My Dream Constitutional Reforms
Nigeria has been largely unfortunate not to have good and progressive political leaders, and this has resulted in perpetuating Nigeria in poverty and underdevelopment despite her huge oil wealth. This persistent failure of the Nigerian system has produced a large army of bitter critics, who consistently point out the ills in the governance of Nigeria and proffer alternative ways of doing it better. I conveniently fall within this group of critics, albeit only within the safe confines of my friends and relations – the armchair type of critic, that is.
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I have a lot of revolutionary ideas about what to do to correct the ills plaguing Nigeria. If I were to be the President of Nigeria, even for 3 months, I would set the machinery in motion to do some restructuring and reforms in the following areas:
1. Tenure of Office: All officeholders shall hold office for not more than a total of 3 years, broken down into 2 years of normal tenure and 1 extra year if the whole population votes in a referendum to that effect. Governance is a serious business, allowing for little or no jamborees. It is also a continuum, which no single person can carry to an end. This will make for less acrimony among power seekers and ensure that a polluter of power does not stay long enough to inflict damages of fundamental or permanent nature.
2. Structure of Government: There shall be 2 major tiers of government viz: the local government and the federal government. The third tier shall be the zonal or regional governments to coordinate the activities and cooperation of the local governments, and they shall have ceremonial authority only without any power to lord it over the local governments as the states do to local governments now.
Nigeria shall be a true federation where the federal government will not exercise control beyond its constitutional powers.
3. Power of the governments: The federal government shall have power of exclusive legislation and control over matters that are not reasonable or feasible to be shared with other tiers of government. They include currency, external security, foreign affairs, customs and immigration, national ports and airways and a few other ones as deemed appropriate under a slim federal size. This connotes that all other matters which do not affect national cohesion and security such as education, agriculture, road transportation, culture, tourism, industry, power, police, prison, etc shall be exclusively left in the hands of the local governments in cooperation with the respective zonal/regional governments. The federal government shall merely provide the enabling or coordinating agencies for such activities, not undertaking them directly. The zonal/regional governments shall do the same for the local governments under them.
4. Revenue Allocation: In line with the stance of slim federal government, the percentage of national revenue going to the federal government shall not exceed 20%. The remaining 80% shall go to the local governments, which shall agree to contribute a part thereof to run the zonal/regional governments. In the sharing of revenue, the derivation principle shall not be less than 50% of all economic activities. Moreover, the weight given to population in the sharing of national and local government revenues shall not exceed 5% while independent revenue efforts, special ecology, socio-economic progress shall have bigger weights.
5. The Electoral System: There shall be separate electoral bodies for the federal and local governments to conduct elections into the respective offices falling under their jurisdiction. There shall be no lid placed on the number of political parties, with any one of them allowed to rise and die as appropriate. Pending our full grasp of the democratic culture as established in the developed world, and to reduce cost, the ward shall be the most important level of politicking and the Option A4 that was successfully used in 1993 shall be adopted in the voting system. Only those candidates that have been elected as true representatives at the ward level shall aspire to any office in the local or federal government.
6. Salaries and Wages: The structure of wages shall be a reflection of the resources accruable to any tier of government and their special circumstances, but it shall not be allowed to be too wide in disparity. Wages/salaries shall be consolidated to make taxation and comparison easier, but wages/salaries shall be adjusted regularly to maintain a minimum set standard of living.
7. Private-sector Driven Economy: The economy shall be private-sector driven, with the governments mainly providing enabling environments such as incentives and basic infrastructural facilities. Power, water supply, transportation shall lead among those to be accorded special attention and incentives.
8. Traditional Rulers: No provision shall be made for traditional rulers to draw from public funds. Each community shall make its own arrangement to pay its traditional ruler according to its ability and the respect they accord their traditional heritage. However, the local governments could assist, through a special office under it, to collect the levy. Any indigene who fails to pay could be denied certain privileges which shall be agreed upon by a consensus of the members of the affected community.
9. Religion: Nigeria shall remain secular, hence all religious activities shall cease to involve any government or its agencies.
10. Social Welfare: There shall be established a powerful agency at each tier of government to ensure the welfare of its citizens. A social security system shall be put in place and made functional to take care of the unemployed, the old and/or disabled people, the widows, abandoned/orphaned children, etc.
11. Corruption: Every individual or body shall be enjoined and empowered to tackle corruption in the country. Appropriate legislations shall be put in place to enable intelligence reports to be relayed to the anti-corruption agencies each time a person appears to be living above his/her means. If public and private officials have the fear of being reported, and members of the public are chargeable for collusion of non-reportage, there will be less corruption. Anybody found corrupt or aiding and/or abetting corruption must face stiff penalties, including confiscation and/or imprisonment.
12. Retirement Policy: No senior person in the public sector shall serve for more than 20 years, or beyond the age of 50 years, but must have earned all attainable promotions by then. This will create employment opportunities for the teeming youths. Such opportunities will come from young retirees setting up businesses with their terminal benefits, and from the vacancies created by the retirees’ exits. For special sectors with shortage of personnel, the age of retirement could be adjusted appropriately.
13. Government Extravagance: Certain offices and expenses which constitute a drain on public funds shall be abolished. They include those of first ladies and some spurious special advisers; free feeding and snacking for public officers; minor procurement activities which could be made directly more cheaply; frivolous courses, seminars, workshops, conferences and retreats; etc.
14. Freedom of Information: There shall be free access to governmental information, including financial ones, to be made available in government daily bulletins, newspapers, internet, tv/radio, etc.
15. Governors as Servants: All officeholders shall be servants of the people, not the other way round. A high level of discipline and accountability shall be displayed by all officeholders and public servants.
The list of my dream governmental projects and reforms is endless. Admittedly, they require people of like minds in government to carry them through successfully. Luckily, these progressive minds are not in short supply in Nigeria. However, will they come out and volunteer to serve with me, even if I myself could muster enough courage to do so? Experience has shown that most armchair critics rarely venture out into practical politics, which is well known for being dirty and dangerous in Nigeria.
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