OFUANI ADVOCATES PART TIME STATUS FOR LEGISLATORS

The Functioning General Manager of the Delta Printing and Publishing Company (DPPCL), publishers of the Pointer titles, Mr Celestine Ofuani, has restated the need for legislators to be elected on part-time basis.

Mr Ofuani, made the call today in Asaba at a lecture, ‘Curbing Post-Elections Violence and Promoting Discipline, Unity and Patriotism, which he delivered as a key note speaker at National Orientation Agency (NOA) South South Zonal Sensitization to curb post election violence, other security challenges, and to promote discipline, unity and patriotism.

He argued that the reason there was so much violence associated with election was the over bloated take home pay of politicians; citing legislators as major culprits saying that politics should be made to be far less attractive than what presently prevailed.

He said that for political violence to be checked there was the need for political will to prosecute suspects of political violence to serve as deterrent to others.

The Functioning General Manager also tasked state institutions such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, the mass media, among others, to be strengthened to check abuses and that INEC should be funded independently of the executive arm of government, saying that security agencies should be enlightened on their loyalty to the state rather than the political party in power.

According to Mr Ofuani, “Evidently, the incidence of election violence is high and, because it appears to be escalating, rather than ebbing, there is the urgent need to stem the tide, in the overall interest of the country