A politician, Osita Chinedu, has advocated for the reduction of the remuneration of political office holders in Nigeria to make the offices less attractive.
Chinedu gave the advice in a paper entitled: “Politics in Nigeria and Prospects of Our National Development’’, presented on the occasion of Laity week at St. Charles Lwanga Catholic Church Apo, Abuja.
Laity week is a period when the lay people of the Church often pause to consider their varied gifts for ministry, inside and outside the walls of the church building.
The 2019 Laity week theme is “Catholics in Politics: Panacea for Good Governance, Peace and National Development”.
Chinedu suggested that political office holders should not earn more than the highest paid civil servant in the country in both salaries and allowances.
He added that high remuneration of political holders has made politics a “do or die affairs” in the country.
Chinedu said adequate punishment should be meted out to corrupt officials to serve as deterrent to others.
He said there should be stricter measures on the procedures for the appointment and control of both heads of judiciary and treasury.
Chinedu said that Nigeria should review its constitution in line with the prevailing situation and to remove the bottleneck in implementing national development planning objectives.
He said: “The much clamour for restructuring is now very expedient for the advancement of Nigeria.”
He said the country should learn to put persons who have capacity and right qualifications into positions of authority.
Chinedu, however, listed bribery and corruption in both high and low as some of the reasons why the development plans of the country has failed.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Laity week which started on Monday is expected to end on Friday with a thanksgiving Mass in the parish.