February 20, 2024, News/Interviews
A Professor in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Delta State University, Abraka, Sunny Awhefeada, also a Columnist with the Daily Independent Newspaper has said that, the quest for a parliamentary system of government being proposed by the House of Representatives is out of place, stating however that, the country operated it in 1979, but failed due to high handedness and corruption. The Professor also noted that, Nigeria cannot survive the current hardship if urgent steps are not put in place. This is even as he believes that citizens have the role to play but have failed due to their docility. All hope is not lost he stressed but wants citizens to demand for change.
Prof. Awhefeada spoke with our Editor-in-Chief, Mark Orgu, on a telephone interview during the weekend. Chidera reports.
The Excerpts
The call for parliamentary system of government
The factors that made the first republic to collapse are still with us, especially the issue of corruption and electoral malpractice. Those who are saying the presidential system is expensive are not honest, they’re just been clever. If Nigeria is able to combat corruption, let’s even say, 50% of it is eradicated, I think there will be enough money to develop the country. Nigeria needs total war against corruption. So, the problem with Nigeria is not whether it is parliamentary or presidential, because under the parliamentary, we had a unicameral legislature, while under the presidential, we have bi-cameral legislature at the national level. Nigeria is very diverse and then, our population, so, those who initiated the presidential system for Nigeria, they had their reasons and I want to go with their reasons.
Let us go back to history, at the dawn of independence in 1960, what the country practiced was a parliamentary system of government, and it didn’t last up to six years whereas the presidential system, we did it from 1979 to 1983. Now, Nigeria has been practicing it from 1999 till date, so this is 25 years. It is already standing the test of time.
What we need to do is to combat corruption and electoral fraud and, it will be well with Nigeria. It is not about whether we are practicing parliamentary or presidential system, it is about our attitude, and it is about our inability to sanction wrong doing. Let us therefore go back to the late Prof. Achebe’s monogram, ‘The trouble with Nigeria,’ the 1983 monogram. The issues Achebe raised in that monogram are still relevant 41 years after it was published, and none of those things rested on presidential or parliamentary system of government.
But now, we are practicing democracy, yet, it is believed, no reasonable gain
We have not gained because of corruption. The money stolen in Nigeria is unimaginable-our collective patrimony, common wealth is being stolen, we have not gained because crude oil theft is a booming business, we not gained because there is no remittance from NNPC, we have not gained because funds from international coffer are looted by the power that be, we have not gained because members of the National Assembly wants SUV, at the rate N160 million per each lawmaker, we have not gained because of massive corruption, and it is not because of democracy, and we have not gained because the system has not sanction any wrong doings.
Sadly, the country has lost count of stolen funds since 1999. And that is why we are saying no gain.
So, where lies the hope of citizens as it is believed that they are docile
We, as citizens have failed ourselves. As citizens, we are not only docile but also complicite. However, I believe a time would come, citizens will come together and say, oh, what is our role in the evolution of a new Nigeria. We shall then come together and begin to clamour because the role of citizens is to demand for change pragmatically, and the most important tool of doing that is civil disobedient. When it happens, government would then say, what you want. Then, a charter can now be initiated, that, for corruption, this or that should be the sanction; some persons have been accused of corruption, what has your government done. Yes, National Assembly members, you cannot use more than one vehicle, all public office holders, your children cannot attend private schools, how much more going for oversea education, your children must attend same public schools the rest of Nigerian child is attending, political office holders you cannot patronize private hospitals, how much more of travelling abroad for Medicare, you must all attend public general hospitals we all attend, public office holders, you cannot use generators in your households, if there is no public power supply, no generator, in fact, no solar . If you must use solar, you must give the entire neighborhood solar. Political office holders, you cannot travel by air, you can only travel by road so that the roads can be expressway. Citizens should rise up and demand for change.
The role of judiciary in all this
Well, the Judiciary cannot be isolated from the moral chaos that is affecting Nigeria today. There is no sector in the country that is immune against the moral hemorrhage besetting our country. The Judiciary has a role to play. Above all, the Judiciary has to redeem its image by ensuring justice and fairness.
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