A member of the House of Representatives, Abiodun Balogun??on Tuesday, said?the call to? rewrite the ?constitution should be seen as a legitimate call that would enable? Nigerians make their inputs.
Balogun, who?made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN )??in Abuja,?said those calling for a new constitution had a genuine reason for doing that,?since the current constitution was drafted without contributions?from most Nigerians.
He, however, said that any decision to draw up ?a new constitution?should follow ?a resolution of the National Assembly as well as inputs from Nigerians.
“Drafting of a new constitution is a decision that should be taken by the whole National Assembly and Nigerians as a whole.
“But even if we are drawing up ?a new one, we are still going to rely on aspects of the?existing ?constitution.
“If we do a new one, we will also come tomorrow and amend it, because constitutional amendment is a continuous?exercise ?all over the world,’’ Balogun said.
He noted that the? 1999? constitution? (as amended ) ?was not perfect due to some loopholes, saying however that there was no?law that?was perfect in its entirety.
“Nigerian constitution may not be perfect , but at least we are making progress.??For now, if we have a situation where we can?draw up a better constitution,?I?am for it,” he ?said.
On the Central Bank of Nigeria's plan to ?introduce N5,000 note into the nation's economy, the lawmaker?said that it was “a wrong and contradictory policy.”
He queried the? CBN’s rationale for ?introducing??N5, 000 note haven said? it wanted a cash less economy.
“What we need now as done all over the world is encouraging money transfer, so we should even be working to discourage the idea of carrying cash , and that is even the essence of the CBN cashless policy.
“We don’t need it, (N5, 000) notes, what the CBN needs to do now?is to pursue a cashless programme.
‘’Let us go bank transfer; with bank transfer, you don’t need to carry cash, you can transfer money ?from your account and then do your businesses,’’ he said
He?noted that?the disadvantages of the new notes outweigh the merits.
The lawmaker said?the newly introduced notes could be used to perpetrate?corruption and money laundry among other? social vices.
He urged the CBN to jettison the idea of the new notes as ?it might not achieve its objective in the long run. ( NAN )