A former Minister of Education and Chief Executive Officer of Human Capital Africa, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, on Thursday knocked the National Assembly over its ongoing constitutional amendment efforts, which she described as a charade and a conduit pipe to waste public funds.

Ezekwesili lamented that Nigeria’s political space, along with much of Africa’s, has been hijacked by what she called a criminal enterprise gang that now dictates the direction of governance in their interest, while the welfare of the larger populace suffers.

The former minister stated this on Thursday in her keynote address, titled “Reworking Nigeria’s Federalism: Perspectives on Restructuring and Fiscal Federalism,” delivered at the 7th Penpushing Anniversary and Annual Lecture in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

She argued that instead of heeding widespread demands for a new constitution capable of correcting imbalances and inequalities in the current system, the National Assembly chose to pursue a process that would yield little or no meaningful change.

Ezekwesili explained that agitations for secession, widespread insecurity, unemployment, poverty, and poor governance could only be addressed through a people-driven constitution that guaranteed devolution of powers, equity, and justice across ethnic and regional lines.