Lawyer canvasses part-time for NASS members

A legal practitioner, Francis Onwuachi has said National Assembly should be better run as part time than the way it is currently being run in view of its cost implications.

He said lawmakers in both upper and lower chambers should not be engaged on full time basis, but should have their own jobs and should visit the legislature only when duty calls.

Onwuachi made the assertion at the weekend in Awka, Anambra state, while fielding questions from newsmen on his position on the restructuring as regards local government autonomy.

He maintained that the local governments should be fully autonomous, but added that there should be checks and balances to ensure proper accountability of revenue allotted to them.

Describing the local government as grassroots oriented, the legal practitioner argued that rather than contemplate scrapping it, the National Assembly should be made part time, or better still scrapped.

“If anything should be scrapped, it is the National Assembly. Let it be parttime. When I say part-time, whoever goes there must have a work.

“For instance, I am a lawyer. If I’m going there, I know I would spend few days and go back to my job. Most of them, with due respect, are jobless, they don’t have any other things they are doing,” he added.