The agitation for a return to the parliamentary system got a boost last week when the House of Representatives passed, for first reading, a bill seeking to transform the presidential system of government to a parliamentary system.
The bill, sponsored by 60 lawmakers, is titled, ‘The Bills proposing constitutional alterations for a transition to parliamentary system of government.’
Briefing newsmen after plenary, the spokesperson for the group, Mr Abdussamad Dasuki, said the proposed alterations, when passed, would significantly impact the national political landscape.
Throwing its weight behind the proposed return with a warning that Nigeria will be damaged irretrievably if she did not dump the current presidential system, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, led by Pa Ayo Adebanjo, said it will curb excesses and wastages in Nigeria.
The other Afenifere group, led by Pa Fasoranti, also backed the move but said the commendate date should be 2027 rather than 2031 as proposed by the lawmakers.
National Publicity Secretary of the Afenifere group, Gboyega Adejuwon, warned that failure to revert to the parliamentary system of government would damage irretrievably the economy of Nigeria.
Adejuwon said: “We of the Afenifere believe that the econometrics of restructuring is to have a fundamentally parliamentarian institution.
“All the achievements that we can hold on to will be the achievements of the First Republic.
“All the success we recorded was that we didn’t have to spend too much money.
“The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo only needed to contest in his Ikenne Constituency to be a member of the Western House of Assembly.
“He may have campaigned for his political party everywhere but he didn’t have to go and seek votes in Ijebu-Ode.
“This simply means that the cost of electioneering is reduced. It is different from what you have today that someone who wants to be governor will have to campaign the length and breathe of the state and in every constituency.
“So, what we want is that reset button back to the way we were in the First Republic. What this simply means is that if someone is spending billions of naira to contest, that money has to be replaced from where it was taken from. That’s the way it works and government treasury suffers for it.
“So, to reduce the cost of running elections, to ensure there is accountability, to provide for a level-playing field and to have the right kind of people attracted, parliamentary system is it. You have the right kind people but they are disadvantaged.
“So, parliamentary system of government is the best. “Apart from that, in the parliamentary system of government, there won’t be duplication of offices.
“If we are going to be truthful in this country, there is too much waste in the system and that simply means we have to plug it. The excesses, at the end of the day, would damage, irretrievably, the economy of this country if we are not careful.
“The best that can happen is for us to go back to the parliamentary system of government.”
We disagree with commencement date – Fasoranti group
But while the Fasoranti-led Afenifere faction backed the National Assembly for waking up to the reality of the need to cut costs of governance and restructure the political system in Nigeria, it disagreed on the take-off date.
The organisation, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Jare Ajayi, was, however, quick to add that while the proposed change in the political system from presidential to parliamentary “is okay, what the country needs now is not just a shift from one system of government to another, there is the fundamental need to have the country returned to the type of arrangement we had before the military incursion in 1966.”
The statement applauded the call for parliamentary system of government but disagreed on the commencement year, saying it took exception to the proposed amendment taking effect from 2031.
“No. This should not be. All legislative works regarding restructuring along with the shift from presidential to parliamentary must take place within the first two or three years of this administration.
“The new law can be test-run in states’ elections that will take place in 2026 while the 2027 general elections must be conducted on the basis of a constitution proclaiming United Regions of Nigeria under a parliamentary system of government. Such a system should be one that confers powers to the constituent parts on matters affecting their respective areas.
