*Insists presidential system not working
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The Convener of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has backed the ongoing legislative campaign for Nigeria’s return to parliamentary system of government.
Abdullahi, who expressed his support yesterday in Abuja, commended members of the House of Representatives who sponsored the bills seeking for the adoption of a parliamentary system led by Hon. Abdulsamad Dasuki and Hon. Wale Raji who visited him at his residence.
He was of the opinion that the parliamentary system of government as practised in 1963 was not given sufficient time to thrive in the country.
Abdullahi posited that the current presidential system of government has failed to yield desired results over the past 24 years.
He said: “If you are talking of the failure of the system, it’s totally unfair to say that the parliamentary system failed in Nigeria. It has not. Only that it has not been given sufficient time.
“So, my personal position is that, I’m 100 per cent against the presidential system of government, it’s an unsuitable system not only for Nigeria, but any country that is in this reckless, greedy Western world. Because the democracy the Western world is trying to force down the throat of every nation in the world is to serve their interest. And check honestly, academically, materially and so on, see what has happened since 1960 till date.
“For me, if I’m going to react to your visit, I’ll react in two ways. The first level is my own personal conviction. I’m a product of the First Republic and I cherished being that product. As a teacher who marks exams from A1 to failure, I’ll mark the Pioneer Leaders as A1, up to the present leadership F10.
“So, when the military came and insisted that we should abandon what was kicked out in 1966, I think was the first major mistake this country ran into up till now.”
“For 24 years now, you just show me where the presidential system succeeds in terms of moving Nigeria forward? A country with 200 million that is generating 4,000 megawatt of electricity. 4,000 megawatt is not enough for a big house in Europe?”
Earlier, Raji was of the opinion that the cost of governance and election is higher under the presidential system of government than the parliamentary system of government.
He said: “The presidential system of government is quite expensive for our economic situation and it has hindered the desired economic development that the country deserves.
“We also discovered that it’s too cumbersome and it has not really led us to derive the benefit of true democracy unlike what is obtained in the parliamentary system of government where the cost of governance is reduced.
“The government is closer to the people and accountable. We are all aware of the fact that the Prime Minister is from the parliament and there’s regular interaction and it promotes accountability and the cost of running our elections, if you look at since 1999, how much the presidential election apart from the individual running for the position, the cost to the country but under the parliamentary that will be drastically reduced.”
Raji noted that the parliamentary system of government being advocated would be a homegrown system with Nigerian content so as to suit our situation.
He disclosed that the delegation had earlier interacted with Alhaji Dantata who was a member of the First Republic Parliament, as well as Chief Bisi Akande who pledged their support.
On his part, Dasuki said part of their proposals have a bill on Local Government, another on state, and another for federal. .
According to him, “In one of our proposals, by God’s grace, in the year 2027, we would like to kickstart with full autonomy and implementation of local government itself, so that we can be well-guided. That was why you must have heard in the papers the commencement date.
