A member of the House of Representatives, Prof. Ini Udoka, has faulted the suggestion by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka that Nigerian legislators should operate on part time basis to save costs.
Speaking exclusively to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND on the issue, Prof Udoka, who represents Ini/Ikono Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State on the PDP platform, said Soyinka was wrong on the issue.
Udoka said that Soyinka does not understand the intricacies of governance and should not make statements that are not practicable in the current political dispensation.
The lawmaker pointed out that it was not possible for Nigerian lawmakers to operate on part-time basis when their counterparts of the United States of America, which serves as the model of Nigeria’s presidential system, are on fulltime practice.
Udoka? asked Soyinka to learn to respect other people’s opinion, accusing him of making statements on issues he was not conversant with.
“Soyinka has not been a lawmaker before and may not appreciate the difficulties in passing a bill.
“He is a professor; he is a Nobel Laureate.? But he does not have the grasp, the intricacies of governance.? He does not know what it entails for a bill to be passed.? He has not had that experience before and he cannot claim to be a Jack of all trade,” Udoka said.
Soyinka had last Monday at a town hall meeting organised by the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) in Lagos urged the country’s leadership to urgently reform the nation’s governmental framework as a means of averting mass revolt in the country.
Soyinka in his 45 minutes remark at the meeting entitled “Endemic corruption:? The bane of good governance, said “This wasteful cycle in government must stop.? I think the people in power can see what the people can do.? They should not wait for them to see what would happen next when the people are pushed to the wall.? We are talking about a systemic approach to reforming the country.
The present presidential system that we are currently practicing is too expensive,” he submitted.