The former chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay (SAN), has described the ongoing Constitution review process by the National Assembly, as an exercise in “futility”. The legal scholar predicated his position on previous failed attempts by lawmakers at amending the 1999 Constitution.
New Telegraph reports that the Constitution amendment exercise by the 10th National Assembly has reached an advanced stage, with public hearings on the items listed for review scheduled to hold across the six geopolitical zones in early July. When asked to comment on the ongoing exercise taking into account past experiences, the octogenarian expressed doubts about the process achieving intended outcomes.
Specifically, the silk noted that moves to create additional states in the ongoing endeavour will never come to light, having regard to the dependence of most sub-nationals on monthly federal allocation.
Consequently, he charged lawmakers to concentrate on their “routine legislative roles,” in order save funds for more urgent and pressing national issues. He said: “No, I don’t see it. All they (lawmakers) are engaged in is a process of (alleged) futility. That is all! They are not serious people. “They have never really introduced any relevant thing in the Constitution.
“If you look at the sort of things they have attempted to modify in the past, they are small things. In fact, you can call them Lilliputians. Because, the things they do are of Lilliputian size, or level. “They don’t achieve anything; they make all sorts of noise, spend all our money hiring hotels in some states where they enjoy themselves, as if they are amending the Constitution.
“Nothing is going to happen; absolutely nothing!” On the issue of state creation, Sagay submitted: “Nigerian states are so small already that…they depend on the monthly allocations from federal funds gathered from Niger Delta, and that is what keeps them alive.
“They don’t produce anything; they are dry states. They cannot do anything; they have no resources. They just carry their…to Abuja every month, to collect money. “And they say they want to split again into what? Into even more useless states?
“So, it’s a waste of time; it will never happen. It will be such an incredible misfortune if other states are inflicted on us. Money is wasted on paying salaries to new civil servants, creating a new state house, and sorts of idle matters to which Nigeria is known.
“So, the whole process is a waste of time. They should just settle down and do their routine legislative roles and forget about all this idea of amending the Constitution. “It won’t happen! It has never happened. The ones that happened were just jokes.”
