There is no better time than now to assess the suitability of the 1999 constitution. It is even more compelling in the light of recent happenings in the country, especially the wanton killings by the Boko Haram, kidnapping of innocent people by the bandits, and insecurity of lives and property that are becoming norm and part of the people, indeed, Nigerians are now living in fea0rs, many Nigerians are now scampering for safety instead of searching for means of livelihood. Unexpectedly, the 2021 budget is more on recurrent expenditure than capital projects.
The recurrent expenditure is to maintain political office holders and their numerous aides. In fact, since the return to civil rule, the cost of running government has been on the high side. These, amongst others, shows that there is a need to implement the 2014 conference report and do away with the 1999 constitution. Better still, we should go back to the parliamentary system of government.
Indeed, the 1999 constitution was full of abnormalities and biases, which caused major havoc to the living conditions of the common man in this country. The model of government under the 1999 constitution is called the presidential system of government. The presidential system of government is a system of government where the President has strong powers to function as head of government independent of the legislature. Our experience has brought this question to the front-burner, can we afford to give enormous powers to one man?
Every constitution, however good it might be is premised on one fact that the operators would be, gentlemen, men of honour. Our experience has shown that we might not always have men of honour in office and we should not wait till another autocratic leader springs up before we realise our mistake .We need to switch gears. A country where political patronage is the major source of livelihood and a President controls the disbursement of funds and all governmental structures, there is no way everybody will not be at the beck and call of the President. We need to go back to the parliamentary system of government that we operated in the first republic under the 1960 and 1963 constitutions.
Adémólá Òrúnbon
Ogun state.
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Buhari Urges MTN For Quality Service, Downward Price Review In Cost Of Data, Other Services
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and then