Cost of governance: Kwara CAN seeks overhaul of Nigeria’s political architecture

Vice Chairman of the Kwara State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Moses Ademola Popoola, has stressed the need for a complete overhaul of the nation’s political architecture to reduce the cost of governance and ensure rapid development of the country.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Sunday on the sidelines of the annual Oluwole Foundation Empowerment programme, Pastor Popoola, who is the Minister-in-charge of the English Section of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church Ilorin district headquarters, said that the nation urgently needs quality leadership.

The cleric also called for the political will to prosecute corrupt Nigerians to serve as a deterrent to others.

He stressed the need for sincerity on the part of both the government and the people.

Pastor Popoola supported the establishment of State Police to curb the ravaging security challenges plaguing the nation, adding that the federal police do not have the capacity to rein in the marauders and bandits troubling the peace of the nation.

“The issue or problem is not with the system of government, parliamentary or presidential, that we practice, but leadership.

We have several countries where senators go to office without big and expensive cars, governors go by train. But in Nigeria, the problem is that we have leaders who want to acquire wealth by any means.

So, if we go to a parliamentary system or federal system of government, it is okay by me, but will the parliamentary system actually reduce the cost of governance?

“I say no because we are also going to have honorables, and senators who will not want to cut their salaries and emoluments, even under a parliamentary system of government.

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This is because those who are used to embezzlement, whichever place you put them, they will still embezzle.

“Why can’t Nigeria develop its own system of government? Must we borrow from somebody, must we live our life the way they do in America or the UK? Before we were colonized, there was a system of government Nigeria was running.

Let Nigerians sit down and work out how we want to be ruled, how we want our constitution to work, that is my mind and take. We have to overhaul the system completely. We should go back to the 2024 confab.”

Speaking on this year’s Oluwole Foundation Empowerment programme, the cleric, who is the Chairman of the Foundation, said the programme was almost cancelled because of inflation and high costs of goods in the country. He thanked God that despite the challenges, they were still able to hold it.

The chairman said 60 members of the church were empowered this year with various items, including cash donations to some of them, sewing machines, and electrical tools, adding, “We are not going to give anybody Keke Napep or Okada because that is over N3 million.”