Babalola wondered how the country accumulated the external debt, saying that only insane investors would come and put their money in the country.
The legal icon, who spoke while addressing newsmen at the ABUAD campus, said that the humongous debt, increasing cases of kidnapping, killings and other social malaise plaguing the country, were fallouts of “the inappropriate 1999 Constitution,” which was put in place by the military.
“I stand by my suggestion that any election conducted under 1999 Constitution cannot and will not produce new leaders with new ideas. Rather, any election conducted under the 1999 Constitution will merely result in recycling the same people who have brought Nigeria to grinding poverty.
“What the National Assembly needs to do is to propose an Act to amend the current Constitution by substituting the 1960/1963 for the 1999 Constitutions and establish interim government pending the making of the new constitution.
“Our bitter experience since 1999 has taught us that we are in urgent need of a new Constitution, which should provide for stringent conditions, irrespective of age, academic qualifications, character and personality, as well as family background of candidates, especially for Presidency and National Assemblies.”
The ABUAD founder, who said he was ashamed that Nigeria was labelled the poverty capital of the world, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow a leaf from former President Olusegun Obasanjo by approaching the creditors to seek either total debt forgiveness or substantial reduction of the debt.
The legal luminary reiterated his earlier call for voluntary donations by rich Nigerians, saying: “Before Nigeria is formally declared bankrupt, it is my view that Nigerian billionaire and trillionaire and other patriotic Nigerians should make voluntary donations through a committee to be set up by the government.”
He noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, notable Nigerians were made to donate in cash and in kind to ameliorate the suffering of the masses, saying that same approach could be used to salvage the nation from the huge debts.
Babalola insisted that those aspiring to lead the country were part of those who brought the country into its current deplorable situation.
