A chieftain of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Opadokun, has called on President Bola Tinubu to take steps to restructure Nigeria, saying the nation is long overdue to return to the parliamentary system of government, which Nigeria practised at independence in 1960.
Daily Query reports that Nigeria operated the parliamentary system of government, which it inherited from Britain, its colonial master, at independence, from 1960 t0 1966 when the military took over power in a bloody coup d’etat and a counter coup d’etat.
Under the parliamentary system, the country had three regions — the East, North and West — each with enough autonomy to operate its own own constitution and development paradigms.
However, at the return of civil rule in 1979, the country jettisoned the parliamentary system and adopted the American presidential system, which has since come to be seen by many as too expensive and too centralised for a country that is as diverse as Nigeria, hence the persistent calls for the structuring of the country to grant the federated units the level of autonomy as would make them operate independent of the centre in more ways than one.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) earlier today (Sunday, August 18, Opadokun, Secretary-General of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Opadokun said re-adopting the parliamentary system of government would address governance and development challenges confronting the country.
He recalled that during the First Republic when the parliamentary system of government was in operation, Nigeria fared well in all the indices of good governance and development, insisting that the present presidential system was imposed on the country by the military and has been a stumbling block ever since to the realisation of the nation’s aspirations.
“It is important to note that NADECO has been advocating the country’s return to the parliamentary form of government even before Tinubu became the president,” the Ekiti-born political activist said.
“It was the military that abrogated the federal constitution when they captured Nigeria in 1966.
“They later foisted upon us an executive presidential system that is only practised in the U.S. They didn’t give enough thought to what they did.
“One of the important things that should be done by the present administration is to return Nigeria to the constitutional governance upon which we secured our independence,” he said.
Opadokun said the parliamentary system of government guaranteed the efficient use of resources of the different regions of the country when it was practised.
“Also, the parliamentary system is cost- effective and makes leadership responsible to the citizens,” he added.
Opadokun said he had no quarrel with the concept of restructuring, noting that some of the problems restructuring seeks to address would be taken care of with the return of the parliamentary system of government.
The Afenifere chieftain said he believes Tinubu has what it takes to deliver good governance to the country, noting that Tinubu has “great economic expertise” and urged him to deploy it quickly to lift the country out of the present economic doldrums.
Opadokun, however, stressed that returning the country to the parliamentary system could be done by the president, given his political experience and his electoral promise that he would do his best for the country.
“He knows what we fought for, but he should not leave the constitutional issue till he has accomplished his economic turnaround, which is a bread-and-butter matter.
“It also necessary and important, but the much more fundamental matter is a return to the federal constitutional arrangement upon which we secured our independence.
“That is the only thing that will put his name in gold because Nigerians did not request a centralised form of governance,” he said.
Daily Query/NAN
