A former Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant, Dr Abdul-Jhalil Tafawa Balewa, has said adoption of a parliamentary system of government is not the answer to the nation’s current socio-political and economic challenges.
Parliamentary govt not solution to Nigeria’s socio-economic problems: Tafawa-Balewa
Mr Tafawa-Balewa stated that the country should be urgently restructured to allow for devolution of power from the centre to the federating zones.
Mr Tafawa-Balewa stated this during an interview on Sunday in Lagos.
The politician was reacting to calls for a shift from the presidential system of government to the parliamentary system to solve the country’s challenges.
Nigeria practised the parliamentary system of government, modelled after the British Westminster system, from 1960 to 1966.
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was the Prime Minister during the period, while Dr Nnamdi Azikwe served as the ceremonial head of state.
“No (adoption of parliamentary system), but I think democracy has to be modified in Nigeria to be able to represent us. To introduce something somewhat new, something radically different will be too costly for us, and it won’t make much sense at this time,” Mr Tafawa-Balewa said.
He stated that the country should be urgently restructured to allow for devolution of power from the centre to the federating zones.
The politician said this would make the zones develop along their comparative advantage, adding it would make most of the country’s challenges disappear.
“Honestly, I feel that each zone can specialise in particular ideas. To develop the different zones for what their specialties are will make Nigeria a much better country, I believe,” he said
According to him, South-West can concentrate on the service industry, South-East on marine industry, manufacturing and commerce.
He said that the South-South could stay with just the petroleum manufacturing derivatives, while the North could concentrate on agriculture.
“If we are able to invest properly in those areas, Nigeria will be better. The standard of living will be better.
“We need to be able to do innovation on all those things to be able to keep up with the rest of the world,” he said.
The politician stated that he was not advocating a confederacy, but a “zonal specialisation system” with a centre to be responsible for only the military, the foreign service, maintenance of national integrity, representation at the United Nations and other bodies.
Decrying the cost of governance, Mr Tafawa-Balewa said that the National Assembly had been over-bloated and over-strained.
“I don’t think that we actually need that (bloated NASS). Maybe, we need very few representatives from the different systems that can now join the federal, a much slimmed-down federal body. I think it is over-bloated, especially in a country where the average citizen earns less than a dollar a day, and food is expensive, and just staying alive is so expensive,” he said.
Mr Tafawa-Balewa said that a new constitution for the country would simplify many things for the nation and promote a better relationship between the zones and the federal government.
He added, “If we have a new, different type of federation-a Nigerian type of federation-where there is equal opportunity for each zone to develop at their own pace, I think we will all be better.’’
NAN