Should Nigeria go back to parliamentary system of government?

Recently, the House of Representatives passed the first reading of a bill that seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution to change the system of government from presidential to parliamentary. Daily Trust Saturday sought the views of Nigerians on the matter.   Charles Onwuka, 38, Engineer, Ikeja, Lagos State There is no doubt that many politicians […]

Recently, the House of Representatives passed the first reading of a bill that seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution to change the system of government from presidential to parliamentary. Daily Trust Saturday sought the views of Nigerians on the matter.

 

Charles Onwuka, 38, Engineer, Ikeja, Lagos State

There is no doubt that many politicians love the presidential system of government as they remain the singular beneficiaries. The parliamentary system should be reverted to so that the welfare of our people can be improved upon.

 

Terkule Aorabee Gagajav, 53, Teacher, Jalingo, Taraba State

Nigeria under a parliamentary system will eliminate the skirmishes between the presidency and the legislature which have been responsible for all the setbacks we experienced in the last three years. Under parliamentary system, we are likely to have reduced cost of governance and political frictions will be reduced.

 

Aderayo Adesoye, 27, Lawyer, Lagos

Nigeria shouldn’t return to parliamentary government. It won’t be fine as a party or a coalition of parties with the greatest representatives form the government, then the party with small representation will be shut out and they will become voiceless as representatives of their people thereby rumpling on the rights of those (citizens) they are representing because their percentage in the parliament is lower.

 

Rev. Fr. Austin Agbaru, 43, Clergy, Chanchangi, Taraba State

I’m in favour of parliamentary system. It is yielding results for other countries. Meanwhile, since we are practicing presidential system, the tenets of the system should be strictly adhered to as is obtained in advanced countries with the system.

 

Godwin Evans Chukwu, 29, Engineer, Abuja

We are operating the presidential system of government, no need of changing, let’s continue the system and learn more from it. It took America a long time before they achieved greatness, so if we tarry we can reach there. The problem with the states is that they rely more on the federal for revenue instead of acting like the states in America, which generate revenue for themselves. What’s the essence of jumping to another system when you don’t know how to make it work, let’s put our heads together and fix or try to fix this one first.

 

Ibrahim Garba (GOC), 44, Politician, Abuja

No two ways about it. Parliamentary system is better as there will be less wastage of resources. The head of government can also come from “minority” tribes as he or she would be elected in parliament. Women will also have equal opportunity of aspiring to the highest office in the land.

 

Hon Basari Columba, 43, Politician, Ganye, Adamawa State

With the presidential system, so much power is concentrated at the centre thereby rendering the federating units ineffective and inefficient. It easily gives room to negative governmental variables like dictatorship, fascism and authoritarianism.