ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Former political adviser to President Shehu Shagari, Pat Utomi, a professor has called for a Parliamentary system of government in Nigeria.Ā
According to him, there is a need for genuine commitment to a transition from the current presidential to a parliamentary system.
The professor of Political Economy made the call while speaking with the Punch on Sunday.
He stated this against the backdrop of ongoing consultation by 60 members of the House of Representatives seeking amendments and alterations of relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution to usher in a parliamentary model of government.
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Utomi also argued that any system, be it presidential or parliamentary, was workable in Nigeria if the leaders are honest enough to drive it with the general interest of the people at heart.
The Labour Party chieftain said the present crop of Nigerian leaders allowed themselves to be driven by the quest for personal possession, stressing that leadership was about the betterment of the vast majority rather than a privileged few.
He said, āIt is true that systems have consequences. A parliamentary system is much cheaper to run than a presidential system; even the nature of canvassing for the office which is the root of the corruption, is different.
āIn terms of accountability, it is easier to hold people accountable in the parliamentary system because the government can fall at any time. Once there is a vote of no confidence, the government falls and a new government has to emerge. But in the presidential system, the person holds you hostage for four years and you canāt hold them to account.ā
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The LP chieftain also stated that in normal climes, former governors in the land ought to be serving jail terms owing to their insatiate appetite for personal comfort at the expense of public resources.
This is even as he praised Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, who two weeks ago, signed into law the Abia State of Nigeria Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Repeal Law, 2024.
With the new law, past governors and deputy governors of the South-East State are no longer entitled to the jumbo pension they have been enjoying for years.
āWe can see what Governor Otti has just done in reversing the pension that his predecessors gave to themselves. In any normal country, all these former governors would be in jail. You take public resources, after the office and all you stole, you still keep a parasitic relationship with the state in the name of pension.
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āA man who worked for 30 years with the government, how much is his pension? You came and after your tenure, you are giving yourself pension; because you are what, because you did what? Nigeria is decayed, rotted deeply inside,ā Utomi added.
On his part also, the former Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Anthony Sani, stated that the trouble with Nigeria was not the system of government in practice.
He added that to get it right, a cultural rebirth was necessary.
Sani noted that the parliamentary system is more cost-effective to run than the presidential model, and advocated a return to national values and orientation to kickstart a new Nigeria.