Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will need massive legislation and executive action to the ambitious goals growing the country’s economy.
He added that the primary tool that the president needed to achieve those was governance in political, constitutional, electoral, Legal and Judicial spheres, among others
Agbakoba made this known at an interactive session with newsmen in Apapa, Lagos office on Wednesday, noting that Tinubu no doubt had set before his administration a very ambitious goal to grow Nigeria’s GDP to $1 trillion in 7 years as well as taken tough decisions towards market correction like removal of fuel subsidies, floating the naira, and liberalizing the foreign exchange market, describing such as a huge task.
Besides, the former NBA president in his speech tittled: “Governance strategies for President Tinubu,” observed that the counsel became imperative because Nigeria’s governance structures were weak and, therefore, the need to strengthen them through critical laws and policies.
This was just as he quickly recalled that two countries that achieved major turnaround by enactment of major legislations and executive were the United States during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and United Kingdom with Margret Thatcher’s Big Bang policy.
“President Tinubu has set the very ambitious goal to grow Nigeria’s GDP to $1 trillion in 7 years.
“The president has also taken tough decisions towards market correction like removal of fuel subsidies, floating the naira, and liberalizing the foreign exchange market. This is a huge task.
“To achieve these goals require massive legislation and executive action.
Two countries that achieved major turnaround by enactment of major legislation and executive are the US (Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal) and
UK (Margret Thatcher’s Big Bang).
The primary tool Tinubu needs is Governance.
“Governance is a critical tool in development planning. It is the equivalent of a building plan. Nigeria’s Governance structures are weak and so what is required is to strengthen it through critical laws and policies,” Agbakoba stated.
On series of governance, Agbakoba listed them to include: Political Governance, Constitutional Governance, Regulatory and Administrative Governance, Electoral Governance, Legal and Judicial Governance, among others.
According to him, Political Governance can easily be resolved by asking critical national questions such as: “Are we a country, state, or nation? Do we intend to live together as one country and how?”
noting that once those questions were answered, it would set the stage for a new political arrangement that can be articulated in a new Constitution.
He said that government can engage sub-national ethnic leaders, including the Ohaneze, Arewa, and the pan- Yoruba socio-political group, Afenirere, “because they have national appeal and can provide alternatives.”
On the issue of Constitutional Governance, the ex-NBA president maintained that it could be resolved if the National Assembly can adopt wholesale constitutional replacement as suggested by Professor Nwabueze under Sections 4(1) and 315(1) (a) & (4) of the 1999 Constitution, and further maintained that massive devolution of powers from the Federal to state governments would strengthen Institutions that support democracy.
Speaking further, Agbakoba, while also advocating the need to also guarantee local government autonomy, noted sadly that regulatory agencies were often viewed as financing conduits for ministers instead of being independent bodies.
He suggested that reviewing legislation and strengthening the oversight functions were crucial to making the Regulatory and Administrative governance perform optimally.
“Current National Assembly has powers to facilitate this process under the Constitution,” he said.
On Legal and Judicial Governance, Agbakoba argued that there was the need to expunge outdated laws from the country’s statute books, using Rwanda’s model and unbundle Nigeria’s unitary judicial structure to create Federal, state, and local government court systems, saying that such step would decongest what he termed the judicial roadblock.
“Nigeria’s challenges may seem daunting, but they are not insurmountable, If all these governance issues are implemented in the short term, we are likely to continue to feel the pain but in the long term, results will begin to show.
“The Tinubu Government has a unique opportunity to articulate and drive an uncommon agenda for development.
There needs to be a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound implementation plan otherwise it will be all talk and no progress,” Agbakoba warned.
