A former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president, Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), yesterday identified “big issues” the presidential candidates must take on board.

They include the challenge of a legitimate constitution, restructuring, and the need to strengthen the local government system.

How to address the lack of unity, disorder, insecurity and weak legal institutional and regulatory framework must also engage the candidates, Agbakoba said.

He highlighted budget deficit, rising debt and shrinking revenue as economic issues that must be addressed.

Agbakoba spoke at the presentation of “Policy report 2022: Big issues for the 2023 General Elections” during a briefing in Lagos.

He co-authored the report with an Associate Partner at Olisa Agbakola Legal (OAL), Collins Okeke.

According to them, a legitimate constitution is the most vital part of a political framework, while there must be inclusivity, authority, validity, and legitimacy for it to succeed.

“Previous attempts at constitution-making have failed on the issue of legitimacy because the Constitution is generally perceived as imposed by the military.

“This issue ought to engage the attention of all the presidential candidates.

“Prof. Ben Nwabueze suggested that in order to confer legitimacy there is a need to engage leaders of subnational ethnicities (the Ohaneze, Arewa, Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, etc).

“This is because they are the owners of Nigeria. Before the amalgamation, they existed and still exist today.

“These leaders enjoy confidence and can help confer legitimacy to a new people’s constitution,” the authors said.

On power devolution, Agbakoba and Okeke said Nigeria’s federalism is over-centralised, which they said explains the continued agitation for political restructuring.

They added that restructuring must resolve three key issues: what the federating units are, how to ensure fair fiscal federalism/revenue sharing, and how to ensure that power rotates fairly and inclusively to avoid threats that general elections generate every four years.

“State governments have no power. It is suggested that massive devolution of powers from the Federal to the state governments is vital,” they said.

On how to strengthen the local government system, Agbakoba and Okeke said this can be achieved through the principle of subsidiarity, which entails ensuring that governance is delivered at the lowest level.

They highlighted the security challenge as another big issue, especially as it poses an existential threat to the country.

“Nigeria has spent over $ 1 trillion on security with no significant result.

“Nigeria needs a completely new security architecture, a smart Army, Navy, coast guard, and a revamped National Intelligence Agency.

“Nigeria also needs to massively deploy satellite technology for intelligence.

“Satellite technology and drones have the capacity to produce a detailed mapping of Nigeria, especially the security-challenged areas like the Sambisa Forest,” they said.

The authors suggested many ways the Federal Government can boost revenue.

“It is our view that what is needed are innovative and transformational tools to generate revenue.

“In the job we have done as public sector lawyers, we believe Nigeria can internally generate N100 trillion without borrowing,” they said.

This, they said, can be done by exploiting the opportunities in trade policy and local content, aviation, land administration, agriculture, mining, oil and gas, and maritime.

According to them, maritime is “potentially the largest economic sector outside oil and gas”.

“Nigeria’s maritime sector is estimated to be capable of generating N7 trillion annually and four million jobs over five years,” they said.

The lawyers called for justice sector reforms, among many other recommendations.

“It is our hope that this report will contribute to the political and economic transformation of Nigeria,” they said. (The Nation)

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