The clamour for a return to the Parliamentary System of government by Nigerians at home and the Diaspora, has reached its crescendo and the newly sworn-in legislators - especially in the House of Representatives - should urgently take over this advocacy from the 71 members of the 8th Green Chambers, who could not complete the national assignment before the end of their tenure! REFERENDUM?

In December, 2018, those patriotic legislators, with one voice and in one accord, called for the re-introduction of parliamentary legislature in view of the discrepancies between the poor and the very rich politicians who pretend to represent the downtrodden in Nigeria. They argued that Nigeria could not have been rated as the POVERTY CAPITAL of the world if wastages were not entertained in governance!
Before these honourable gentlemen embarked on this noble mission, We of the Editorial Board of the Zion B-BC Newsletter had canvassed for the same CHANGE, in some of our past editions and encouraged the Buhari Administration to moot an Executive Bill for scrapping of the SENATE and divert all appropriations which would have otherwise accrued to the "distinguished Senators", to social intervention programmes in agriculture, education, health, job creation! etc.Check: "Go to the Ants & 74 legislators are sufficient. ....
Those 71 daring legislators, who moved against the several years of STATUS QUO of sharing illicit monies through dubious salaries, allowances, and annual budget paddings, rose in unison to debate the Bill and to amend the1999 Constitution of Nigeria to that effect. The Bill passed through First Reading and the 9th NASS legislators were urged to continue from where they stopped!

GAINS OF A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.
First, it is not complicated; second, it is cost-effective; third, it bonds the government and its subjects for faster political, social and economic developments; fourth, it does not allow for incompetence among the executive and the legislature! A parliamentary system or parliamentary democracy is a system of democratic governance of a State where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the confidence of the legislature. Under a parliamentary system of government, members of the Cabinet or the Executive Council are also members of the legislative arm of government who normally formed a unicameral parliament, having won elections in their various constituencies.

The Head of a parliamentary government who is addressed as Prime Minister, (Head of Government), must enjoy the confidence of his colleagues, to remain in authority and also consult with the Head of State, who is a ceremonial head. The British House of Commons which is perhaps the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world, serves as a case study in view of the trending challenges of BREXIT REFERENDUM of 23rd June, 2016.
Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron honourably resigned for failing to stop United Kingdom (UK), from exiting after 43 years of membership and now his successor, Mrs. Theresa May, is on her way out also, without achieving her ambition to take the UK out of the European Union (EU), because she was unable to convince her colleagues with neither fool-proof nor superior arguments!
In a parliamentary system of government, the role of the Head of State, though ceremonial, is not completely redundant because he must always be consulted according to constitution, to assent to bills of parliament into law and call on elected prime ministers to form new governments as at when due.

9TH SENATE MUST PUT NATIONAL INTEREST ABOVE EGOTISM AND SUPPORT THE BILL!
As the new House of Representatives members resuscitate the debate on re-introduction of Parliamentary system, Senators should not stand aloof but create a committee to work with the lower house to ensure a quick passage of bill with their concurrence and thereby WRITE THEIR NAMES IN LETTERS OF GOLD for posterity to judge them as true representatives of the talakawas!
Delegates to the 2014 National Conference, recommended a return to parliamentary system of government; and now socio-cultural groups, consisting of Afenifere, Ohaneze N'digbo, prominent Nigerians and politicians, have all backed the move by the 71 legislators because of the general consensus that the Presidential system has turned out to be the albatross of the Nigerian economy!
The ball is squarely in the court of the House of Representative legislators who must realise that a unicameral legislature is the best option for the nation to surmount challenges of unemployment, human development opportunities as more funds would be made available to cater for the Labour Sector of the economy!
They should also be ready to make sacrifices as the 360-strong membership figure will also be pruned to 74 legislators who will be assisted by a professional secretariat and work on part-time! In this 21st century age of computer science and hi-tech information/communication facilities, what excuses would any developing economy give for being saddled with 469 law makers who were virtually interested in eating the "national cake", without contributing time and resources to grow the economy!

