Merge Senate, Reps To Save Cost - Lawyers

This is coming just as former President Olusegun Obasanjo has again taken a swipe on the National Assembly, saying Senators and members of the House of Representatives are fond of cornering capital projects into constituency projects to perpetrate corruption.

In separate exclusive interviews with LEADERSHIP yesterday, Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay (SAN); S, T, Hon (SAN); Alex Iziyon (SAN); Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN); Jibrin Okutepa (SAN); Emeka Ngige (SAN); Alasa Ismail and Abanika Muktar Isah held unanimously that unicameral legislature should not only be maintained at the federal level, but should be on part time basis.

The learned silks held that whereas people of Nigeria look up to democracy for a better deal for economic development as well as to end poverty, social inequality, enhance popular participation and eradicate corruption in their society, the condition of Nigerians today calls for debate.

The all agreed that with over 70 per cent of the country’s national budget spent as recurrent and less than 30% spent on infrastructure development, the bicameral legislature at the federal level is a big leakage for the lean revenue earnings in the country at present.

On his part, Chief Ahamba submitted that no nation can survive with this sort of rising cost of governance in the country.

He said, “No country can carry on this way; it is antithetical to good governance and infrastructure development, a situation where we spend humongous part of our budget for recurrent and the little remaining for infrastructure.

“I have argued it in my book titled, ‘Thinking aloud on 1979 Constitution’ that we should have unicameral legislature at the federal level. I said in the book that there is no need having the Senate at the same time the House of Representatives.

“We all advocated for pure American democracy or federalism without considering the implications. We can’t afford permanent legislature with our nature of economic structure. My father was in the Eastern House of Assembly from 1961 to 1966, at the same time a school master. He was a part time legislator; he kept his job as a school master and it was all pretty. It is a waste of fund keeping people on permanent basis for legislation. We won’t get it right economically, and development wise.”