Afenifere, Ohanaeze welcome move
The move to restructure Nigeria began yesterday as the bill sponsored by 71 lawmakers to amend the 1999 Constitution and return Nigeria to the parliamentary system of government passed the first reading in the House of Representatives.
Addressing the media, 22 of the 71 sponsors picked holes in the presidential system of government saying it has not given Nigeria the best leadership.
They said they were collecting more signatures and expressed optimism that to get the mandatory two-thirds majority needed to facilitate a constitution amendment that would see Nigeria return to parliamentary system of government.
Their spokesman, Mr. Nicholas Ossai (Delta, PDP), said the aim was to bring about better fusion of government and foster harmony between the executive and the legislature.
“Seventy-one of us sponsored that bill. Our position in this legislation clearly points to compelling advantages of a parliamentary system of government to economic growth and development, as well as its inherent efficiency in the conduct of government business.
“Studies have shown that countries run by presidential regimes consistently produce; lower output growth, higher and more volatile inflation and greater income inequality relative to those under parliamentary ones.”
“Little wonder the rich continue to be richer while the poor get poorer and we have become the poverty capital of the world,” he said.
He said the presidential system was responsible for slow passage of legislation, high unemployment, political and economic instability.
“There are countless empirical records, which show that output growth under presidential regimes is in zero points (negative) while output growth under parliamentary systems clocks from one point and above (positive). Great Britain is an example. France is another example. Australia is also an example of countries with high positive output.
“Even when Nigeria was practising it in 1960, if you see the output and the growth in terms of employment rate that Nigeria witnessed, you will marvel but the military took over and gave us the presidential system of government in 1979, and that system has not increased any economic benefit for our country.
“In 1983, the military struck again, and came back in 1999 to impose a constitution with presidential system of government that has been complex; a system that the bureaucracies are in two key areas. There is the Presidency. Under the Presidency you will see a lot of agencies within the bureaucratic setting, different from the civil service bureaucracy. You could see that the result of this is a high cost in governance.
“In countries run by presidential systems inflation is on average six per cent point higher than those under parliamentary regimes. Income inequalities under presidential systems are worse when compared with that of parliamentary or hybrid systems of government.
“Presidential regimes consistently produce less favourable macroeconomic outcomes, which prevail in a wide range of circumstances (the Nigerian example).
“Due to the excessive powers domiciled to one man under the presidential systems, consensus building that is often required for economic decision is always lacking. Economies of nations are known to thrive on the confidence of investors to the system and character of the government.
“The level of instability and volatility of presidential systems makes it difficult to achieve these economic objectives. The over centralisation of government decisions that are prevalent in presidential systems obstructs economic development when compared to the parliamentary or hybrid systems,” he said.
He said the anomalies are currently experience as the country readies for the 2019 elections.
“Such volatility is evidenced by sharper electoral cycles under presidential regimes than that of parliamentary systems as presidential regimes are often not conducive to consensus building which is known to have favourable effects on the economy.”
He contended that parliamentary system will bring about quicker passage of economic bills due to the fusion of power that it embodies.
“The decentralisation of powers in parliamentary systems helps to douse tensions in countries (like Nigeria) where ethnicity, race, religious differences and ideological divisions are prevalent thereby promoting peace and unity which are ingredients for economic growth and development,” said Ossai.
Supporting the move, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere described the sponsors of the bill as the “true representatives of the people.”
“Those members of the House of Representatives are true representatives of the people and history will be very kind to them.
“The presidential system has killed Nigeria, it is too expensive and it is the major source of corruption in Nigeria today.
“If you say you want to become a president under this system, the whole country is your constituency. On Election Day, you will need 119, 973 agents. If you give them N5, 000 each, that is N6 billion. Where will an honest man get that?
“That is why there is a lot influence of illicit money in our elections and it will remain so until we go back to parliamentary system.
“Under parliamentary system, if you want to be a Prime Minister of Nigeria, you just contest in your constituency and go and negotiate the rest at the parliament.
“If we go back to parliamentary system, the best of Nigeria will come out. The coming election is already rigged against so many people who have bright ideas but cannot afford the kind of money our electoral system requires.
“So, it is a good move by those federal lawmakers. Even if they don’t win today, we will get there one day. Kudos to them,” said Afenifere spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin.”
Also reacting, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo said the lawmakers’ position tallies with the groups clamour for restructuring.
Spokesman for the group, Mr. Uche Achi-Okpaga described the decision of the legislators as a welcome development said: “Their (the lawmakers’) position tallies with what we have been saying in Ohanaeze. Restructuring has a lot of connotations. If you changed a ruling party, you have restructured.
“This time, some legislators have come together to offer a solution. If we adopt it, we have restructured the system.
“If we go back to parliamentary system, we have restructured the system. Once it is no longer presidential, it is restructuring.
“It has always been our argument that until we restructure Nigeria, it will never be the same. There will continue to be agitations, misgivings and a lot of contentions.
“These lawmakers have admitted that there is something wrong and they are looking for a solution. Until the right solution is arrived at, people will continue to proffer different opinions.
If the national assembly sees merit in it and adopt it, so be it. That means we have restructured the system.”
With ThisDay, The Punch reports
