- As Dogara says 30-year-old may emerge Nigerian President soon
All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that for the nation to develop as a federation, the Federal Government must devolve powers to the states.
He said there is too much concentration of power at the Centre.
Tinubu said Nigeria is practising what he called unitary federalism in total violation of the principles of federalism.
Delivering a lecture entitled “Daily Times at 91: Building the future by respecting the past”, the former Lagos State governor also took a swipe at the nation’s budgetary system which according to him lays too much emphasis on the intake of dollars, a system which, he said, has long been abandoned by other nations.
Nigeria, in his view, needed to break away from the self-imposed dollarisation of our fiscal space. “The intake of dollars determines our budgets. We operate under an implicit dollar standard. However, the global dollar standard was formally abandoned over 40 years ago,” Tinubu said.
Represented by Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the frontline politician said: “The Constitution declares Nigeria a federation of 36 states. However, we still grapple with the vestiges of our past under military rule. In many ways, we still function like a unitary state despite the constitution.
“More powers and resources need to devolved to the states. The Federal Government is taking on too much. We cannot flourish with over concentration of powers at the centre. Some of the 68 items on the Exclusive Federal List should be transferred to the Residual List, as it is in most federal constitutions.
“A notable feature of even our own 1963 Constitution was the extensive powers granted to the regions which enabled them to carry out their immense responsibilities as they best saw fit. This was because the regions inherently had a better sense and feel for the needs of their populations simply by virtue of the fact that they were closer to the people than was the centre.
“Some items which ordinarily should be state matters, like police, prisons, stamp duties, taxation of incomes, profits and capital gains, regulation of tourist traffic, registration of business names, incorporation of companies, traffic on federal truck roads passing through states, trade, commerce and census, among others, were transferred from the Concurrent to the Exclusive List.
“I’m opposed to federalism operated as a unitary monster. As Lagos State governor, I challenged several Federal Government decisions for overreach and for violating the principles of federalism.
We created additional local governments because the constitution empowers states to regulate local council affairs. Today, those 37 additional councils have helped Lagos significantly as development centres. We took the Federal Government to court on issues, like the regulation of the hospitality industry, fiscal planning, and on who had the authority to issue Certificates of Occupancy.
“Regarding electrical power, we must move beyond limiting states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity to areas not covered by the national grid. Our problem is lack of power, yet we preclude states from helping to resolve this chronic problem that stabs at the very heart of economic development.
“It is not right to say states can generate power but cannot sell it where they want. Without yielding any countervailing benefit, this policy suppresses the generation of needed power instead of enhancing.”
In the meantime, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, gave indications on Wednesday that Nigerians of 30 years of age would soon be eligible to be President of the country.
He explained that the provision was contained in a new bill seeking to lower the age qualification for persons vying for political offices in Nigeria.
Popularly tagged the “Not Too Young To Run Bill”, Dogara said it had passed second reading and referred to the Special Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
Dogara spoke in Abuja when he addressed the plenary of the Nigerian Youth Parliament.
He stated that the aim of the bill was to give adequate representation to the country’s 60 percent youth population.
Specifically, the speaker explained that the bill would alter Sections 65, 106, 131 and 177 of the 1999 Constitution by simply lowering the age qualification bar.
If the amendment succeeds, the age qualification for the Presidency will drop from 40 to 30 years; Governor, 35 to 30 years; Senate, 35 to 30 years; House of Representatives and State House of Assembly, 30 to 25 years.
But, for the amendment to become law, it must secure the concurrence of the Senate.
It must also be approved by a two-thirds majority (24) of the 36 state Houses of Assembly in line with the provision of Section 9 of the constitution.
In addition, the speaker called for increased opportunity for youths so that they could realise their dreams.
He spoke further, “It is also my strong view that creativity and innovation are critical elements in engendering economic growth and development.
“Indeed the world is open for the youths to excel, especially in the area of technological development. Nigerian Youths can compete strongly in the technological field in the new world economy.
“We only need better technological education, funding and exposure to best practices.”
Nation with additional report from Citizen
