Ogunmupe Constitution Review memo 2021

By Chief Bayo Ogunmupe 1) Create six regional governments from the six geopolitical zones; holding the same number of legislators each region has in the current House of Representatives. Each region shall have full control of all the resources such as oil, solid minerals in its territory, like Nigerian Constitution 1963. Abolish the House of Representatives by making the National Assembly a unicameral chamber of senators with each region having 21 senators. Make every legislative house: the senate, the regional house of assembly, the state assembly, and councillors of Local Government Councils operate on part time. Only the principal officers of legislative houses shall be on full time pay. Constituency projects and allowances are to be abolished. Legislators shall factor their projects into the federal, regional, state and council budgets. Local governments shall be in the purview and control of regional governors. Regional governors shall have power to constitute local governments by appointment or cause councils to be elected by election commissions. 3) Revenue allocation shall be on the basis of derivation. In accordance with the Nigerian Constitution 1963, the regional government pays 50 percent of her derived revenue to the federation account. 4) The regions shall maintain their own police forces; current states are too poor to maintain their police forces. 5) There shall be a 15 member Supreme Court of Nigeria composed of at least two member justices from each region at any given time. 6) The INEC as presently constituted shall conduct only presidential and National Assembly elections. House of Representatives is abolished to make way for a unicameral National Assembly comprising 21 senators from each region and one senator from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). And each tier of government namely: federal, regional and state will create its own electoral body conduct its own elections like in the USA. 10) The immunity clause shielding president, vice president, governor and deputy governor from instant prosecution shall be abolished. 12) As part of the cost cutting programme, the National Assembly becomes unicameral, and in obedience to federalism principle of equality of regions, each region shall have 21 senators with one senator for the FCT. I am opposed to the creation of more states because state creation is an instrument of domination of one tribe over another. And only principal officers of legislatures shall be on full pay. 13) There shall be six regions with governors as their chief executives. The regional assembly shall comprise same number of members as they now have in the House of Representatives. 14) The current presidential term of eight years should be replaced by one term of six years. And the candidate of the party with the largest number of senators shall be declared winner of the presidential election. In the event of a disputed senatorial election, court can only make the challenger and the presumed winner go for a rerun election. Only the ballot box shall determine elections. Faithfully yours, Chief Bayo Ogunmupe. Economics columnist, The Guardian, Lagos.