I would aim to build the “Yorubai” country on a constitution that commits to

(1) "Afrikan national democracy". Any person can be a citizen provided they agree that they swear to uphold and protect African heritage, social democracy and community enterprise. The government will be a federation of socially democratic regions. A core education curriculum, social welfare, national defence and foreign policy are federated concerns. Regional economic planning and policy must support federal strategic concerns but are otherwise are matters for regional administration and financing.

(1a.) There will be many contending ethnic cultures (tribes). The constitution will allow freedom of ethnic cultural celebration. No cultural or religious celebration will be an official or public holiday. Citizens have freedom to determine their work on any day including any public holiday and it is illegal to force or otherwise persecute any citizen for decision to work.

(1b.) To attain our emphasis on social and economic cohesion, there will be a lifelong Afrikan Heritage Rites (AHR) programme, whereby all citizens will undergo continuous informal education and national service with staged rites of passage. Any descendants of the Maafa (slave trade) can apply with priority to be accepted for citizenship even with dual nationality. Their direct descendants can run for any public office, but with single nationality, domicile, and principal residence. Other would-be immigrants will have more robust citizenship tests.

(2) The "universality of spirituality": Citizens acknowledge they respect the rights of others to freely practise spirituality without trying to limit that freedom e.g it will be illegal to impose any religious belief or to otherwise persecute anyone on grounds of religious plurality.

(3.) Citizens and businesses should expect a “high tax, high standard of care” on both income and assets.

(3a.) The constitution will require the country and permit the citizens to develop, invest, or otherwise acquire any applied sciences, knowledge or other assets that might impact on social and economic cohesion. Citizens will be encouraged to trade or invest abroad using businesses with headquarters within our borders. Foreigners and foreign-owned businesses active within our borders must declare their extent of economic activity and must provide 100% capitalisation in local currency for any business within the country. We will attempt to manage national economic competitiveness by recommending and pursuing local ownership of international (export, transit and import) production and logistics facilities even if such facilities are located overseas. As such, the government will not formally support businesses but AHR will encourage the people to own trading or financial enterprises to the full extent allowed by the laws in competing countries.

(3b.) All citizens qualify for a Yoruke (Yorubai heritage policy) account which incorporates basic child care, AHR benefits, old-age care and Adugbosowo investments. The Adugbosowo remit a percentage dividend as taxes to the federation and pay a percentage dividend, tax free, into the Yoruke of citizens in their region.

(3c.) To further economic competitiveness, the government will support a network of Adugbosowo (regional community-owned development enterprises) which own or hold in trust all public infrastructure and area facilities (education, health, conservation areas, and other essential facilities) in their regions. These community assets that are managed under contract by locally registered private businesses. In return, the contractor businesses can set no more than 5% management fees and agree to performance-based compensation. There will be no public-sector managed businesses and government cannot guarantee any private sector debt. Local businesses cannot borrow or guarantee debt denominated in foreign currency. Any registered businesses will be required to holdings of at least 30% ownership of equity by at least 5 individual citizens. Capital controls will apply on repatriation of income or assets. Each region will have a Adugbosowo-owned bank that settles foreign currency denominated trades and manages currency for its own region. Any registered business including banks operating beyond its region of headquarters location will be required to provide 100% capital base for such interregional or international business operations. A national federation of the regional banks manages interest rates and capital controls, as such the constitution will not allow central banking.

(4.) “Reciprocal sovereignty”: The constitution will enforce reciprocal sovereignty in:

(4a.) the personal sovereignty of each citizen to be tried in our country for any allegation or conduct of crime or wrongdoing anywhere in the world. Other countries will, as a condition of bilateral relations, be required to agree to send our citizens to us for trial, sentencing, or service in association with any crime. Likewise, we will send them their offending citizens. As the Yorubai country borders the Atlantic ocean, all marine countries are on our border. Any act or threat of aggression or wrongful trial against the country, its borders or any citizen will be considered as a notification of unfriendliness that may escalate up to covert conflict.

(4b.) The social sovereignty of the nation includes territorial integrity of its official premises, airspace, lands and waters. Any act or threat of aggression or continuous wrongful invasion of any national territory will be considered as a notification of unfriendliness that may escalate up to covert conflict.

We will attempt to further manage the probability of hostilities far or near by having an active civilian defence force. All citizens will have training in weapons handling, human psychology, emergency response, and world history as part of AHR. Professional providers of critical national infrastructure or regional facilities such as telecommunications, fire and military forces, criminal justice, and medical care qualify as key workers employed by the Adugbosowo in their own region. All adults can qualify for safe keeping at home of a personal weapon, the loss of which is a criminal offence. All homes can qualify for a land allotment for growing of personal crops.

The above will be subject matters of the Yorubai constitution.

The use of the word "Yorubai" is a liberty taken by the author to be the name of the incipient Yoruba nation.

This material submitted to Nigeria Village Square website on Aje, 16 Okudu 2008. Available in Yoruba and English.

This material is copyright © Remi-Niyi Alaran 2008. It is originally published on Ayekan.com.

Robot  Villager

# 1 I would aim to build the “Yorubai” country on a constitution that commits to ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 15.06.2008 17:58

Alata  Villager

# 2 can Nigeria do well to adopt this 'constitution'? I think so. Posted by Alata| 16.06.2008 08:03

Triple Palaver  Villager

# 3 Negro, There is no such thing as "Yorubai".. Carry your nonsense comot for hia.. Posted by Triple Palaver| 16.06.2008 15:39

Alata  Villager

# 4 At least you bothered to look at the title. Now, try to see whether it contains solutions to the rot we are in. Why throw away the knife with the yam peelings, when both knife and yam peelings are useful?! The use of the word "Yorubai" is a liberty taken by the author to be the name of the incipient Yoruba nation. Posted by Alata| 18.06.2008 05:47

Eja  Villager

# 5 =Triple Palaver;4295056200>Negro, There is no such thing as "Yorubai".. Carry your nonsense comot for hia.. "Negro" you said. I guess that one is a word from Gott (abi na God) right? It cannot have been a human being like yourself who got up one day and took the liberty to append that description to others... Posted by Eja| 18.06.2008 05:57