By John Ikani
Rotimi Akeredolu, Governor of Nigeria’s southwestern Ondo state is calling for a unicameral legislature for the country and the immediate scrapping of the senate.
Mr Akeredolu made the call at the Akure Centre of the Southwest Zonal Public Hearing, organised by the House of Representatives Special Committee on Constitution Review.
Represented by his Deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Governor said the amended constitution must reduce the cost of governance and shift attention to service delivery.
According to him, it does not make economic sense to retain many ministries, departments and agencies of government that are moribund.
He went on to call for the scrapping of the Nigeria Senate, creation of State Police, pruning of political appointees, devolution of powers, decentralization of the Supreme Court amongst others.
He said: “The government at the centre must divest itself of this self-inflicted heavy burden for effective and impactful performance. At most two Ministers should be appointed to represent each Zone.
“Items on the Exclusive List too must witness significant reduction. The Federal Government must not be seen to be competing with the states in service delivery to the people. Its role should be, largely, to coordinate the activities of government with minimal interference at the other tiers of government. It cannot legislate on residual matters as they concern the states.
“The component parts in federation should reserve the rights on the number of local governments they desire to have. The inclusion of the names of 774 local governments in the Constitution smacks of over centralization of administration. It runs against the principles of federalism.”
“The country may consider dropping the current bicameral structure of the National Assembly and adopt a unicameral legislature. The membership of the Assembly should be part time. No member should earn allowances not known to the Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation Committee and, more importantly, people they claim to serve. Legislators should earn under a uniform salary structure. Allowance peculiarities must not be about obscenity. The Senate should be scrapped.
“The House of Representatives too should not be unwieldly. A maximum of four representatives should come from each Zone. The states must have a judicial system which conforms to its aspirations to develop. An effective and efficient judicial system should be anchored on the peculiarities of a State and the quest to maintain law and order. The hierarchy of courts should be about satisfying the need to dispense justice among the people.”
Cost of Governance: How much financial burden does the National Assembly impose on Nigeria’s economy?
There has been calls by Nigerians in recent times demanding for a slash in the jumbo pay that members of the National Assembly receive as salary.
The calls were not unconnected to a revelation made by former Senator Shehu Sani who in 2018 revealed that Nigerian Senators are earning N13.5 million monthly as running cost.
The lawmaker said the running cost was in addition to the over N750,000 monthly consolidated salary and allowances of each member of the Senate.
At the peak of calls by Nigerians for a slash in the jumbo pay received by lawmakers, ALI Ndume, senator representing Borno South in the Nigerian Senate said the legislators’ pay had no impact on the country’s economy.
According to him: “It has no effect on the economy,” he said, adding that, the lawmakers only got N128 billion allocation out of N13 trillion 2021 budget.
“For me, call out the National Assembly, cancel the NASS. That means you have a N128 billion reduction but does that make any difference? Because this thing (calls for the reduction of National Assembly members’ pay) is getting too much for people like me that have come out to serve; not because I came out to be rich,” Ndume.
