The incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari has been advised to, as a matter of priority, institute national order and constitutional reform, and to also give the country a new deal.
Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former national president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), who addressed journalists Wednesday, noted that Nigeria needed to be retooled to align with other 21st Century democratic societies.
According to him, “Nigeria is in utter chaos and disorder. This greatly affects the nation.
The disease of disorder has eaten deep into our national fabric. The absence of order has badly damaged the national psyche. Love of country is absent.”
He urged the Buhari government to work out a framework to reverse disorder and instil discipline.
“The issue of national order is closely linked with a new constitutional order. It is strongly recommended that priority should be given to the national question and resolved urgently. The nation will not settle or move forward without solving the issue of disorder,” he said.
Agbakoba, who congratulated Buhari on his victory in the March 28 Presidential poll, reminded him that now that the elections are over and the transition is on, “I feel that the time is ripe to set out a framework to address broad issues concerning the nation.”
“I see strong parallels between the great economic depression that occurred in America in the 1930s with the present challenges in Nigeria. I will urge that close attention is given to how President Roosevelt dealt with the challenges of the great depression that came to be known as ‘The New Deal’. Nigeria needs its own ‘New Deal’ in very many directions.”
Listing some areas that Nigerians urgently need a new deal, the human rights crusader said that there’s need for a new anti-corruption framework,
“Corruption is endemic in Nigeria and to reverse it requires strong new institutions. There has to be roots and branch reform of the anti-corruption agencies if we must succeed in slowing down corruption before even thinking of reversing it.
“Salaries and emoluments voted to our legislators by themselves is about 25percent of our national budget. This is unconstitutional because it is not approved by the Revenue Fiscal and Mobilisation Commission. Stopping this outrageous conduct on the part of the legislators is, with respect the litmus test in assessing the sincerity of the anti corruption agenda. It is strongly recommended that the NNPC be fundamentally reformed.
“Corruption is also manifest in over bloated budgets for the presidential villa and government houses, corrupt/weak public procurement procedures and abuse of discretion of ministers in the award of contracts. All these have taken a major toll on our resources and encouraged corruption. The first crucial challenge is for you to stop these aspects of corrupt practices and introduce major spending cuts,” he said.
