First Republic politician and elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, on Thursday, said reverting to a regional system of government as being clamoured for can no longer help the Nigerian situation.
Regional system of government is type of government where each region is allowed to control resources found in its domain, but only has to pay royalty to the central government.
He said the precarious situation which the country has found itself in and the array of challenges bedevilling the country cannot be corrected by reverting to the regional system of government.
He made this known at the annual lecture of The Niche with the theme, ‘2023 elections and the future of Nigeria’s democracy’, held at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos State on Thursday.
Those present at the event include the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, former NIMASA Director General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, among others.
“It has been my long standing argument that the regional system of government worked better for the country when compared to all other experimentations.
“However, in view of the changing local and international dynamics coupled with institutional limitations, reverting to the regional system may not be helpful and feasible under our current precarious situations.
“For this, I advocate for people-oriented change and peaceful restructuring of the current federal system to devolve power and responsibilities to the sub-nationals which would, in turn, offer better opportunity for stability and unity,” Yakasai said.
The first Republic politician, however, advocated for the adoption of the French presidential system of government over the American presidential system of government.
According to him, the French presidential system of government is cost effective and suitable for Nigeria.
“We should do away with the present system which is prone to waste, corruption, secondamania and discourages accountability.
“The decision to drop parliamentary system during the military is largely influenced by American trained elites in Nigeria rather than exhaustive debate and objective evaluation of the full potential of the parliamentary system in Nigeria.
“In my opinion that decision was not driven by proper rationale of the suitability of the American system in our own peculiar national situation. The decision has not done justice to the parliamentary system and Nigeria as a country and its developmental needs and economic circumstances.
“This is because parliamentary system is more democratic in its nature than American Presidential System. It is for that reason that I have been advocating the adoption of French Presidential System of Government for Nigeria. In my opinion it is easier to replace non performing Government in that system than in the American Presidential System.
“Another important reason why I am advocating the adoption of the French presidential system is that it is far cheaper to operate and therefore more suitable to our own reality as a developing Nation.
“The operation of American system that made administering Nigeria which is a Federal State with diverse nature more expensive to ran and extremely difficult to develop and prosper, unlike many of its sister developing Nations,” the elderstatman added.
