National Conference: South-West delegate advocate 3-member family for Nigeria Chairman Sir, My name is Chief Ajibola Ogunshola. I represent the South-West states. I applaud the president for agreeing to convoke this national conference and for his inspiring speech. Sir, it is clear that with all the security problems in the country, restoration of local, state or zonal policing, which was abolished during the military era, is overdue and now inevitable. The possible fear of its misuse by the governors is a side effect which can be reduced by appropriate legislation. The protection benefits outweigh the side effects. Sir, many speakers have said that the concentration of functions and money in the central government promotes corruption and inefficient governance and are advocating the devolution of power to the federating units. I concur. And consistent with this devolution, the federation should no longer fund local councils directly while each federating unit can have as many local government councils as it needs (or states, if zones are the federating units) but will be responsible for funding them. Legislators at all tiers of government should serve on part-time basis, to reduce costs and encourage wider talents into law-making. Sir, apart from the eight oil-rich states, only one or two of the present states are economically viable. To function, many state governments are accumulating substantial debts. Zonal governments, being larger, can pool resources together. The number of zones may be the present six or more and will be a matter for negotiation. The derivation formula of 13% (or whatever new figure) which is currently applied to oil and gas revenue should also apply to all solid minerals and V.A.T. The immunity clause (in so far as it applies to criminal acts by executive heads while in office) must be deleted from the constitution. Chairman, sir, our cultural and religious practices encourage us to continue to have large numbers of children. Our current annual population growth rate is estimated at 2.5 per cent. If we continue like that, the population will double in about 30 years. A Nigerian woman gives birth to an average of 5.4 children, while a whopping 43% of our population is less than 14 years old. The excessive population growth, which is not counterbalanced with adequate productivity, is a major cause of the massive unemployment and other social problems mentioned by previous speakers. Finally, sir, any person, male or female, who fathers or mothers more than 3 children is contributing to Nigeria’s population problem. I thank you.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:02:35 +0000
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