Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has stated that Nigeria will not witness economic growth that will benefit the people as long as the political class continues to mismanage the country.
She revealed that the country’s monopolistic democracy, which is not about the number of political parties but about the prevailing political ideology of a few people from the ruling class, is harmful to the poor masses.
On Monday, Ezekwesili spoke at a virtual conference she organized called #TheFixPolitics/Dialogue, which pointed at the title ‘1999 Constitution: To Change or Amend’
While analyzing the history of FixPolitics, a non-governmental organization she co-founded to solve the paradox of Nigerian democratic existence, the ex-Vice President of the World Bank’s Africa Region, said there is a need to raise a new political class in Nigeria.
“In the course of my studies, I realised there are key ideas between democracy and governance. And in our own case (in Nigeria) the absence of good governance is the greatest obstacle to Nigeria’s economic development.
“The economic development of this country among other things is affected by the monopolistic democracy. The monopolistic democracy is not about the number of political parties present, but the dominant political culture at play.
“There is an urgent need to raise a new order of political class. We have to mobilise people with the awareness of raising the matter of new constitution,” Ezekwesili said.
Remi Sonaiya, a former Presidential candidate, called for a new Nigerian constitution in her speech.
She advocated for a forum that would include the majority of the population in creating a people-oriented constitution to replace the country’s existing 1999 Constitution.
“There have been submissions, but there is a constant call by the people, and that is a totally new constitution. There has to be a total, radical change to our constitution, not minor adding or subtracting but a total change,” Sonaiya said.
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