[allAfrica.com] [Africa_2004] A Law for the Dustbin Daily Champion (Lagos) OPINION October 20, 2004 Posted to the web October 20, 2004 By Nats Onoja Agbo Lagos Few days before the last four-day strike over fuel price increase coordinated by the NLC took the center-stage, my intention was to take another look at political situation in Plateau State. Two issues informed my mind. The first issue was the campaign being mounted by opponents of Chief Joshua Dariye, the suspended governor of the state. The second issue was a letter sent to the National Assembly by President Olusegun Obasanjo to the effect that he was going to set up a truth commission on the Plateau crisis. What is the Truth Commission going to do? I thought that the committee which was set up by the Federal Government on the Plateau crisis has done its job. Where is the report of that committee? If that report is not ready, why is the President setting up another committee? Is the new committee a confirmation of claims by some people that a powerful force in the Senate is against the return to power of the embattled governor? Are those who are encouraging the President to tamper with the political will of voters in Plateau State aware that they are destroying democracy in Nigeria? If Chief Dariye is no longer fit to be governor, is it the duty of the President or the Senate to decide for the people of Plateau State? Why can't the Plateau State House of Assembly be allowed to take the constitutional way of impeaching the governor if he was no longer fit to be governor? But by the time I went to the National Assembly, other issues overwhelmed me. Watching members of the House of Representatives discussing the recent increase in fuel prices, was quite intriguing, Their anger, reflected in virtually every Honourable Member who spoke on what one of them called Executive recklessness, gave one the hope that the era of a docile legislative house was over. The prayer has been that the Honourable members should continue to keep a tab on the executive. Only through such monitoring can we be sure of a robust democracy. One is not saying in effect that the House should continue to antagonize the Executive. Most executive bills have been heartwarming. The Financial Responsibility Bill which Dr. (Mrs.) Okonjo-Iweala, the Finance Minister has presented before the House is one that is worthy of perpetual praise. If passed, the bill will hold senior public office holders responsible for loss of funds in their various offices. The present situation where junior officers are the only ones who are ever punished would become a thing of the past. Some executive bills, however, deserve a permanent place in the deepest dustbin. One of such laws now before the House of Representatives for consideration is the one curiously entitled Restoration of Suppressed State Constituencies. Introduced on the floor of the House on Monday, October 4, 2004 via Notice of Motion, it sought to create 64 new state constituencies in 19 out of the 36 states in the country. What is wrong with that, you may ask? In a letter of June 2, 2004, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told the House of Representatives that he was acting in consonance with Section 112 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. According to that section of the Constitution, the INEC "has the power to divide every state of the federation into such number of constituencies as is equal to three or four times the number of Federal Constituencies within that state". What the INEC chairman did not explain was whether mere demands by a state government could justify the creation of additional constituencies. Read in isolation, Section 112 of the constitution gives the INEC absolute power to create additional state constituencies each time the chairman of the commission wakes up after some sweet dreams. The reality, however, is that the same constitution ties down the creation of wards and state constituencies to population growth. Has there been any census since the last time state constituencies were created? In any case, why was the exercise limited to just 19 out of the 36 states of the federation? Did the citizens of the neglected 17 states stop procreation soon after the last time state constituencies were created? Why are such states as Enugu, Abia, Kwara, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Kebbi and Ebonyi states not qualified for new state constituencies? Since the population of each state is a determining factor in this exercise, why couldn't the INEC wait for the forthcoming Census exercise? From the way the proposal has been presented, it does appear that somebody is trying to create confusion in the country. In some of the states with clear ethnic problems, the new constituencies took care of only the majority ethnic groups. In Benue State for instance, all the four or five new state constituencies are concentrated in just two out of the three senatorial districts. Given the history of such a state, such lopsided allocation of state constituencies would aggravate ethnic tension. As we clamour for more state constituencies, are we thinking of the costs to the nation? The federal government is talking of downsizing the civil service. The reason often adduced for this is that there are too many unneeded hands in the civil service. Why are we then creating more positions for politicians? Creating a state constituency does not end there. There would be the need to create additional wards. Such wards would have elected and supervisory councillors. In the final analysis, the government is saddled with the responsibility of spending more than 70 percent of its funds on the payment of salaries and allowances. There would be the need for new state constituencies in the future. That should happen only when all the parameters have been met. The on-going reforms should start bearing fruits before we add more burdens on the government. If we must create new state constituencies, however, it must not be an exercise done behind closed doors. Every Nigerian community must be given the opportunity to bid for at least a state constituency. Hiding under the cloak of a small fraction of an all-embracing law to create just a few state constituencies would create more confusion in our crisis-ridden country. For now, the proposed law should be sent to the dustbin.   ===============================================================================  Copyright © 2004 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. 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