From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Senator representing Kaduna Central Zone, Uba Sani, has said that the 1999 Constitution is outdated with some contentious issues that need to be addressed.
Speaking in Kaduna on the sideline of the ongoing public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution, North West Zone, Senator Sani noted that the Constitution was last reviewed 22 years ago which had brought crisis into governance.
The Kaduna Centre of the Constitution review consists of Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and Katsina. It is chaired by Senator Kabiru Gaya.
According to Senator Uba Sani, ‘the issue of the review of the 1999 Constitution which we are here for is long overdue. This is the most enduring Constitution which has not actually been reviewed in the last 22 years. It is actually outdated.
‘The issue of state police is very critical that we need to have the state police by synergising with federal police force. The devolution of power is another issue because alot of people are clamouring for it if they are allowed to manage the resources of their respective state.
‘To me it is a good development because it will help states to develop faster. Another issue is the judiciary because in a state high court you will discover that a judge is having over 300 cases to deal with. I believe the judiciary should be decentralised to reduce this workloads.
‘Another contentious issue is the minimum wage which I believe that every state has its peculiarity. Kaduna State was the first to pay the minimum wage of N30,000.00. It was the legislature that passed this law, but as it is today I don’t think states can pay minimum wage.I don’t think it is realistic to pay minimum wage now. It is only Kaduna, Lagos and Rivers states that pay minimum wage. That means it is not realistic.
‘We need to also look at the issue of local government autonomy; they should be allowed to operate freely to bring development closer to the people. Kaduna State, for example, give such powers to its local government. We must give them powers all over the country so that we have a country that every can be happy.’