Legal luminary, Afe Babalola has
declared that the cost of governance is killing Nigeria.
Babalola reiterated his position
that the country cannot afford to keep maintaining 36 states, Senate and House
of Representatives, thousands of government appointees among others.
He said this in a article on
Tuesday entitled: “May 29 Democracy Day challenges: A call for national
conference on restructuring”.
The founder of Afe Balaola
University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) warned that much may not be achieved if money that
should go into national development were being used to service office holders
in all federal, state and local governments.
He wrote: “Education is the
catalyst for overcoming ignorance, poverty and raising standard of living in
the country. No reasonable person would prefer a return to military rule.
“A civilian government, whether
bad or good is preferable to military government as the opportunity exists, in a
democratic setting, for the populace to have a say, through the ballot, in the
choice of who governs them.
“Therefore, I expect that all
Nigerians must be interested in a democratic government which is beneficial to
the people. To make this a reality, there is a need for the concerted effort of
all, the governors and the governed alike, in addressing many of the factors
which are holding us back as a nation.
“One such factor, which I have
identified time and time again, is the huge cost of running our present
political structure. I have questioned whether we can afford the current set up
of 36 states, the majority of which rely only on allocation from the federal
purse to survive?
“Why do we appear so comfortable
with a system in which the executive and legislative set-up at the federal
level is replicated across all the 36 states with a retinue of commissioners,
special assistants, assistant special assistants, aides etc?
“I have questioned whether we
need two tiers of the national assembly, when a huge percentage of the annual
budget goes to the maintenance of the national legislature, thereby depriving
other crucial areas such as education, health and transportation of much needed
funding.
“Can we not borrow a leaf from
Senegal which recognised the wastage inherent in the two-tier legislative
system and abolished it? Is it not possible to have legislators serve on part
time basis rather than full time?
“These and many more are issues which call for
urgent attention and until they are addresses by means of a National Conference
with a mandate to explore means of restructuring the country, I will continue
to call for sober celebrations at occasions like this, just as I did seven
years ago.”
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