TheCable

Ango Abdullahi, chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has expressed support for the bill seeking to introduce the parliamentary system of government to the country.

The bill, which is sponsored by 60 lawmakers, passed the first reading at the house of representatives last week.

Nigeria currently practices a presidential system of government.

In a presidential system, the citizens directly elect the president, whereas, in a parliamentary system, the legislature appoints a prime minister, with a less defined separation of powers.

Speaking in Abuja on Friday, Abdullahi said as a Nigerian who witnessed the first republic legislature, the parliamentary system of government worked for the country.

He said the presidential system of government has failed to “move Nigeria forward” over the past 24 years.

“If you are talking of failure of the system, it’s totally unfair to say that the parliamentary system failed in Nigeria. It did not. Only that it has not been given sufficient time,” he said.

“So, my personal position is that I’m 100 percent 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.

“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 happened since 1960 till date.

“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 but the present leadership is 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.

“The presidential system is not a suitable system. This is my personal opinion.”

Also speaking, Wale Raji, a member of the house of representatives representing the Epe federal constituency of Lagos, said the presidential system of government is “expensive” for the nation.

The lawmaker said the current system has “hindered the desired” economic development that the country deserves.

Raji, who is the co-sponsor of the bill, said the presidential system is “too cumbersome” and has not “led us to derive the benefit of true democracy”.

On his part, Abdulsamad Dasuki, a member representing Kebbe/Tambuwal federal constituency, said the target of the bill is to implement the parliamentary system in phases.

“What we are trying to do for Nigeria is to build Nigeria for Nigerians looking at our peculiarities,” Dasuki said.