A bill to revert the nation’s presidential system to parliamentary system of government was on Thursday laid before the House of Representatives and was passed to the second reading for further legislative action.
The bill, titled “Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (alteration) Bill 2018 (HB 1590)” which was sponsored by Hon Kingsley Chinda and 70 members of the green chamber across the political parties, according to them was to save the cost of governance in the country.
Shortly after its passage, the 71 lawmakers spoke with newsmen on the reasons why Nigerians should jettison the presidential system of government and embrace that of the parliamentary system.
The spokesman for the Group, Hon Ossai Nicholas Ossai disclosed that “our position in this legislation clearly point to compelling advantages of parliamentary systems of government to economic growth and development.”
According to him, “studies have shown that countries run by presidential regimes consistently produce lower output growth and more volatile inflation, slow passage of legislation, high unemployment.
“Political and economic instability and there are countless empirical records which show that output growth under presidential regimes is in zero points (negative) while outgrowth under parliamentary systems clocks from one point and above (positive).
“In countries run by presidential systems, inflation is on average six percentage point higher than those under parliamentary regimes.
“Income inequality under presidential systems are worse when compared with that of parliamentary or hybrid systems of government. Presidential regimes consistently producing less favourable macroeconomic outcomes which prevails in a wide range of circumstances (the Nigerian example).
“Due to the excessive powers domiciled to one man under the presidential systems, consensus building that is often required for economic decision is always lacking.
“Economies of nations are known to thrive on the confidence of investors to the system and character of the government.
“The level of instability and volatility of presidential systems makes it difficult to achieve these economic objectives.
“The over-centralisation of government decisions that are prevalent in presidential systems obstructs economic development when compared to the parliamentary or hybrid systems.
“The point has also been made that too powerful nature of the presidential office, often leads to greater fluctuations in the economy with the change of office. This was witnessed in Nigeria in 2015 and currently being experienced as we prepare for 2019 elections.
“Such volatility is evidenced by sharper electoral cycles under presidential regimes than that of parliamentary systems.
“As Presidential regimes are often not conducive to consensus building which is known to have favourable effects on the economy.”
A prominent member of the group Hon. Tahir Monguno (Borno, APC) who also denounced the presidential system of government lamented that it was very expensive and was not well suited for a plural society such as Nigeria.
In addition, some members of the group such as Hon. Gabriel Onyewife (Anambra, PDP), Hon. Sergius Ogun (Edo, PDP) and Hon. Musa Soba (Kaduna, PDP) also spoke in like manner saying that it is the parliamentary system of government that holds a future filled with hopes for a new generation of Nigerians.
Hon Soba particularly pointed out that if we do not lay a solid foundation for the country, the future generation of citizens of Nigeria would have nothing to hold onto in the nearest future.
