The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) has said they decided for 2031 as the possible return date to the Parliamentary System to give room for a gradual phase out of the current system.

Chinda, who is the principal sponsor of the bill seeking to return Nigeria to the Parliamentary System of government, which passed second reading at the House of Representatives on Thursday disclosed this to Telegraph on Saturday in an exclusive interview.

He said the idea is “To give room for a gradual phase out of the current system”.

The bill is titled: ”A Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for the Office of the Prime Minister as Head of Government and the Office of President as Head of State and to Provide for a Framework for the Mode of Election to the Said Offices and for Related Matters.”

On the criticisms trailing the proposal, he said “Yes, we have listened to some criticisms, particularly that of Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of Lagos State, who is of the opinion that we should tell Nigerians why the First Republic failed before we start the journey back to the Parliamentary System.

“But I want to assure you that we are not building castles in the air. We took our time to look at the current system of government, to look at the problems within the polity, and how, as parliamentarians, we can assist in resolving some of these problems through legislative intervention”.

According to him, “In the process of this introspection, we found out that the entire system that we are practicing is skewed towards failure. First, considering our background, our experiences, our diversity, which, of course, should be an advantage to us, we can see that we seem headed in the wrong direction.

“If you look at other nations that copied systems of government, they considered their culture, they considered their beliefs; they considered the. nature of their society in adopting a system of government. “But in Nigeria, we either copy from the United Kingdom or we copy from the United States, without recourse to our background and that is why we are asking for a homegrown system of government.

“Perhaps, because we don’t have the proper word to describe it, what we envision is closer to a parliamentary system. So today, we are asking that we amend our constitution to introduce a homegrown parliamentary system of government”.

Speaking on why parliamentary system failed, he explained that “Now, have we studied what led to the failure of the First Republic? I will answer Fashola by saying, yes, we have studied it. We have studied deeply the First Republic, the conduct, the successes, and the failures of that era .

“In doing that, we have even gone to Kano to meet with the only surviving member of the First Republic, Alhaji Dantata and we asked him this question directly. Why did it fail? “Some of his responses were that during the First Republic, a lot of them were not very well informed about the rudiments and the practice of the system which they inherited from the colonialists. So to him, one of the reasons why the parliamentary system failed was ignorance.

“Secondly, our various tribes and religious beliefs created avoidable divisions among the political elite and then the selfish attitude of the individual politicians of that period concerning the exercise of power and abuse of discretion. Unfortunately, these problems are still with us today.”

“Another challenge then was the constitutional provision that has to do with the sharing of power between the centre and the regions. He ( Dantata) told us that all these factors, especially the power tussle and struggles among politicians, culminated into the crisis we had in the South West region, which led to the failure of the First Republic.

“So, having heard this, we have also taken into consideration these issues and that’s why we keep saying that it would be wrong for you to introduce a system of government without taking cognizance of your background, where you’re coming from.

“I give you an example. Ask a Nigerian public office holder to exercise discretion today on an issue and he will be influenced by either religion or tribe. Very few public officers in Nigeria will exercise discretion dispassionately and see issues from a neutral persoective.

“Now, if you ask a public officer who is a Briton or an American to exercise the same discretion, most often they will look at the nation first in exercising that discretion.

“So because we have this inherent challenge, it will be difficult for us to import laws that have to do with discretion and bring them hook, line, and sinker to Nigeria and expect them to succeed. It will not succeed.

“We must tweak it to consider our peculiar background and that’s why we say the time has come for us to move forward.

“We have been talking about cost of governance and government after government have been making attempts to take care of that, either by merging agencies of government or by slashing allowances and salaries of public office holders. How far has that taken us?

“As far as we are concerned, it’s motion without movement. We’re still at the same spot and we must do something fundamental if we want to move forward as a country.

“So, in answer to that question, whether we have considered the reasons why the First Republic failed, yes, we have and we still believe that a homegrown parliamentary system is the best for us as it stands today.

“But we have to take it grade by grade, step by step, from the lowest until we get to the presidential level”, he stated.

It will be recalled that the parliamentary system, which operated in the First Republic, with Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa serving as Prime Minister and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as the ceremonial President was aborted by the January 1966 military coup.

The 60 lawmakers had in February 2024, under the auspices of The Parliamentary Group alerted Nigerians of their desire to return the nation to parliamentary system.

Spokesperson for the group, Abdussamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), had explained that the move to jettison the presidential system of government and revert to the parliamentary was occasioned by the fact that the subsisting system has grounded the development of the country.

He said: “Today, we stand on the cusp of history, as lawmakers across party affiliations and regional backgrounds come together to present bills proposing constitutional alterations that seek a transition to a parliamentary system of government.

“These bills, seeking to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, advocate a transition from the current presidential system to a parliamentary system at all levels – federal, state and local governments. The proposed alterations, when passed, would significantly impact the national political landscape.

“Our founders in their wisdom and in a political atmosphere devoid of compulsion, and having considered the interests of their native peoples and their desire to live together in a country where truth and justice reign, where no man is oppressed, and where all citizens live in peace and plenty, adopted the parliamentary system of government.

“That was the governance system of the First Republic, a period when legislative and executive powers were exercised by the representatives of the people in parliament and in the executive, and by the nature of the system these representatives were accountable to the people”.

Dasuki has explained that “The collapse of the First Republic and the long stretch of military rule culminated in the adoption of a new system of government, theoretically fashioned after the presidential system of the United States but in practice imbibed the uttermost attributes of military rule.

He argued that over the years, the imperfections of the presidential system of government have become glaring to all despite several alterations to the constitution to address the shortcomings of a system that has denied the nation the opportunity of attaining its full potentials.

Among these imperfections, according to him, are the high cost of governance, leaving fewer resources for crucial areas like infrastructure, education, and healthcare and consequently hindering the nation’s development progress as well as the excessive powers vested in the members of the executive, who are appointees and not directly accountable to the people.

“With the presentation of the bills, we hope to achieve the following: Ignite, and provoke a national conversation about the future of the Nigerian governance system, ensure robust public debates, stakeholder consultations, expert analyses, and a thorough and informed decision-making process.

“We also hope to raise awareness about this significant development and encourage constructive dialogue on the potential implications of these proposed constitutional alterations.

“The future of Nigerian governance rests on informed public engagement and responsive and responsible leadership,” Dasuki explained.