Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abdulrazaq Atunwa, has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to conduct a referendum among members of the State Houses of Assembly who are representatives of the people on the issue of the removal of subsidy on petroleum products to enable him get the true feelings of majority of Nigerians.

Hon. Atunwa, who is aspiring to be the chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria in the proposed December election of the conference, in an interview with journalists in Ilorin, yesterday, believed that it was through the houses of assembly that the Federal Government could get the true views of the people of Nigeria on the issue.

He said: "My candid piece of advice for Mr. President is that to get the true opinion of the Nigerians, Mr. President should conduct a referendum.

"If he does not want to conduct a direct referendum, I believe he should do a referendum by balloting of all members of the state Houses of Assembly throughout Nigeria.

"Each one of the state Houses of Assembly in the federation represent a constituency and represent each and everyone of the constituents in Nigeria."

Atunwa said although he appreciates all the sides to the argument on the subsidy removal among Nigerians, he, however, commended President Jonathan on the plan to engage in a town hall style debate on the issue across the length and breadth of the country towards getting people's understanding.

Atunwa also said though in theory state police was advisable and desirable in any federal system, but that Nigeria was not quite matured yet to have that sort of apparatus.

residing in the hands of the state, owing to peculiar nature of our democratic development.

According to him ,"Already, executives at the state level have enormous power. The issue of police is premature for now, you cannot discard that slight element of some governors misusing that sort of power if placed in their hands. Vast majority of our governors, I must say, are sensible with a reasonable attitude towards governance. But we are not there yet in our democratic development".

The Speaker also bemoaned what he described as the present state of insecurity in the country but commended the twin-approach employed by the federal government in finding the perpetrators of the acts of violence on one hand and on the other hand, seeing how every underlining cause could be resolved.

Atunwa also canvassed for financial autonomy for the houses of assembly, to enable them perform their legislative duties effectively and bring dividends of democracy to the door steps of the electorates, stressing that a situation where the house is dependent on the executive for financial allocation is undemocratic and should be discouraged.