Former chairman of the Bwari Area Council, Mr. Musa Dikko, has attributed Nigeria’s governance issues to flaws in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In an interview on AIT, and monitored by the Africa Health Report (AHR) in Abuja, Friday, Dikko argued that the constitution hampers effective local government functioning.
“The root of our governance problems lies in the faulty constitution,” Dikko said. “We need policies that reflect the needs of our people and environment, beyond what the current constitution allows.”
Dikko expressed support for the President’s initiative to form a 10-man committee to address these issues. “We’ve been practicing local government systems since 1976. It’s perplexing that local governments today lack constitutional guarantees to execute projects effectively,” he noted.
He highlighted the need for constitutional reform to remove operational bottlenecks. “Local governments are not fulfilling their roles as expected, particularly in areas like primary education and healthcare, which are crucial for community development,” Dikko added.
Referring to recent local government activities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dikko praised efforts to rehabilitate schools despite constitutional limitations. “The FCT minister recently mentioned projects to improve 20 schools, even though local governments lack a formal mandate for such initiatives,” he said.
Dikko stressed the importance of revising the constitution to enable better governance and prevent future unrest. “We must reform the constitution to reflect the realities of our governance structure and avoid further economic and social turmoil,” he concluded.
