Do we really need 500 legislators? - Emir Sanusi asks, says Nigeria will go bankrupt

- Dethroned emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has sent a warning message to the Nigerian government

- The former first-class monarch said that Nigeria may go bankrupt based on the current structure of governance

- Sanusi, however, noted the country’s current structure of governance is unsustainable

The former emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has said that Nigeria may go bankrupt based on the current structure of governance in the country.

TheCable reports that Sanusi spoke at a webinar hosted by Emmanuel Chapel, with the theme mitigation of the economic impact of COVID-19 and the path to recovery.

It was gathered that Sanusi, who has repeatedly called for the review and reduction of the cost of governance, said the country’s current structure of governance is unsustainable.

He said it has become necessary to start deliberating on how to amend the structure in the face of an economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the government could increase productivity by redeploying personnel from the civil service “where many people do administrative works to areas like education and health care.”

He said the government could increase productivity by redeploying personnel from the civil service “where many people do administrative works to areas like education and health care.”

Now, I’m sure that with the shortfall in revenues and where the oil price is, after debt service, we probably have to borrow to pay salaries. We have got to look at that structure. If you have a company and you have extremely high overheads and you need a high contribution margin to break even, you would be looking at how to reduce cost. 

So, we have a constitution that says we should have a president and a vice-president, we must have a minister from every state of the federation, whether or not it’s 36 ministries; we should have 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives 

It also said we should have 36 governors, 36 deputy governors, each state with its house of assembly and comprising many legislators, 774 local government chairmen, councilors, the personal assistants and special assistants (at all levels), staff members and vehicles. 

Do we need a bicameral legislature; do we need close to 500 legislators in Abuja; do we need the hundreds of state legislators; what are they doing; do we need all these local government chairmen and councilors or do we need to look at that structure?” he said.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng (a news agency) had previously reported that Sanusi reportedly welcomed a baby girl from his 4th wife, Saadatu Barkindo Mustapha, as reported by a local media.

It was reported that Saadatu is said to be an indigene of Adamawa state and got married to the former emir on September 15, 2015.

It should be noted that Sanusi married the woman when she was just 18 years old, an issue that stirred public uproar.