Mere constitutional amendment won’t solve Nigeria’s problems – Ofoeze

Mere constitutional amendment won’t solve Nigeria’s problems – Ofoeze

*Says flaws in current constitution fueling agitations for self rule

Steve Oko

A Professor of Political Science, Abia State University Uturu, Harts Ofoeze, has said that the much-talked about constitutional amendment would not bring any solution to Nigeria’s woes until the leaders are ready for real change.

He argued that mere constitutional review would never take the country out of the woods until the fundamental issues of injustice and lopsidedness in the construction were genuinely addressed.

Professor Ofoeze blamed the agitations for self determination by various regions in the country on the endemic flaws in the country’s constitution which he said was skewed in favour of a particular section of the country.

Ofoeze who made the submission in an exclusive interview with our Correspondent, cast doubt on the ability of the National Assembly “as currently constituted” to bequeath to the country a workable new constitution.

The university don who was reacting to the proposed constitutional amendment said the imbalance must be corrected in the proposed amendment if Nigeria must stay united.

Ofoeze argued that “Nigeria cannot be talking of constitutional amendment without first creating an additional state for the South East” to bring the zone at par with other zones.

” There should be equal number of states in all the zones for the sake of equity”, he said.

According to him “those people going to handle the amendment are part of the problems in the current constitution and will still manipulate it in favour of their region because they are in the majority”.

” The NASS can’t genuinely give us a type of constitution that will solve the Nigeria equation. The Nigerian people must be part of any genuine efforts to review our constitution.

” Whatever name they want to give it the various nationalities in the country must be involved to dialogue and decide how they will be governed”.

He however said if they decide to forge ahead, key areas of resource control and fiscal federalism have to be addressed.

Ofoeze said that federal government should not take more than 40% of the revenues accruing to the federation while states should take 60%.

He further suggested that creation of Local Governments should be left in the hands of states and not the federal government.

According to him local governments should no longer be part of the federating units as it has been discovered to be a ploy by a certain part of the country to allocate more resources to their region.

” How can Kano have over 40 LGAs where as Bayelsa that produces the revenue has less than 10″.

Professor Ofoeze also said that time had come for state or regional police to be captured in the Constitution saying that it is the only panacea to the festering insecurity in the country.

He also strongly argued that posting of top Police Officers should be reflected in the amendment, saying that Commissioner of Police in every state must come from that geopolitical zone.

 

Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria.

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