National conference c’ttee proposes unicameral system of government

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

The National conference’s committee on political restructuring and forms of government has proposed that Nigeria should adopt a unicameral system of government to reduce the huge cost of governance.

Speaking on the main issues the committee discussed during its deliberations this week, Senator Ladan Shuni, a delegate representing the North-West geo-political zone, and also a member of the committee said they had discussed what kind of government Nigeria should adopt in the future, whether Nigeria should continue with the current system of government or the parliamentary system similar to the days of Tafawa Balewa, or the kind of system adopted by France.

Said Shuni; “Actually we agreed to continue with the current system in place, however with a few changes to it, for example, the vice president should be picked from the national assembly, and to make the national assembly only one chamber made up of a reduced number of full time representatives in order to reduce the cost of governance.

He said the committee also agreed to the zoning of posts at the federal and state levels, which would mean one region cannot produce both the president and vice president. “We want this to be included in the constitution, and for political parties to have this enshrined in their constitutions. Every party should make sure that if they for example pick a president from the North-West, the Vice president should be from the South-east for example. Basically anything that will bring peace in Nigeria.” He added.

He noted that Nigeria had not yet reached a stage where the president should be a Muslim and the Vice-President also a Muslim, noting that the time would come that people will accept whatever the religion or tribe of both the Presidential and vice presidential aspirants.

The committeealso agreed that the Vice-President should be selected from the elected lawmakers, with the president been given the power to pick 70% of ministers from the lawmakers, and 30% from outside.

“We don’t want there to be both a Senate and a house of representatives, we want one assembly that will include all. Why we proposed this is to reduce the cost of governance, and reduce the bickering between the 2 houses” Shuni concluded.