With Uche Nnadozie
I think that there is very little work going on with our legislators. Reports last week which indicated that 71 members of the House of Representatives are sponsoring a bill for the country to adopt parliamentary system of government is in bad state. Where did that come from. While it is true that members have the right to advocate and seek to pass any bill of their choice, will be bad for them to do so conscious of the fact that you don’t waste time on a failed project or is this just for grandstanding.
Give it to them this is not the first time that a legislator will call for a change of our political system. Ike Ekwerenmadu called for a switch to parliamentary system last year. Also, several notable Nigerians have called for us to revert to parliamentary system of government in the past. Just that this time, it is not a call but a bill sponsored by active lawmakers who are due for election in less two months time. In the first place, the timing is terribly poor. We are six months to the end of their tenure so they know they can’t achieve anything with this.
Members say they want a parliamentary system because it will crash a bloated presidential system, curb corruption, reduce government expenditure and unify the country, among others. These are lofty goals but that is just what they are goals. I simply can’t fathom why in Nigeria somehow we feel whenever we have a problem making new laws become the solution. We think that laws can obliterate our dysfunction. If we have a bad son, I wonder whether removing the โbadโ before the son will turn the son’s life around. Making a better child is not just by pronouncement. It has to do with work, guidance, counseling, perseverance, etc.
In the first place our democracy is still young. We are in its 20th year. We live in a very poor environment where majority are still scouting for food to eat. We equally live in a chaotic system where the law makers, law interpreters and the executors are themselves stumbling blocks to our progress. You can’t legislate that. In our constitution today, corruption is outlawed, yet corruption is the single most critical encumbrance to our national development. But the sponsors of the bill claim parliamentary system will curb corruption.
Parliamentary systems are usually robust in their debates; but our legislators are dour while in plenary. Much of the time, they don’t attend, when they do they are busy chatting with each other, sleeping and throwing banters.
Uniting our peoples cannot also be legislated. The people are brought together through a common national values, ethos and fortitude. The people are unified via active observance of the rule of law, justice and fair play. You unite the people when everyone is equal before the law. Although our constitution has these in print, however, the operators of the system have elevated themselves beyond the constitution. Our leaders in the three arms of government are constantly seeking ways outside the constitution to circumvent the process. In our country, the law is made for the poor, period! Parliamentary system is not going to change that.
They also talked about bogus government and the expenditure that follows it. One would have thought that if these legislators were sincere, they should have started with themselves. First they can propose to scrap one of the two chambers of the National Assembly. A unicameral legislature is not a bad idea. Secondly they could have proposed cutting National Assembly’s budget by half. You can imagine what an extra N75 billion will do to our 39 federal universities every year. Here they could have just said that members will work on part time basis and be entitled to a sitting allowance not exceeding N50,000. Nothing can curb expenditure better than this.
It is a fallacy for these legislators to think that the first republic was some kind of best practice as far as governance is concerned. Parliamentary system did not do us much good. Much as no system of government is perfect, but looking at what transpired in the first republic I am taken aback at how these legislators paint that era in colours that do not tell the story. In fact, that period was characterized by so much mistrust, crises and was one of the reasons that led to our first coup, counter coup and eventually a civil war.
In his speech announcing the first coup in January 1966, Kaduna Nzeogwu stated clearly that corruption, ethnicity, bad government, etc were the reasons he and his co-conspirators struck. So what are these 2018 legislators now saying?
You can claim that those ills have multiplied over time; sure, even the country has equally grown. The military did a lot of bad to our psyche; we are still struggling to extricate ourselves from their curse. But what is not in doubt is that since 1970 after the civil war, we have not had another one. The first republic was just six years old when it collapsed. This republic is nearly 20 years old and its going strong. That we have problems is simply reminding us that we are humans after all. Ours is to solve those problems. The best way to go about it isn’t to change the system but to improve on the indicators, get better people to manage our affairs, strengthen law enforcement and submit ourselves no matter how highly place to the grains of our laws.
Therefore I urge the legislators to withdraw the bill. It won’t fly. The process of amending the constitution clearly does not show a pathway to passing this bill. Why waste time. Legislators should live above board and find creative means to strengthen law enforcement.