THE SENATE HAD OVERSTAYED ITS WELCOME - LET'S EASE IT OUT!
Patriotic Nigerians are fed up with the Presidential system of government which favours squadermania and wastages! They are also tired of the desperation of money-bag politicians who have invaded and turned the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly (NASS), into a den of robbers, where illicit deals unknown to good governance were hatched and executed with impunity for only 469 persons out of about 200 million citizens, to continue a life of opulence at the expense of the TALKAWAS - the poor masses!
Why was their so much frenzy, hustle and bustle, so much horsetrading and desperation at the just concluded inauguration of the 9th NASS, on Tuesday, 11th June, 2019, for principal offices by ranking officers of the ruling and opposition parties, for transient positions of life and the ephemeral gains of money? It has been established that Nigeria Legislators are the highest paid politicians in the world! Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have not denied that they earn more money than their United States counterparts and even the Presidents of their country and that of America!

The year 2009 statistics of federal legislators emoluments revealed that they were the highest paid public servants in the world because a total of N102.8 billion, (5% of the country’s annual budget), comprising of N11.8billion as salaries and N90.96billion as allowances, was spent on 469 Nigerians; 109 Senators and 360 House of Representatives members! The largesse incredibly increased to N 150 billion naira from 2011 to date and those legislators continued to smile to the bank at the expense of the poor masses!

In the United States of America (USA), where minimum wage was USD$1.257, (N191.667), a US law maker earned USD$15,080 (N2.3million), per month while his Nigerian senator counterpart earned N29.472.749.00million totalling an annual haul of N182million, in a country where minimum wage is a paltry N18.000 and which many State Governments still owed up to seven months payment of arrears to workers!

It was revealed that Nigerian Senators got more money from their numerous allowances than from their annual basic salaries.
The allowances include but not limited to the following: Hardship allowance, 50% of basic salary, (BS); Constituency, 200% of BS; Furniture, 300% of BS; Newspapers, 50% of BS; Wardrobe, 25% of BS; Recess, 10% of BS; Accommodation, 200% of BS; Utilities, 30% of BS; Domestic Staff, 35% of BS; Entertainment, 30% of BS; Personal Assistant, 25% of BS; Vehicle maintenance, 75% of BS; Leave allowance, 10% of BS; Severance Gratuity, 300% of BS; paid once in four years and, Motor Vehicle allowance, 400% of BS, also paid once in four years!

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, bequeathed to the nation by the Military, is full of several flaws which give room to clever politicians to manipulate wealth to themselves and further impoverish the citizens instead of improving their lots!
Of the Three Arms of government, the Legislature is the citadel of greedy politicians who claim to represent the masses and who claim outrageous salaries and allowances they are illicit because those monies were neither processed nor appropriated by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the body that is constitutionally set up to fix salaries and allowances of all public officers, at the Federal and States levels! These politicians capitalize on Chapter V Section 80 (2) (3); 81(1) (2) (4) (a) (b); 82; 83 (1) (2) of the said faulty Constitution, which saddles them with oversight functions, including, scrutiny of the annual budgets which the document mandates the Executive to prepare and execute judiciously to ensure consistent economic growth! The RMAFC official salaries and allowances for legislators is less than TWO million naira per month, but these legislators appropriate a whooping N150 billion naira annually to themselves and their Administrative staff, and collect same in defiance to whatever figure was fixed by the Executive in the budget preparation.
Apart from this illegality which has been ongoing since 1999, annual BUDGET PADDING, which translates to, insertions of new amounts for Constituency Projects, re-writing, re-inventing and distortion of the entire document to accommodate their whims and caprices by arriving at a total figure completely different from the original!
The SENATE is also a recluse of some sort where Governors who had served the constitutional EIGHT years in office BUT would still smuggle themselves to spend the rest of their unproductive lives because of the LOVE OF MONEY! Apart from two former governors/senators, who were successfully prosecuted and eventually convicted to spend SEVEN YEARS in prison after several years of trial, majority of them who have been indicted by the EFCC still walk free, to contest and win elections!

