CHIEF Mike Ozekhome leads the state’s delegation which includes Professor Edy Erhagbe, Chief Charles Edosomwan, Professor Sylvanus Oboh, and Chief Nosakhare Isekhure.
Other items on the Edo agenda include; part-time parliamentary system of government, fiscal federalism, decentralisation of the police and Armed Forces along regional lines, independence of the judiciary with first line charge in the constitution, removal of Land Use Act from the constitution, removal of immunity clause and carving a role for traditional rulers.
Clement Ehebha, who read the Esan Forum agenda, which was unanimously adopted as the Edo agenda, said the problem with Nigeria is that it is governed by 37 “strong men” who are not accountable to the people.
However, Governor Adams Oshiomhole said the state’s delegates to the conference should canvass the interest of the ordinary people, adding, “anything we do which does not translate to prosperity for the average people will have no meaning.”
He said: “In seeking to address the Nigeria question, we must proffer solutions to raise the quality of life of our people.
The problem with the country is not which system of government is practiced or if we should revert to regionalism. No country makes progress by taking one step forward and two steps backward. We should deal with attitudinal issues and not system of governance. Desperate politicians could misuse state police to harass their perceived political enemies. We also have to be careful with decentralized Armed Forces, we can’t have sovereignty within a sovereignty.”
He noted that the problem of Nigeria today is the battle for the control of the “huge resources” at the federal level.
“About 52 per cent of the declared revenue is under the control of the president, while the other 36 governors share 26 per cent which is slightly less than half of what the president spends. If from 26 per cent we can build 1km road, the Federal Government ought to build 2km road; if we build one school, they ought to have built two schools. Because there is so much money in Abuja, the debate today is not about what should be the quality of the president of Nigeria, but which part the president should come from. Unless we alter the revenue allocation formula, we may continue on the same old road,” he said.
