Sophia Michaels
Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor of Kano State, has stirred reactions with is recent statement.
His advice to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to scrap the National Assembly in the bid to reduce the cost of governance, has elicited sharp reactions from some citizens of Kwara State.
The Kano Central Senator had advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on steps to take in reducing the cost of governance in the country under the current dispensation.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Senator Shekarau claimed that the country does not need both chambers of the National Assembly under President Tinubu.
“Left to me, we don’t need to have the two chambers, the two houses,” he argued.
According to him, ” It is costing the country, I agree a democracy means getting as many involved as possible, but the way it is going on now, there are almost 500 legislators nationwide, I don’t think we really need this much at the moment.”
Reacting to Shekarau’s position, an elder statesman in Ilorin, Alhaji Lasisi A.K.Jimoh and a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, said “the National Assembly is created by the Constitution so, Tinubu cannot do away with it.
“However, all Nigerians know that the National Assembly is the most costly establishment in Nigeria today. Its members are also the most avaricious Nigerians who siphon a lot of our national fund into their own purses through padded budgets.
“It is also common knowledge that they bully Federal Government Agencies to submission and into connivance in the use of “Constituency Projects” as conduit pipes for nefarious ends. Certainly, there is an urgent need to curb them to save Nigeria.
“But that cannot be achieved unless Mr President, Asiwaju Tinubu, resists the temptation to indulge in RUB MY BACK, I RUB YOUR OWN partnership with them. That one go easy so?” he queried.
In his own reaction, the Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Ilorin, Professor Moyosore Ajao, said, “I absolutely agree with Senator Shekarau.
“We need to cut down the cost of governance in our country. I also believe that we need to make the National Assembly position part-time while only the principal officers are full-time. How many times in a week do they sit to legislate?”
Also reacting, a professor of Political Science, University of Ilorin, Hassan Saliu, said, based on the cost that the nation is bearing in maintaining the national assembly, it will be difficult to contest that position with Senator Shekarau.
He, however, argued that “on the strength of representative democracy, it will be difficult to sustain the argument, because of the intrinsic value of democracy, especially in the long run.
“My own position is that with the current structure, bringing about a reduction in the number of National Assembly members would be a difficult option, not with the attitude of the members who have the power to bring that about, ” he added.
