Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has called for a brand new constitution for the country.
Okowa also sought a devolution of power from the Federal Government.
The governor called for a review of revenue allocation to states as well as an upward review of the 13 per cent derivation to oil producing states in the country.
The governor also called for the creation of state police to tackle the problem of insecurity in the country.
The governor stated these positions when the Chairman of the Constitution review Committee and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase, visited him in Government House in Asaba, the state capital.
Wase was accompanied by House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, and other members of the committee.
Okowa said, “Is it possible to have a brand new constitution when there is one exiting? As the constitution is at the moment there is no provision to allow that. But I believe that if we have a deep thought and look at Section 9 of the constitution it would be possible to add a clause and when that clause must have been approved and has become law, it would now be possible under such a condition for the National Assembly to rewrite an entire constitution which would come into effect after all the process have been done
“There is a need for devolution of power. We believe that the exclusive list is too burdensome for the Federal government to handle. It is not about this administration. It is about all the administrations at the Federal level. When you take too much for yourself, you find it difficult to be as efficient as you would have been ordinarily.
“And whether we like it or not the truth is the sub national governments are closer to their people and are best situated to represent their people and to reach out and to touch them in ways and manners that the people would best appreciate.w e think there is a need to looking at that exclusive list and to make adjustment to devolve more power to the sub-national government.
“Of course going through on that would be that there would need to be the reallocation of resources to be able to make the sub-national government more impactful than they are at the moment. When we concentrate too much power at the national level it creates a lot of challenges. We can help ourselves as a nation by devolving those powers.”
Okowa regretted that since 1999 till date there has been no review of the revenue allocation formula.
He said it ought not to be so because that is not what the law provides for.
“We also believe that on the issue of derivation, the oil communities are not well treated. We know that the provision of the constitution is that derivation shall be at least 13 percent, but from all our workings, with all; that goes out, the states that are oil producing do not get up to 13 per cent,” he said.
He called for an increased derivation beyond the 13 per cent to facilitate the development of oil producing communities.
He also called for the establishment of state police.
“There is need for the establishment of state police not because we believe that the federal police is inefficient, but we believe that it would be difficult for them to have enough personnel with such a command structure that will be functional enough to handle the level of insecurity in the land today. We are not asking for a scrapping of the federal police, but there is a need for the creation of state police. Nigeria would not be the first nation to have that and it can be worked out in a manner that would correlate with each other,” he said.
Wase assured justice would be done to every presentation at the public hearings to amend the Constitution.
He expressed the commitment of the House to the unity, happiness and prosperity of the country.
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