code unless the contrary is proved. An allegation that a leader has committed a breach of or has not complied with the provisions of this Code shall be made to the Code of Conduct Bureau, which shall, unless the person concerned makes a written admission of such breach or non- compliance, cause the matter to be heard and determined by the tribunal referred to in Article of the Constitution. A leader who does any act prohibited by his Code through a nominee, trustee, or other agent shall be deemed ipso facto to have committed a breach of this Code”. By virtue of his being the Chairman of the subcommittee, Professor Nwabueze automatically became a member of the Constituent Assembly. Other chairmen of subcommittees that became automatic members of the Constituent Assembly were Alhaji A. G. F. Abdul- Rasaq ( subcommittee on the executive and the legislature, Alhaji Nuhu Bamali ( sub- committee on the judicial system), Dr. Pius Okigbo ( sub- committee on economy, finance and division of powers), Alhaji Aminu Kano ( sub- committee on citizenship, citizenship rights, fundamental rights, political parties and electoral laws, Dr. Obi Wali ( sub- committee on the public service including the Armed Forces and the Police) and Chief F. R. A. Williams ( Legal Drafting sub- committee).

To be continued tomorrow.