THE NIGERIAN LEGISLATURE PAY PACKAGE IS SYNONYMOUS TO ROBBERY OF THE TREASURY!
Welcome and Severance Packages for Nigerian Legislators are not Christmas, Easter or Sallah Hampers, both terminologies were coined by National Assembly paymasters to identify tons of monies paid to Nigerian Legislators, at the points of entry and disengagement from their four-yearly bazaar/jamboree, at the "hallowed" chambers! They have begun to collect these largesse with impunity! IS RMAFC ON DUTY OR RECESS? APC MUST GET IT RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING OF THIS 9TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY! There MUST be no jumbo salaries nor humongous allowances this time around!

WASTAGES IN GOVERNMENT MUST BE BLOCKED AT THIS NEXT LEVEL! What values have legislators added to the lives of the overall masses of the population they claim to represent from 1999-2019 - a period of 20 years, when most negative global indexes, relating to backwardness were the lot of successive governments until the last four years when fresh foundations for economic growth were laid by the incumbent APC Administration!
In 58 years of independence, has the lot of the TALAKAWAS improved with the annual figure of 469 legislators in the areas of education, health, transportation, housing, employment, SECURITY etc? The answer is NO! Interestingly these legislators were always the first to condemn Nigeria in concurrence to all foreign negative indexes in respect of the national poverty level, illiteracy level, insecurity, economy, corruption etc, when they should be held responsible for all socio-economic decays recorded against Nigeria!

NIGERIA SHOULD FOLLOW SENEGAL'S FOOTSTEPS AND SCRAP THE SENATE TO IMPROVE THE LOT OF THE DOWNTRODDEN!
On 19th September 2012, Senegalese legislators voted to SCRAP its Senate and SAVED an estimated United State $ 15 million dollars under the watch of Macky Sall, who was re-elected in February, 2019, for a second term! President Buhari should do the same to create the necessary conducive atmosphere for the Parliamentary Democracy to take off from 2023! "A Stitch in time saves nine!"



I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Dear Pastor Olufon,

What can you say about the kidnappings, rape and killings going on in the Christian part of the North and now in Yorubaland?

Meanwhile, the parliamentary system of government you are advocating was practiced in Nigeria from 1954 - 1966. The results were bitterness, acrimony, killings, arson, trump-up allegations, exclusion of minority tribes, wanton destruction of property and alleged corruption. So much was the ethnic suspicIon that the Mid-West voted for a separate region. It (the turn of events) eventually culminated in a brutal military coup and a civil war.

What do you think has changed? What is the level of national unity existing in Nigeria presently compared to the late 50s and early-mid 60s?

What is the level of Nigeria's organizational ability today to withstand such experiment at this time? Israel today does not have a government but the country is still functioning. Nigeria today is with a government (even in a presidential system) but the security has broken down completely, how do you reconcile that?

Have you considered the practice of calling election at the slightest inconvenience of the coalition in the parliamentary system? Where will we get the money to run elections at every disagreement between politicians? Where is the INEC impartiality and technical/logistical ability?

The cost effectiveness of the parliamentary system is the funniest part. Does it mean we would not budget for constituency offices and legislative aides and the tools to assist the lawmakers in their duties? Does it mean that the legislative oversights will automatically cease?

To just sit down in Europe and admire their system without consideration for the enormous challenges they are facing and the peculiarity of our situation is very cheap. Many of you are in perpetual trial and error mode as if the lives of human beings are not important, it seems.

Many were advocating for a military-like dictator to just WIPE OUT corruption and provide "good governance/leadership" and "everything will just fall into place". How is that panning out now with Buhari?

And when the error starred them in the face they will just move on to another rhetoric without any sign of remorse or the courtesy of an apology to the people whose lives have been affected negatively.

We practiced parliamentary system for 12 years when the ethnic, tribal and clannish tendencies were not that manifest but it didn't work out, it failed and eventually cost millions of lives. We have practiced the presidential system of government for 24 years (1979-1983 inclusive) and things are getting out of hand. Does it not suggest that it has nothing to do with any system of government? Does it not tell you that there's a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed?

porka:
Dear Pastor Olufon,

What can you say about the kidnappings, rape and killings going on in the Christian part of the North and now in Yorubaland?

