It was quite heartening to read that the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favour of a number of positive amendments to our Constitution. I spent a large amount of time wondering if this was a trick or a treat. These votes actually represented a sea-change in the architecture of Nigerian politics. Personal and political interests and affiliations were cast aside to, at last, give the vast majority of Nigerians what they had been agitating for since the return to civil rule. All of the approved amendments would, if voted in favour of by the State Houses Of Assembly, augur well for the sanity of our politics.
The removal of immunity for any serving President, Vice-President, governors and Deputy governors from prosecution was particularly gratifying. Also, a development I have long called for has seen the light of day. On Thursday, 8 March 2012, in my post http://9jainc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/lost-in-lust.html, I submitted that "……..with the INEC now seemingly more transparent and accountable in its operations, the next general elections afford us a golden opportunity to root them out, at all levels, from ward to the presidency. This is exactly why we must fight for a change in our Electoral laws to permit independent candidature for all political offices, bar none. If it has currency in most parts of the free world, why not in Nigeria?"
Independent candidature for elective offices will drastically reduce the effect of godfatherism in our politics and render poniard-bearing politicians useless; while giving every Nigerian an equal opportunity to participate in politics, thus making it a lot more inclusive and open. One shouldn't have to belong to an established political party to vie for office, as long as one satisfies the Constitutional prerequisites for aspiring to such an office.
Granting Local Governments autonomy will enable a swifter and better response to local needs, and thus do away with the undue influence of governors over the delivery of services for local people.
Scrapping SIECs will nullify the possibility of unhealthy alignments among state governments and state electoral bodies. Allowing states to generate and distribute electricity will give individual states control over power and enable them to think strategically about their energy mix and come up with novel ways of dealing with the debilitating effects, on their economies, of power outages. The politicization of power generation and distribution at the Federal level will be a thing of the past. Competition among states for superiority in the area of power supply will attract much needed investment, both extraneous and indigenous, that the people need, and will augur well for the national economy. What is not to like?
For me, the icing on the cake now would be for RMAFC (Revenue Mobilisation Allocation And Fiscal Commission) to expeditiously drastically review downwards the insanely generous emoluments of elected politicians, the vast majority of whom vie for elective offices not for what they can offer Nigerians, but for what they stand to loot from us. This will set the altruists against the solipsists; our politics would be a lot better for it, our economy would have a chance to mature, and our people would, at last, heave a huge sigh of relief. BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!
The removal of immunity for any serving President, Vice-President, governors and Deputy governors from prosecution was particularly gratifying. Also, a development I have long called for has seen the light of day. On Thursday, 8 March 2012, in my post http://9jainc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/lost-in-lust.html, I submitted that "……..with the INEC now seemingly more transparent and accountable in its operations, the next general elections afford us a golden opportunity to root them out, at all levels, from ward to the presidency. This is exactly why we must fight for a change in our Electoral laws to permit independent candidature for all political offices, bar none. If it has currency in most parts of the free world, why not in Nigeria?"
Independent candidature for elective offices will drastically reduce the effect of godfatherism in our politics and render poniard-bearing politicians useless; while giving every Nigerian an equal opportunity to participate in politics, thus making it a lot more inclusive and open. One shouldn't have to belong to an established political party to vie for office, as long as one satisfies the Constitutional prerequisites for aspiring to such an office.
Granting Local Governments autonomy will enable a swifter and better response to local needs, and thus do away with the undue influence of governors over the delivery of services for local people.
Scrapping SIECs will nullify the possibility of unhealthy alignments among state governments and state electoral bodies. Allowing states to generate and distribute electricity will give individual states control over power and enable them to think strategically about their energy mix and come up with novel ways of dealing with the debilitating effects, on their economies, of power outages. The politicization of power generation and distribution at the Federal level will be a thing of the past. Competition among states for superiority in the area of power supply will attract much needed investment, both extraneous and indigenous, that the people need, and will augur well for the national economy. What is not to like?
For me, the icing on the cake now would be for RMAFC (Revenue Mobilisation Allocation And Fiscal Commission) to expeditiously drastically review downwards the insanely generous emoluments of elected politicians, the vast majority of whom vie for elective offices not for what they can offer Nigerians, but for what they stand to loot from us. This will set the altruists against the solipsists; our politics would be a lot better for it, our economy would have a chance to mature, and our people would, at last, heave a huge sigh of relief. BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!
Insightful!!
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