Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State had advocated for devolution of powers to reduce the current structure which overburdens the Federal government with too many responsibilities it cannot efficiently handle.
He made the call at the Senator Kabiru Gaya led public hearing of the Senate Committee on the review of the 1999 constitution holding in Kaduna.
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The Governor disclosed that his administration has drafted bills to alter the constitution and amend or repeal existing legislations to achieve the overall objective of true federalism.
He further stated that the APC Committee on true Federalism which he headed had identified legislative interventions that the National Assembly can more easily undertake to achieve a truly balanced, equitable and fair federal structure.
The Governor, who spoke in his personal capacity, proposed 10 items that should be shared responsibilities between the State and Federal governments.
According to him, the reality of the security situation today requires that Nigeria must strengthen its military and security agencies. “This includes decentralizing the police to enable the states to exercise effective control in securing their residents and communities”.
“We need to have Federal, State and community police with each granted sufficient powers to make them effective in securing the areas assigned to them and cooperating closely with each other”.
He said that fear of abuse of State Police by sub-national governments is misplaced because a constitutional or statutory framework can be enacted to ensure federal intervention in cases of such abuses.
El-Rufai mentioned that, States already control land within their territories, courtesy of the Land Use Act which is incorporated into the constitution by reference.
He however said, one of the reasons why mining has not quite taken off in the Country is because of the dichotomy and total disconnect between the Federal institution that issues licenses for mining and the state agencies that ultimately control not only the land and title thereto, but any approval to undertake any development on the land.
Speaking on Judiciary, El-Rufai explained that, states should be empowered to establish, staff and run their own judiciary up to appellate levels.
“It is an anomaly to have a National Judicial Council appointing high court judges for states. This should be the responsibility of State Judicial Councils.
“In essence, I am suggesting that judges of State high courts, sharia courts of Appeal and customary courts of appeal should be nominated by the State Judicial Council, subject to confirmation by the House of Assembly”, he stressed.
On other items, El-Rufai said each State should decide the model of democratic local government that best suits it because Nigeria is a Federation of the 36 states and the Federal Government.
“Each state should decide how many local governments it can efficiently run and fund for better governance and delivery of public goods”.
‘’For instance, why should the Federal Government be enabled by the Constitution to fix a national minimum wage that it can afford but most of the states, has been unable to implement”.
The constitutional amendment will enable the Federal government to legislate a minimum wage for Federal employees and those that reside and work in the FCT only”, El-Rufai emphasized.
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