Prof Ladipo Adamolekun says it will be difficult for any leader to ensure good governance in Nigeria under the 1999 Constitution Nigeria
Ladipo Adamolekun, a professor of Public Administration, former lead public sector management specialist at the World Bank and author of book on Nigerian and African politics, spoke with PREMIUM TIMES in his country. In this interview conducted in December, he outlined some constitutional and other problems and proffered solutions for the Nigerian Constitution.
After that, we should have revenue reallocation. There is so much money at the centre that the federal government begins to dabble in secondary school commission and even in primary schools. Right now, all the zones are clamouring for development commissions and the money is expected to come from the federal government.
PT: How do we remove the obstacles to the actualisation of the structure that you advocate? Remember that a compromise was reached in the 2014 political conference, but nothing has happened towards that.Two of our major problems, poverty and insecurity, affect all the states of the federation. In the South-west, to tackle insecurity, they created Amotekun.
Adamolekun: I will quote a former northern Nigerian politician to answer your question – Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. And he said, “the federal system, under the present conditions, is the only basis on which Nigeria can remain united.” That was in 1957. What he said then remains correct today. What we have today is not a federal system. The federal system of 1957 that Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a northerner spoke of is a devolved federal system.That is not a southerner.
The call to amend the Nigerian Constitution the way the Americans do theirs is not possible here because the 1999 Constitution was not put in place through the same process the Americans had their own constitution. If the people participate in putting together a constitution, they will bring in their own realities. It was the reality of the military that underpins the 1999 Constitution.
be a candidate, but I can be politically independent. But right now, what we have are very weak political parties. Nigeria’s political party system is very weak and part of the weakness of the political party system isThe Constitution says any party that wants to compete for power, even in the local government, must be a political party that is organised nationwide. That is madness. But that was the military mentality.
The idea of independence does not exist in our party system, so there is a tyranny of partisanship. The two major parties are APC and PDP, can you tell me what their principles are? Do they differ? If they differ, would Atiku have been APC, ACN and now PDP? Those are some of the reasons I said I don’t see this as going to take us to a promised land or good governance.
don’t know how we will make that happen. That used to be the case, but we lost that because of, I guess, 30 years of military interregnum and when parties emerged, they became coalitions for winning power and sharing spoils of office. We don’t have parties that mobilise citizens. And citizens cannot on their own get things right.I already made reference to 2015, the fact that reasonably, by the judgement of all observers, the process was fair and credible.
is today, 63 per cent. 133 million Nigerians living below the poverty line. So, the point I am trying to make is that we have had ideas about what a development-oriented leader should look like. I didn’t mention one person, saying state police, that person is not credible. You cannot ensure security in this country without state police. Amotekun is a good demonstration. How can you tell us you are doing community policing from Abuja? Can you do community policing without speaking the language of the community? No.
I am disappointed that the good example of Lagos State in taking care of its universities that it created,
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