Presidential System Prodigious, Inimical to Nigerian Culture -Tella, Journalist, Political Scientist
Razaq Bamidele
Veteran journalist and political scientist, Chief Liad Tella, has taken another critical look at the presidential system Nigeria currently operates and described it as “prodigious, agent of political backwardness and economic instability,” adding that the system is not in tandem with the culture of any tribe in the country.
The renowned Islamic scholar, who is the Asiwaju Musulumi of Iwoland, Osun State told our correspondent during an exclusive interview weekend that, “the presidential system we inherited from Muritala/Obasanjo regime was a dysfunctional system,” asserting that, “Presidential system of government in a nation brought up under a parliamentary system is abnormal as the culture to back it up is not there.”
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According to him, the presidential system the country operates now causes political instability and economic backwardness, lamenting that, “under the system, the president governs only for about two years and immediately after the two years, we begin preparation for another round of elections that come up next two years!”
Tella pointed out that, after the first two year of the four year tenure, governance would cease and the focus would shift to how to win the next election coming up in the next two years for both the President and the governors, asking rhetorically, “what kind of wasteful system is that?!”
And when he wins for a second term, Tella continued, “he becomes immune with presidential power as constitutionally guaranteed and after two years of his second term, the party will put pressure on him that they must win again,” lamenting that, under that circumstance, the President or/and the governors would lose focus on governance by leading the campaigns.”
While insisting that, the presidential system is too costly to run and even too costly for politicians, Tella, who was the Managing Director of the defunct Ibadan, Oyo State based Monitor Newspapers said to become a member of the House of Representatives, “all you need is just your consistency to win and then go and negotiate for power at the top,” informing that, to become a Prime Minister under parliamentary form of government, “you cannot spend up to one over 1000 of what you need to spend to become the president of Nigeria.”
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Against this backdrop, the concerned former House Of Representatives aspirant recommended the Parliamentary System to the country because of its been far less expensive and far more stable than the presidential system, asserting that, “the presidential system can never and will never be in favour of Nigeria in terms of political stability and economic stability.”
Tella therefore urged the National Assembly and those who have tasted the power of presidential system to save Nigeria by reverting from presidential system to the parliamentary system of government for the good of the country and her citizens, regretting that, “the country’s political woe has its root cause when we did not allow the parliamentarian system to thrive and to remodel itself for us to learn from experience.”
Concluding, the veteran journalist and community leader was of the conviction that, if Nigerians had allowed the parliamentary system to thrive and subsist, “we should have learnt from our mistakes and would have been probably one of the greatest countries in the world today.”
