Odimegwu dumps Jonathan, backs Buhari

Credible People-based Constitution: Above all, all these ingredients of greatness for our country and improved well-being of all Nigerians should be coded and encapsulated in a People-based Constitution, and the constitution that Nigeria needs and that should be put in place must enshrine the values of truth, justice, fairness and equity as organising principles to guide all our national actions. The route to it can be through the National Assembly that is willing or through other many possible routes. But it is a must have. It must abolish all obnoxious frauds in our constitution that keep us divided, removing ethnic, tribal, religious and unmerited advantages out of national limelight and the constitution into personal lives where they belong by establishing the following minimums:

True fiscal and cultural Federalism, with well demarcated 6 Regions. Each Region has potential for viability if well led. And, competition will be good for the regions and their people. Easy money, ultimately kills a soul that is housed by a lazy body. And the North has lagged behind the Southern Regions for this reason as evidence. Hardwork is part of a good life.

Specified directives for an accurate and credible census, with ethnic, religious and place of origin as part of data collected and collated, and executed as per international best practices as per the plans that we already developed and left behind in National Population Commission. This will have a comprehensive Vital Registration infrastructure to deliver, not just the Accurate and Credible demographic data for planning but for its updating on a continuous basis. 80% of our current problems in Nigeria will be cured by having ACCURATE DATA alone. It is the DATA stupid as the Americans say.

Management starts with it. Leadership without competent management will lead to no where and burns out.

We cannot plan or coordinate the economy or anything else without credible data. Celebrating the documentation of 4 million farmers is fool-hardiness given what is possible from a comprehensive National soft data infrastructure. Specifics should be put in the constitution that should enable National population commission to carry out its constitutional mandate without political interference. The political requirement that census result is subject to council of state acceptance is nonsensical and should be deleted.

All other bodies in the constitution, including security agencies, should be sharpened and protected from political interference. A functioning Council of State for instance cannot be there and certain things are happening. The constitution should specify directions and implementation imperatives and matrices.

Anti-corruption policies, practices and sanctions must be better specified and the body made independent of all arms of Government and immunity clause expunged. Plea bargain provision must not be extended to issues of corruption and stiffer jail terms and recoveries must be enunciated to serve as deterrents. Corruption should be made unprofitable from all dimensions.

The 2000 or so MDAs under the Federal Structure should be reduced to a level where recurrent expenditure is maximum of 30% with capital expenditure minimum of 70%. All extra constitutional bodies like EFCC, ICPC etc etc should be abolished and absorbed in their constitution most relevant bodies or MDAs. The assignment of responsibilities to Federal and Regional governments should be aligned, including security agencies.

A two-party system should be enshrined into the constitution with ideological orientation and broad socio-economic development directives specified.
Job creation growth routes should be favoured given our huge population. Party primaries to sieve out criminals and any one with criminal records should be specified. The minimum qualification for political office should be aligned to weight of office (Buhari is qualified under current specification that ask for up to secondary school which is really JSS 1, even for one day. But Buhari with his military training and on the job experience up to former Head of State, GCFR, is more than qualified.