… Nigerians are not inherently corrupt we can design our own system -Chinda

…I ‘m a refugee in my own country -Ita-Giwa

… let’s restructure our presidential system- Ex-Gov of Kano, Shekarau

…we made a fatal error adopting presidential system -Prof Abdullahi

By Emmanuel Agaji

Echoes from the one-day national dialogue on home grown Parliamentary System has continued reverberate one week after it was held in Abuja to drum support for it.

The Dialogue to ensure Nigerians savour its own home grown Parliamentary System entered a different level last Monday as dignitaries from all walks of life espoused different views on the subject matter at the Shehu Yar’Dua International Conference Centre, Abuja.

Panelist of men of substance from egg heads to former governors, clergymen , former speaker, serving lawmakers all gathered to find a common solution to governance shift that would adopt Nigeria’s peculiarities and take Nigerians to the promised land.

Ango Abdullahi:

Firing from all cylinders last Monday was a former varsity Vice Chancellor, Professor Ango Abdullahi who declared that Nigeria was too much in a hurry to dump the Parliamentary System after practicing it for just five years.

He noted that the then military made it clear that the constituent assembly was told Parliamentary system was a no go area.

The professor said it was a mistake to have gone ahead to adopt the US presidential system which “we’re greatly regretting now and a parliamentary system should be adopted to ease cost of governance.

Senator Shekarau:

Former governor of Kano State and leader of Northern Democrats, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau called for a structural adjustment of the presidential system we practice now to reduce cost of governance.

Senator Ita l-Giwa

In her short message, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa without minciing words declared that Nigeria is not moving ahead because of the bogus system “I am a refugee in my country today after the Bakassi issue and nobody is rehabilitating me.

Kingsley Chinda:

A co-convener and HoR Minority Caucus leader Kingsley Chinda as one of panelists gave a vivid breakdown on the way forward as the last panelist to speak.

“I think that restates the cliche by Alexander Pope referred to by His Excellency that for every form of government they must contend for whatever is best administered.

“But I think it’s not just those who administer the system, you must also have a system that is administrable in your own circumstances.

“And that is why today if you ask, some persons might even say that Nigerians are inherently corrupt but that is not the case.

He stressed further: “When we started we were not like this, so you ask the question where did we get it wrong?

“The only thing that we have seen is that the system we imported, the laws we have so much loopholes and it makes it comfortable for us public office holders to do things that we get away with easily.

“The former speaker talked about the issue of impeachment, removing a councillor under our present law is almost an impossibility and so the councillor knows, I’m not talking about members of the National Assembly, I’m not talking about the executive, the councillor at the ward level because you have to get majority signatures of voters and that will be confirmed by INEC, how do you do that? When even the voters register had more than 50% ghost names, so where are you going to get the 50% genuine persons and their signatures confirmed?

“So this system has inherent loopholes that will allow those who are administering it to go scotfree and we need to tighten it.

“Anothet reason why we say so is that the same Nigerian who takes pride in beating the traffic light, who takes pride with even the NEPA at home you would want to do a bypass, send that same person to Ghana, I’m not talking about the United States, send him to Ghana and there is a queue somewhere, he will line up quietly because he knows that the system is not the same thing he had at home.

” So some people talk about mindset change, yes you might think about mindset change but to me the person sitting behind, the children behind are the people that require a mindset change because we already know that what we are doing is wrong and when we go to a clime where they have a better and stronger system we behave ourselves, so what mind are you going to change?

“We need to change the system, we need to begin to provide stronger penalty for those who commit crime.

“I remembered once either in the 8th or 7th Assembly we proposed a bill for death penalty for public office holders that steal public funds, it did not see the light of day.

” I think that we should begin to take extreme measures that will discourage public office holders from doing the things that they do.

“And the current presidential system we practice is one that allows a lot of leverage, there are so many things that are morally wrong but legally they are right under our laws and so it becomes difficult to hold anybody culpable even where people criticise over such actions.

“And for us to move on, we must begin to look at our own peculiar attitudes and couch laws that will take care of them, that is the homegrown.

“Homegrown is not that we look at our culture, tradition and all that, no. What are Nigerians likely to do if you give them this opportunity.

“Let me use discretion, if you bring a public office holder in Europe and bring a Nigerian public office holder and ask them to exercise discretion on an issue, I’m sure that you will agree that the Nigerian public office holder will be looking at religion, tribe whilst taking that matter.

THE END