Former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to seize the moment of the ongoing imbroglio over fuel subsidy removal to embark on physical restructuring of the country.
Babangida said Jonathan should consider tinkering with the constitution to provide for one chamber of the national assembly since the cost of running two chambers has become apparently unaffordable.
In a statement through his spokesman Kassim Afegbua, Babangida also called on the president to commence the process of cutting down the running cost of government by ensuring "a slim and tidy bureaucracy."
The former President observed that "the weaknesses in the present arrangement have since been exposed and have to be discarded to accommodate new thinking in global managerial dynamics."
The statement reads in part: "The nation cannot afford the luxury of sustaining a 72 per cent recurrent expenditure portfolio as against 28 per cent capital expenditure with our weak or near-absence infrastructural foundation. We can also begin the process of tinkering with our Constitution to provide for a unicameral legislature since the cost of running a bicameral Legislature has since become apparently unaffordable."
He advised the President to give government's anti-corruption crusade teeth "in such a transparent and accountable manner devoid of political witch hunt, favouritism and executive interference."
IBB also urged Jonathan to practise 'real federalism' by devolving more powers to the states and local governments in order to reduce the concentration of power at the centre.
He also praised the maturity employed by protesters in the ongoing protests over fuel subsidy removal, saying it is an innovation in the Nigerian system, especially with the coming together of Christians and Muslims to show uncommon solidarity towards a course.
"As a former Military President who survived eleven of such public anger, I should be in a better position to appreciate the maturity of the one under reference. I also feel a sense of pride seeing our Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters express such uncommon love and solidarity during the protest. It is a demonstration of the fact that Nigerians appreciate the mutuality of our collegiate existence irrespective of their religious inclinations and beliefs."
DailyTrust