—- Its duplication having two committees to oversee a ministry at the same time

— But not at the expense of of quality and effective representation”

Dayo Johnson Akure

The call for the scrapping of the Senate and the cut in the number of the members in the House of Representatives has again received the support of the Deputy Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Peter Akpatason.

Akpatason was the chairman of the South West of the House of Representatives Committee on constitution review public hearing in Ondo state.

He was however quick to add that the unicameral system should not be done ” at the expense of quality and effective representation”.

The chairman South West Governors Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu canvassed the same position at the two day review of the constitution by the House of Representatives in the state.

Speaking with newsmen in Akure, the lawmaker representing Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency said unicameral legislature” is cost effective, easy to maintain since there is no second chamber to maintain.

The lawmaker noted that the nation runs a large and expensive government but stressed the need for national debate on issues surrounding the size and cost of governance in Nigeria.

Akpatason however said that ” the unicameral legislature could only be acceptable as long as it is not done at the expense of quality and effective representation.

“It is time we start taking Nigeria issues more seriously than ever before. The issue of cost cutting is very very important at this point in time. However, we don’t do it at the expense of quality and effective representation.

“I’m not opposed to Unicameral legislature. I actually don’t see the reason why we have two committees to oversee a ministry at the same time, it’s duplication.

“The argument that it is more effective, for me, it is a very weak argument, because a single committee that is serious and well composed can supervise a ministry more than multiple committees that are properly composed.

“I’m not opposed to Unicameral legislature in Nigeria, I think we can do it and it will save some cost. But cost is not always the reason for doing things. If saving cost is what we can achieve at the detriment of effective representation then we need to look at it very objectively”

Akpatason said that “as regard reducing the number of legislators. If you say 360 is much and you want to reduce it, you have to change the whole lot to achieve that. But I wonder if that is going to add any value.

“So, we should rather focus on how we can get the legislature to be more effective by getting the right people by reviewing our electoral processes, particularly our party politics and election.

“The election that brings people on board both at the executive and legislature at present is not as credible as it ought to be. It is very susceptible to manipulations for so many reasons. The cost of election itself is monumental, a lot of people cannot afford it.

“We also have to look at the role of the electoral umpire and the Judiciary because all of them add to the cost. If we are able to address all those, we would have a more credible system. If it brings in few people, you’ll be sure that you are bringing in the right people”

On the call by some people for the overhauling of the 1999 constitution, Akpatason said that the Constitution of the country does not empower lawmakers to convey the process of new constitution but only to review the existing constitution.

“We have the power to review existing constitution. I’m not sure, that clause gives us the power to convey a conference that can debate a completely new constitution. It is a thing that the nation has to do through national resolution like the Jonathan’s government did setup a conference that would debate a fresh way forward.

“But what we can do at the level of parliament is to review what is existing and bring about changes to it.

The lawmaker who denied that it was not difficult for the lawmakers to embrace the 2014 Confab reports to reviewing the Constitution said “I’m not sure the issue is difficult for National Assembly or not.

“The 2014 CONFAB was an executive document. It belongs to the executive. It’s their responsibility to dust it and look at it.

“However, in the course of this review, I think it is also possible for us to look at what is contained in that document and see how much we can pick from there.

” In terms of implementing it, I’m not sure it’s the National Assembly that can push for that but we can borrow leaf from what is contained in it.

“You know what happens in this country, that document came towards the tail end of that regime. In the end it was not implementable by that same regime.

“And often time, when things like that happens in Nigeria we don’t find anybody coming back to it, which is a very unfortunate practice. I think I support the idea of extracting as much as we can get from that document.

He however, expressed optimism on the outcome of the constitution review, saying “I’m very optimistic that this is going to be one of the best constitution review exercises we have ever had.

“The circumstances are just compelling just now. It is only the deaf and dumb or the blind that would not see and cannot feel what is happening in the country today.

“I can assure you that we don’t sit comfortably in our positions in the office any more. Nobody is comfortable in that National Assembly. We are all sitting on the edges believing that anything can happen to anybody including those of us who are there, particularly those of us who are in government today.

Akpatason said “So, I’m not sure we need Jesus or Muhammed to come down and solve our problem for us or to remind us that we need to do our best at the moment. We have compelling circumstances, pains and agonies that are compelling enough to force anybody to do the right thing more than ever before”

Vanguard News Nigeria