The Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation, Senator
Orji Uzor Kalu has backed calls for part-time legislature at both federal and
state levels.
Senator Kalu, who represents APC from the Abia North
senatorial district said this would help the nation cut costs and enhance the
citizenry’s trust in the polity.
The former Abia Governor said this during an interview over
the weekend.
On calls for a part-time legislature, Senator Kalu said, “I think it will be a very good idea if my colleagues and other members of the Houses of Assembly will agree that we can sit for three months and do constitutional amendment first.
“So we can sit four times a year and if there’s any
emergency, there will be emergency sitting. We can come to do a presidential
bid on that basis and go back instead of sitting on a full-time basis.
“Not only the Senate and the House of Representatives but
all the legislative houses in Nigeria will be part-time.”
Senator Kalu maintained that this would be part of austerity
measures to reduce the cost of governance, arguing that regional government is
another viable alternative.
“If we’re going for a regional government, it also means
that the ministers, the legislators, will be the same. I’ve been tinkering with
the idea of how we can save money to run Nigeria because the country needs
money.
“I will encourage the President, the National Assembly to
make these kinds of laws. This will help him, and this will help the system,
and this will help everybody,” he said.
The ex-governor explained that contrary to misconceptions
among Nigerians, senators are not paid enough.
“But I want Nigerians and my colleagues to do a quick
constitutional amendment so we can go and be a part-time sitting Senate and
part-time sitting House of Representatives and other 36 state houses of
assembly in Nigeria.
“That will bring trust and bring relief to the Nigerian
people,” the ex-governor said.
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