Tinubu: High Cost Of Governance In Nigeria Is 1999 Constitution – Oswald Okebat

• Tinubu government Should Reduce Cost Of Governance Completely, Adopt A New Constitution

THE president of Turning Point Nigeria-USA, Sir Oswald Chima Okebata explained in this well tailored article how 1999 constitution is the main obstacle to reduction of cost of governance in Nigeria.

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President Tinubu like a drowning man trying to grab any straw to save his failing government, has the audacity to dust up the Oronsaye report and now wish to implement this outdate report in the guise to reduce the cost of governance in his government and administration.

Nigerians should not be fooled by this, there were reasons the other previous governments including President Jonathan Goodluck the one that set up the Presidential Committee on the rationalization and restructuring of federal government parastatals, commission and agencies that come up with the Oronsaye Report did not implement it.

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No meaningful cost saving benefit will be achieved by the implementation of Oronsaye report under the current 1999 Constitution that governs Nigeria.

Reasonably, the cost of running the government of Nigeria is astronomical, but restructuring and eliminating government parastatals, commissions and agencies will only scratch the surface.

The political will to do that is not here yet, President Tinubu knows this, and he is only doing this to draw attention and sympathy to his government.

This report was good 13 years ago when it was issued no wonder why Peter Obi is excited about it, but many things has happened and the situation in the country has changed, even Senator Shehu Sani rightly pointed out in his article Oronsaye report is outdated.

Tinubu government should be looking in a different direction for cost saving measures in governance. The main source of the astronomical cost of our government is the 1999 constitution.

Let state it categorical clear Nigeria need a new constitution the military impose 1999 constitution is too expensive and it is not working well for all Nigeria.

Many Africa countries with new people oriented democratic constitution like Kenya, South Africa and South Sudan are functioning better than Nigeria. So, if Tinubu and his party APC are serious about restructuring and saving cost of governance let slay the monster “1999 Constitution” nothing will work at its best with this document still in place in Nigeria political life.

Constitutional institutions created by this constitution are too many and too costly to operate, Nigeria is country with six political recognize regions with no constitutional role for those regions.

The 1999 Constitution gave us the council of State, the Senate, the federal house of representative and the executive council. Before taking on federal parastatals, commissions and agencies let start with this core government institutions.

First the Council of States, this must be eliminated in a new constitution. The meeting of former heads of state and few selected traditional rules in the country will not add any value to the administration of the country but unnecessary governmental cost and financial burden to national treasury. An elect president is free to consult with whomever his think will bring value to his administration.

Moreover, no other country in the world has such institution as part of its constitutional government. The bicameral legislature being operated now is necessary to ensure that laws are scrutinized before being imposed on the people.

Does Nigerian Senate need 109 members to look over the law pass by 360 members of House of the Representatives. We can start our restructuring her and incorporate our six regions as part of the constitution.

The senate should have three (3) senators for each of the region given us eighteen (18) Senators for the country. The regions will have equal representation at the senate. Interstate regional politics will help regional corporation and unity.

The house of representative which is based on the population of the state should also be reduce for 360 to 180. Federal constituency should be drawn sole base on population and will be redrawn every ten years to reflect the changes in the population. This action alone will save the government billions of Naira in operational cost.

Members of national assemble will no longer entitled to free cars and housing. They paid their salary and stated amount to operate the constituency offices.

The Federal executive council as per the 1999 constitution requires each state to have a member this directly stating the council should not be more that 36 members. Since the President, the Vice President and the Secretary to the Federal government are members of the executive council, these three members should also serve as representative of their respective state. This act alone will fulfill the constitutional requirement and reduce the cost of the government and the need for unnecessary ministries.

President Tinubu should not use the Oronsaye report to distract Nigerians from the astronomical cost of operating the government. To implement a serious change to reduce this cost requires the political will to completely adopt a new constitution.

This is the easy way but our corrupt politicians that are benefiting for this inefficient system will not have the courage to call for a new constitution. The 1999 constitution is a creation of the military, and it is about time we do away with it and have a real democracy with the people constitution.

● Sir Oswald Chima Okebata,
Is the president of Turning Point Nigeria-USA and lives in Commonwealth State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, USA, he can be reached via: Chima32@icloud.com

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