“Six regions should replace the 36 States”
–Eki Omo-Osagie, a legal practitioner
By Kunle Popoola
What aspects in your view do you think the National Assembly should amend in the 1999 constitution?
The issue of constitution amendment has been very topical of late, my view, however, is that the National Assembly and Nigerians should look at issues, especially resource control, tenure of elected office holders, state creation and corruption objectively and decide on what we want for the country.
The amendment may be thorny because what we are talking about is nomenclature. The whole bulk ends on the table of the National Assembly. And the most critical issue now is the arrangement of the federation of Nigeria, because we have seen and still experience situations where power is concentrated in the hands of the federal government. The Constitution must address the composition and relationship between the states and the federal.
Nigerians want a constitution that will give power to the people. I mean the states. The issue of unrest in the Niger Delta should be addressed in the Constitution by giving the states the power to control their God-given resources and human capitals. The Niger Delta should be given 65 per cent control over their resources.
Do you think consensus will be reached on issues such as state creation and tenure ?
On the issue of states, I think at this junction, the Constitution should recognise the six geo-political zones from the existing 36 states in operation now and scrap the 36- state structure. The six geo-political zones that will be constituted in six regions will create healthy competition among the federating units in terms of economic and human development. This will ensure greater balance of power, rather than many unviable states as we are presently running.
On the basis of the current system we have now, the country cannot operate state police considering the do-or-die attitude of our political leaders. If regions are created through the Constitutional amendment, six viable regions will emerge and will be able to control the state police and there will be check and balances from the central government through the constitution. Nigeria is multi-cultural country, so the issue of sharia should not arise. Take a look at muslim countries globally and you would see what is happening. So, no religion should be given prominence in the Constitution.
We as a people should support two-terms of five years because that is what many African countries are operating. This will enable the president or governors to stabilise and consolidate.