Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has made it clear that the devolution of more power to the states will enable them control more of their resources and make more of their own administrative decisions such as creation of Local Governments; state and community police, including the state prisons; creation of special courts and tribunals of equivalent jurisdiction to high courts.

Professor Osinbajo, who spoke today, Saturday, at the third Anniversary of the 8^th Assembly of the Lagos State House of Assembly, stressed: “thepoint I am making is that states must have more powers and more rights.”
He said that he had decided to choose a topic: ‘Stronger states and the eradication of poverty’ because of the recognition of the fact that the legislature is no longer, in modern democracies, an island, adding that it is the crucial gateway and interlocutor to the most important concerns of the electorates.

“In our case, the Nigerian electorate and those concerns revolve around simple issues. How do we survive, how do we make a living for ourselves? That is the central question of what occupies government; that is what occupies the legislature in this centre of government.
“Perhaps the most important business of governments today is the creation of an environment that conduces to reduction of poverty by the creation of wealth, jobs and opportunities. It is my thesis that the most important structural change we can make in Nigeria is to speedily eradicate poverty and this is best achieved by stronger States, by creating stronger states, and by states I mean, the legislature which is the centre of the state including the executive and the judiciary.
“Nigeria is a Federation of 36 sub-nationals and a Federal Capital Territory. The people, land, the busineses, the schools and healthcare facilities are all in the states. It is simply impossible for the nation to be wealthy when its component parts are poor. The standard of living of the federation depends on the standard of living of people who live in the states.”
Vice President Osinbajo said that one of the two streams of thoughts he had in mind is the fact that poverty can be eradicated and that a better standard of living and improved development indices are possible by actions of States.
The second one, he said, is that to achieve these objectives, Nigeria needs stronger states, defining the concept of a strong state as institutions that must work proactively and creatively as independent administrative and wealth producing economic entities.
“The first is that states could by law of the State House of Assembly create their own local governments. However, after the creation by law the state would have to go a step further by submitting returns to the National Assembly which in turn would list the new local government areas to be in the Constitution. It is because the state can create its own local governments that the Lagos state government at the time took the position that it could hold elections into the LCDAs that it created without any other law. But in consultation again with the State House of Assembly we agreed to create a special which is an LCDA law to empower the LCDAs not only to function administratively but to be capable of rendering the sort of services that local governments render. The important point to be made is that after the Supreme Court had said that we had the right to create local governments we have not back tracked on that since then and even up till today, state governments have maintained that position.
“The second is that the Constitution intends that everything relating to local government must be in the province of the State Government rather than in that of the Government of the Federation. The National Assembly has no power whatsoever under any provision of the Constitution, to increase or alter the tenure of the elected officers of the Local Government Councils.  Only the House of Assembly of a state has such power.
“The third point is that a state has exclusive legislative and executive authority over urban and regional planning functions. Even with respect to federal lands in states, the Federal Government must seek building or other development control permits from the state. It is to the effect that the state has exclusive authority to make laws on urban and regional planning. Even where federal land is concerned the Federal Government must seek permission from the state.
“The fourth is that the President has no power however good his reasons may be to seize or withhold the statutory allocation of a state or local government.”

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that one of the ways to eliminate corruption and promote business integrity is for the government to review the public procurement policies.

Obasanjo, at the 6th Annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on Business Integrity, entitled: “The Role of Business Integrity in National Transformation,” in Lagos identified procurement process as the largest source of leakage.

According to him, awards of contracts, supply, service contracts and others are usually loaded with provisions for bribes and kickbacks.

Obasanjo identified poor investment, poverty, infrastructure decay, institutional inefficiency and wide range of socio-economic crisis as some of the negative consequences of corrupt practices and lack of integrity in public and private businesses.

“As Africans, we need to look inward, we need value and reorientation that is anchored  on our virtues of truthfulness, hospitality, respect, honesty, obedience  and patriotism.

“And as a matter of urgent national emergency, Nigeria must re-invigorate efforts to reform public procurement policies, especially the Public Procurement Act which regulates public procurement and aim to minimise the abuse of processes, rules and standards in the awards and execution of public sector contracts.

“I will also recommend that we adopt a code of ethics in doing business in Nigeria and ensure a framework to make it work,” he said.

“Integrity is the foundation of leadership as there are no moral shortcuts in the game of business and life.

“We need integrity in the public and private business and it must start at the top. Organisations and public institutions must run their businesses in a forthright manner.

“Make integrity the heart and soul of your business culture.

“If the entrepreneur does not have integrity, others who walk with him or her will definitely falter and the society will also suffer for his self-centredness and misconduct.”

He said that if the operating structure of the government is transparent,  accountable and operate against the backdrop of genuine transformation, economic ventures and investments would sprout and the national reserve will swell, good planning will see public infrastructure booming and becoming reliable.

“When justice rules a nation, everyone is glad; when injustice rules everyone groans. Show me a righteous ruler and I will show you a happy people and a wholesome society,” noted.

Obasanjo said that Kolade had distinguished himself as an icon of integrity and transparency throughout his career in the corporate world as well as national and international assignments.

He urged Nigerians to adopt the lifestyle of Kolade to transform and rebuild the country.

Also, Dr Christopher Kolade, a former Nigerian High Commissioner to the U.K., urged Nigerians to uphold the virtue of integrity in their dealings to make Nigeria a better country.

“This kind of gathering gives us the encouragement to believe that no matter the difficulties,  there is hope that things can be better.

“God has created in us the capacity to practice integrity — to know right from wrong and to chose right over wrong.

“Although there is a cost or a price to pay for that moral courage to do what is right and stand for what is right, even when you are standing alone.

“But there is a rebuilding of the spirit in you that makes you feel stronger to face whatever is coming.

“I encourage us to always uphold integrity, doing what is right because if you do what is wrong, someone is going to pay a price they do not need to pay.

”And if many of us are not very pleased with where we are now as a nation and we want to see genuine national transformation,  we need to persevere in doing what is right.

“Upholding integrity is a life long race because in the end, not only does it do you some good personally but that is the best contribution to the building of the nation,” Kolade said.

In her address, Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Chairperson, Governing Board of Integrity, said that lack of integrity had a grave human and future cost.

“Lack of integrity which is driving corruption in our country is an issue we must overcome, not just for our businesses but also for our nation.

“We cannot give up, we have a country to build and a future to secure for our children. This is why we are having this lecture.

“As organisers of this event, we are committed to carrying on the legacies of Prof. Kolade who has helped to build many credible institutions in the country,” she said. (NAN)

The lecture was organized by the Convention on Business Integrity Ltd., an anti-corruption, research and advocacy organisation concerned with issues of accountability and transparency in public and private sector.