Without New Constitution, Recycling Failed Leadership Continues — Afe Babalola SAN

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founder, Afe Babalola
University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, has called on
stakeholders to ensure that a new truly federal constitution with
provision for parliamentary government is in place before the 2023
general elections.

Babalola said that anything to the contrary would result in
“recycling the same failed leaders that have brought Nigeria to
where it is today”.

The legal luminary, according to a statement by ABUAD, spoke in
a goodwill message as the special guest of honour at the Fifth Ife
Institute of Advanced Studies, Summer Institute Programme on July
26.

He lamented that the 1999 constitution “allows Nigeria to be
running the most expensive democracy in the world with government
functionaries earning exorbitant salaries and allowances in a
country riddled with unemployment, poverty, insurgencies,
kidnapping, ferocious terrorist acts, killings, murder, robbery and
widespread destruction of properties”.

According to him, among reasons a new truly federal constitution
must be in place is that the 1999 constitution “breeds
transactional leaders instead of transformational leaders. It is
the same constitution that makes the opinions of those outside
government to be irrelevant to those in government.”

Babalola urged participants at the summer programme to come out
with meaningful and relevant recommendations that would be useful
to the government including that “those who wish this country to
remain an indivisible entity must unite to ensure that we replace
the present 1999 constitution with a truly federal constitution and
a Parliamentary system of government which is more involving and
less expensive.”

The ABUAD founder also said that in considering the new
constitution, “priority attention must be accorded to the
multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-linguistic nature of the
country made up of over 400 ethnic groups speaking over 295
dialects.

“Particular attention must be paid to the issue of poverty,
reduction of population by limiting the number of children per
couple. This will prevent the present untoward situation where the
offer of a mere N5,000 could induce poor Nigerians to vote against
the dictates of their conscience,” he said.

He added, “Nigeria does not need two houses in the National
Assembly. All we need is one house with the number of legislators
reduced to 50 per cent of what it is today.”

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founder, Afe Babalola
University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, has called on
stakeholders to ensure that a new truly federal constitution with
provision for parliamentary government is in place before the 2023
general elections.

Babalola said that anything to the contrary would result in
“recycling the same failed leaders that have brought Nigeria to
where it is today”.

The legal luminary, according to a statement by ABUAD, spoke in
a goodwill message as the special guest of honour at the Fifth Ife
Institute of Advanced Studies, Summer Institute Programme on July
26.

He lamented that the 1999 constitution “allows Nigeria to be
running the most expensive democracy in the world with government
functionaries earning exorbitant salaries and allowances in a
country riddled with unemployment, poverty, insurgencies,
kidnapping, ferocious terrorist acts, killings, murder, robbery and
widespread destruction of properties”.

According to him, among reasons a new truly federal constitution
must be in place is that the 1999 constitution “breeds
transactional leaders instead of transformational leaders. It is
the same constitution that makes the opinions of those outside
government to be irrelevant to those in government.”

Babalola urged participants at the summer programme to come out
with meaningful and relevant recommendations that would be useful
to the government including that “those who wish this country to
remain an indivisible entity must unite to ensure that we replace
the present 1999 constitution with a truly federal constitution and
a Parliamentary system of government which is more involving and
less expensive.”

The ABUAD founder also said that in considering the new
constitution, “priority attention must be accorded to the
multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-linguistic nature of the
country made up of over 400 ethnic groups speaking over 295
dialects.

“Particular attention must be paid to the issue of poverty,
reduction of population by limiting the number of children per
couple. This will prevent the present untoward situation where the
offer of a mere N5,000 could induce poor Nigerians to vote against
the dictates of their conscience,” he said.

He added, “Nigeria does not need two houses in the National
Assembly. All we need is one house with the number of legislators
reduced to 50 per cent of what it is today.”