Popular Nigerian comedian Ali Baba has stated that the Nigerian constitution is 'not actually a constitution.'
He recently appeared as a guest on the Sunrise Show on Channels Television, where he spoke on Nigeria's "orientation issues." Part of the issues he highlighted in the interview was Nigeria's constitution, which he stressed was a "big problem."
The comic said, "Our constitution is the biggest problem we have now; it’s an anomaly, it’s not actually a constitution; it’s something that some people drafted, and got some lawyers to knock it together because the constitution doesn’t speak to the growth and national development of our country."
Ali Baba also spoke on Nigeria's growth and suggested that the government should allow each state to have its autonomy.
“The truth is if you want this country to grow, let each state generate its own revenue. The Federal Government can assist them if they want to but the funds and revenue that come from certain states should not be shared with every other person," he said.
Between the years 1967 to 1996, the Nigerian military scrapped the regions previously established and created 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). And from those 36 states, 774 local government areas were created. However, Ali Baba expressed his view that some states were created just to appease some military officers.
"Oh, this guy is a senior military officer, he comes from this area, we can’t give him a state now, let’s just create a state and take care of those people. Or the issue of we want to create four states in the north, let’s just balance it with some states in the south so that it will look deliberate because some of the states that were created needed to be local governments," he said.