ONE of the vital things that should be considered if the national reform clamoured by the concerned citizens of Nigeria becomes a reality is the establishment of Government Monitoring Commission (GMC). Reform or no reform GMC should come to stay. Establishment of this body has become necessary to avoid inefficient and ineffective government in the country. The body will be a very vital tool to achieve better leadership in Nigeria.
Till I die, Buhari’ll continue to address me as sir; I’m most qualified to criticise him — Obasanjo
As much as possible, GMC should be an independent body devoid of sentiment and unnecessary interference from any individual, institution or group. The members of GMC can be sourced from credible Nigerians who are not interested in politics especially when they do not belong to any political party. People in this category should include respected and respectable religious leaders with sound credible records.
There should be a fixed tenure for them like five years. Membership should not be too large to minimize cost. Membership should include citizens from six geopolitical regions in Nigeria. The Commission should be headed by a former president or head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Their terms of reference should involve looking into the activities of various ministries, parastatals and government agencies. The GMC should have unfettered access to records of various government establishments at any time it wishes to look into such records. It is to operate at both state and federal levels of governments.
The idea of considering the elected citizens as the people’s anointed and some of them are of the opinion that it is a certificate for them to hide under “the so-called people’s mandate” to act and behave any way they like is gone. The mandate is no longer sacrosanct or an avenue for leaders to mismanage or misrepresent the people.
GMC is to act as a watch-dog or protection to get the best out of democracy and to ensure efficient and effective governance. For the sake of emphasis, the purpose of establishing GMC is not to neglect, dishonour or disrespect the decision of the people which they have expressed by voting for the citizens who run the affairs of the state, but alas this privilege is abused by the elected citizens.
- Chiemela N. Agu
Lagos