17th February, 2012
Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, GOS, has said that for regional economic integration to be a reality in the Southwest, there is the need to review the 1999 Constitution to remove the impediments on the way of the agenda.
GOS said this while delivering a lecture at the maiden Legislative Summit on Southwest integration, organised by Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation, in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, recently.
In the lecture entitled: “The law as a tool for development”, the legislator said the key to regional integration is devolution of power, stressing that the Federal Government should share some critical items on the Exclusive List with the states.
The former member of the House of Representatives, who represents Lagos West District in the Senate, said the lopsided federal structure and over-concentration of power in the centre, are constraints to regional autonomy and growth.
He said Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) legislators at the federal and state levels must be guided by the philosophy of the party in responding to the challenge of the regional economic integration.
“We as the legislature, both federal and state, are guided by the position of our party and will use the opportunity of the oncoming review of the constitution to push for the entrenchment of true federalism, devolution of powers, state police, as well as the re-adjustment of the revenue sharing formula among others.
“When the Federal Government devolves some of its powers in the zone, the states in the zone will have more leeway in properly articulating and implementing its development agenda. It will also, as a natural consequence, lead to access to more funds, which will be used to fund its projects and programmes.
“I urge that this summit should be used to harmonise all the positions of the various meetings held by the respective governors in the zone, as well as the proposals that have been made by different groups with regard to the integration and development of the region to ensure that we come up with one single document which will act as the basis upon which the various legislatures in the zone will act upon.” The former chairman of the old Mushin Local Government called for unity of purpose among the states in the zone, stressing that it is critical to the achievement of the dream. He assured that ACN lawmakers would create a legal framework that would assist the development of the region.