……Advocates Parliamentary System
The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has advocated for parliamentary system of Government in Nigeria, arguing that the present presidential system has been very wasteful.
He also said for Nigeria to be truly democratically governed as being aspired to by the citizens, no effort must be spared to restructure the country along regional line to meet the wide clamour for true federalism.
Governor Aregbesola made the advocacy while addressing the participants during a One-Day Conference on the Second Anniversary of the Southwest in National Governance, with a theme, “South West to Abuja: A Midterm Appraisal”, at Aurora Event Centre, Osogbo on 15th Sept, 2017.
He insisted that parliamentary system of government remains the only system suitable for a nation like Nigeria in view of her socio-economic tendencies.
Aregbesola described the presidential system of government which Nigeria is presently practicing as expensive, corrupt and tends towards waste.
He said the presidentialism has earned Nigeria a strong misery, which, if not reversed, could end the country in political perdition and doom.
The governor attributed some of the nation’s socio-economic predicaments and the spate of unrests in the society to the negative effects occasioned by presidential system being adopted by the government at the centre.
He said since Nigeria adopted the presidential system in the Second Republic, the country has been witnessing pocket of challenges.
“As a student of history, it is on record that the parliamentary system which our country adopted at the First Republic proved to be the most resourceful and beneficial system of government.
“However, it is clear that despite the fact that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria, it is also being jeopardised by some anomalies with which the presidential system of government was one.
“So, we must do everything humanly possible to jettison the Presidential System of Government that had taken our resources away and set us on the path of misery”.
Governor Aregbesola ýalso described as an aberration and misnomer the agitation for Local Governments to be an autonomous tier of government in the country, insisting that Local Government Administration remained appendage to State Governments.
He said for a nation like Nigeria that is practicing federalism to succeed and maintain the constitutional stance that recognises states as federating units, local government authority must remain under the control of the states.
“A call for Local Government Autonomy is not only an aberration but also alien to our constitution as well as the tenets and practice of federalism.
“Nowhere in the world where federalism is being practiced gives room for such. The only tiers of governments recognised by law under the federal system of government are central government and either state or regional government. We can only talk of local government autonomy only in relation to the states, what can they do on their own, what role can they play in the development of their area, especially in revenue generation and taking initiatives in solving problems and confronting challenges, without being dependent on the states.
“So, it will be a misnomer to place consideration on such agitation because it is not backed by law in any way”, Aregbesola stressed.
In his lecture, the Secretary, All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on Restructuring and True Federalism, Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi, advocated for genuine devolution of power from the central government.
