The Action Alliance (AA) has rejected calls in some quarters for Nigeria to introduce part-time legislature as a way to reduce the cost of governance saying that the country was yet not well developed to practise such a system.
Mr John-Prince Osmek, an AA candidate for the Afikpo North/West State Constituency, for the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, in the 2023 election, asserted while chatting with newsmen recently in Abakaliki.
Osmek noted that the call was misplaced insisting that the call should rather be to a throne of competent and qualified people arguing that the country was not yet developed for the part-time legislature as currently being canvassed by some Nigerians.
According to him, Nigerians should rather clamour for competent and service-driven legislators, who knew what leadership and representation entail, arguing, “Anything part-time, always has part-time effects.”
He stated that lawmaking was a serious business adding that with a part-time legislature, lawmakers risked being dedicated to the process of lawmaking in the country.
He said, “It depends on the reason why people are clamouring for a part-time legislature; but as far as I’m concerned, anything that’s part-time will have part-time results.
“I was thinking people should be clamouring for competent legislators – I mean representatives, who have the interest of the people at heart, people who understand the place of leadership in society.
“People who are willing to lay down their lives and give dividends of democracy to the people. “Legislative process talks about lawmaking for the people; and the legislator is someone collectively chosen by his people to represent them in a chamber, where laws and vital decisions are made in favour of the people in the land.
“When you say part-time it means people will definitely engage themselves in their various fields of endeavours and come back once or twice a week to make laws for the people.
“When people have not committed themselves 100 per cent to a process that will take care of people’s lives and are governed, whatever input they make will be in a haste and remember rashness in any undertaking is disastrous.
“This is the reason when a legislator is not given enough time to rest, articulate and ponder on issues that bother his people, he won’t make legislation that will stand the test of time.
“I do not believe in part-time legislation, because it won’t help our people. Now, can you equate the efficacy and effectiveness of a part-time pastor with that of a full-time pastor? No. They can’t be the same, and this is the same thing with part-time and full-time legislation.”
He equally lamented the current alleged deteriorating state of Ebonyi University and called on Gov. Dave Umahi to as a matter of urgency, expedite action towards restoring the ‘past’ academic excellence of the institution.
Our correspondent reports that EBSU currently faces an existential threat as lecturers presently leave the institutions in droves for other universities in the country and overseas, in search of better working conditions.
He added: “The question on EBSU is interesting because I believe that before now I knew the Law Department of the institution was the best across the entire country.
“If that was the case before and something near imperfect is happening now, I suggest we should check where we got it all wrong.
“This is because everything rises and falls on leadership; it could be as a result of administrative problems bedevilling the institution currently that has caused its glory to go down.
“It could also be that staff welfare is no longer encouraging. You know at times, when you don’t take adequate care of those who run your business for you, they will no longer manage it well for you. This automatically kills the ownership mindset and poise within your workers.
“It’s my earnest belief that the welfare of the lecturers there are longer been taken care of.
“I am aware that the institution used to do well academically and so, the administration of the school should be checked.
“The leadership should be checked and staff welfare ought to improve because there must be something that has gone wrong that makes it difficult for the school to rise above its alleged current poor state.”
