The Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, on Tuesday made a case for the scrapping of the Senate, recommending that each zone should have equal number of four representatives at the National Assembly.
Akeredolu made the submission at the Akure Centre of the South West Zonal Public Hearing, organised by the House of Representatives Special Committee on Constitution Review.
Represented by his Deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the governor said Nigeria should consider dropping the current bicameral structure of the National Assembly and adopt unicameral legislature.
He said: “The membership of the Assembly should be part-time.
“No member should earn allowances not known to the Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation Committee, and the people they claim to serve.
“Legislators should earn under a uniform salary structure.
“Allowance peculiarities must not be about obscenity.
“The Senate should be scrapped.
“The House of Representatives too should not be unwieldy.
“A maximum of four representatives should come from each zone.”
Akeredolu said all issues that elicit distrust and suspicion must be investigated dispassionately.
He said: “Nobody must be shut out; all must be treated equally.
“All decisions must be anchored on the principles of equity and justice.”
He said the constitution review is an important assignment that must be undertaken with all seriousness.
According to Akeredolu, revenue generation and allocation must reflect the extent to which a state participates in the economy.
He said: “Ministries, Departments and Agencies must be pruned to reflect the socio-economic realities of the moment.
“The government at the centre must divest itself of this self-inflicted heavy burden, for effective and impactful performance.”
He called for state police, resource control, judicial reforms, especially with zones having their court of appeals.
Akeredolu also canvassed a return to the 1963 Republican Constitution, saying: “We will have resolved many fundamental issues of nationhood with its adoption.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the SouthWest Zonal Public Hearing, Akure Centre, Peter Akpatason, said the event was important to have input of the people.
Akpatason, the Deputy Leader in the House, said the constitution was made for the people and could not be done without adequate input from the society.
Also, the Olubaka of Oka Akoko, Oba Yesufu Adeleye, called for special designated roles for traditional institutions in the country’s constitution.
The traditional ruler noted that the problem and challenges facing the country originated from the 1999 Constitution.