It is debating time again in Nigeria regarding the most appropriate system of government for the country. The Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA) in whose intellectual sphere of influence resides the debate more than any other discipline is seizing the initiative in terms of necessary intellectual scrutiny.
A statement by Prof Hassan Salihu, the president of NPSA invites observers to note that a bill is already in the furnace in the National Assembly advancing the case for a switch from the presidential back to the parliamentary system of government.
To make a contribution peculiar to it, the NPSA is putting up a seminar series he said is aimed at offering and gaining more insights on the matter. While, according to the NPSA, a look at the trajectory of the nation’s democratic journey would reveal that both the parliamentary and the presidential systems have been practiced in Nigeria, its observation, however, shows that more citizens now wish for a return to the parliamentary system that was replaced in 1979. The statement noted how some have even argued that the country cannot make any progress unless it goes back to the 1963 Republican Constitution with its relative and elegant provisions on federalism and the thrust of the parliamentary system, in contrast with the huge capital outlay that underpins the current presidential model being practiced in Nigeria.
The NPSA draws attention to the parliamentary system having lasted only for six years(1960-1966) as against the presidential system which has been with Nigeria since under the second republic in 1979 except for the period when the country was under military rule.
Based on the foregoing, the NPSA is intervening in the form of conversations around the issue of appropriate system of government for the country. Six papers have been scheduled for presentation during the event. The papers are:
(1) The Parliamentary System: Conceptual, typological, Philosophical and Historical Issues. Two different scholars are handling this. the first is the University of Benin scholar, Prof. Austine Ikelegbe
(2) The second scholar is sinking his teeth into the same topic is Prof. Remi Aiyede of the University of Ibadan
(3) An Appraisal of the Practice of the Parliamentary System in Nigeria falls on Prof. Isah M. Abass
(4) An Appraisal of the Practice of the Presidential System in Nigeria. Prof. Jaja Nwanegbo will deal with this topic.
(5) Making a Choice on the appropriate system of government for Nigeria is to be taken up by Prof. Bayo Olukoshi.
(6) Noting the Critical Factors in Adopting a system of government for Nigeria goes to Prof. Sam Egwu of the University of Jos
Three professors viz Haruna Dlakwa, Kamilu Fage and A.M. Okolie will chair each of the zoom sessions March 12th, 13th and 14th, 2024 at 4 p.m. daily.
Individually and collectively, the paper presenters might be able to respond to the knotty issue of the degree to which any of the two systems of government can successfully or otherwise discipline the power elite under conditions of primitive accumulation at the moment of informationalised capitalism. An equally knotty issue in the debate on system is the question of which one makes things more difficult for hegemonic pressures. Lastly, the presenters might probably be able to address how far any of the two systems can be facilitative of substantive democracy in a society which lacks vibrant internal centres of disciplinary power, with particular reference to the Left, the civil society and opposition.
