A former governor of Rivers State, Celestine Omehia, has called for urgent restructuring of Nigeria with a new governance model based on geopolitical or zonal provinces.

Mr Omehia made the call during an interview on Sunday in Abuja, while speaking about his new book titled, “Restructuring Nigeria: The Way Forward.”

He said the model, which would replace the existing geopolitical zones, was the centrepiece of the book.

According to him, it will enhance administration, economic power and recognition compared to the former regional system.

He said that each province would be made up of existing states to collectively select a provincial headquarters.

He stated, “I mentioned in the book the issue of geopolitical arrangement, different from what we had as regional arrangement.  That the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria should be named and recognized as provinces, not regions. For instance, we can name the South-South geopolitical zone as South-South province A or whatever province name that will be given to it, and the states that are already existing in these provinces, still remain. All of the states in the South-South will be the members of the province. These states will locate where their headquarters will be.’’

Mr Omehia also proposed abolishing the House of Representatives at the national level, while each province would have “Provincial Legislative Houses.”

He argued that the Senate should be retained.

He added, “Now, the houses of assembly of each of the states, will make laws for the states, as it were. The states, members of the province, will now have a provincial legislative house. The provincial legislative houses will be made of the number of legislators they think will come from each of the states, it may be maybe 20 each. There will be an election to elect these members from these states going into the provincial centre as legislative houses. If the members of the house of representatives are qualified and interested in going for national recognition, they will go for the Senate. Now, at this level, we have Senate only at the national level and the senators will be elected from the province, not the states, again.’’

He said that the arrangement would ensure equal representation at the Senate and reduce the cost of elections and governance.

He stated, “That way we now reduce the number of legislative representations at the centre. If it is reduced, economically it is a beneficial to the federal government and to the states. In fact, the election into this present National Assembly is expensive and would be reduced if we take them from provinces.’’

Mr Omehia said his book also emphasised constitutional amendments to guarantee separation of powers and the independence of the three arms of government.

He recalled the removal of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, by a former president as an example of executive interference in the judiciary.

He said such interference would not have been possible if the constitution provided for equal and independent powers among the arms of government.

“In the book, I suggested that the judiciary should be 100 per cent responsible for the appointment and recognition of the CJN, not by the executive, and not by the legislature. They don’t have anything to do with them because they are separate and independent of each other. If NJC is empowered to operate on their own, they will be able to nominate or come up with a formula of nominating who becomes their head,’’ he said.

Mr Omehia added that the judiciary, as a separate arm of government, should be able to produce and swear in its own leader through a constitutional process.

 (NAN)