Meanwhile, the parliamentary system of government you are advocating was practiced in Nigeria from 1954 - 1966. The results were bitterness, acrimony, killings, arson, trump-up allegations, exclusion of minority tribes, wanton destruction of property and alleged corruption. So much was the ethnic suspicIon that the Mid-West voted for a separate region. It (the turn of events) eventually culminated in a brutal military coup and a civil war.

What do you think has changed? What is the level of national unity existing in Nigeria presently compared to the late 50s and early-mid 60s?

What is the level of Nigeria's organizational ability today to withstand such experiment at this time? Israel today does not have a government but the country is still functioning. Nigeria today is with a government (even in a presidential system) but the security has broken down completely, how do you reconcile that?

Have you considered the practice of calling election at the slightest inconvenience of the coalition in the parliamentary system? Where will we get the money to run elections at every disagreement between politicians? Where is the INEC impartiality and technical/logistical ability?

The cost effectiveness of the parliamentary system is the funniest part. Does it mean we would not budget for constituency offices and legislative aides and the tools to assist the lawmakers in their duties? Does it mean that the legislative oversights will automatically cease?

To just sit down in Europe and admire their system without consideration for the enormous challenges they are facing and the peculiarity of our situation is very cheap. Many of you are in perpetual trial and error mode as if the lives of human beings are not important, it seems.

Many were advocating for a military-like dictator to just WIPE OUT corruption and provide "good governance/leadership" and "everything will just fall into place". How is that panning out now with Buhari?

And when the error starred them in the face they will just move on to another rhetoric without any sign of remorse or the courtesy of an apology to the people whose lives have been affected negatively.

We practiced parliamentary system for 12 years when the ethnic, tribal and clannish tendencies were not that manifest but it didn't work out, it failed and eventually cost millions of lives. We have practiced the presidential system of government for 24 years (1979-1983 inclusive) and things are getting out of hand. Does it not suggest that it has nothing to do with any system of government? Does it not tell you that there's a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed?

Dear porka, majority of the problems that we witness in our country today, very much has to do with the presidential system of governance that has creataed a lot of wastages in government, which has also in turn allowed corruption to thrive on a very large scale in the system. Though, no system of government is perfect, lets make a sincere comparism between the days of regional government and this present day of presidential governance, what was the economy like then, What is it like now?
To "the funniest part " there surely will be appropriations for the government to function, but far less amount of funds is used to run a parliamentary system, because there is less creation of political offices, the fact that the military hijacked the system does not mean that the parliamentary system failed! if we are to stick to the facts, to eliminate wastages and massive corruption in Nigeria today, a parliamentary system is what Nigeria needs! however if you disagree, you are very much entitled to your opinion too. Thanks for commenting and God bless you.

z07ion:

Dear porka, majority of the problems that we witness in our country today, very much has to do with the presidential system of governance that has creataed a lot of wastages in government, which has also in turn allowed corruption to thrive on a very large scale in the system. Though, no system of government is perfect, lets make a sincere comparism between the days of regional government and this present day of presidential governance, what was the economy like then, What is it like now?
To "the funniest part " there surely will be appropriations for the government to function, but far less amount of funds is used to run a parliamentary system, because there is less creation of political offices, the fact that the military hijacked the system does not mean that the parliamentary system failed! if we are to stick to the facts, to eliminate wastages and massive corruption in Nigeria today, a parliamentary system is what Nigeria needs! however if you disagree, you are very much entitled to your opinion too. Thanks for commenting and God bless you.

Firstly, you seem to be using regionalism and parliamentary system of government interchangeably. They are not synonymous. The former is an administratIve division while the latter is a political system. This is one of the confusions in the narrative of the advocates of the parliamentary system. You have to clear the confusion before any meaning can be made of your position.

Secondly, it is fallacious to state that "majority of the problems that we witness in our country today, very much has to do with the presidential system of governance that has creataed a lot of wastages in government, which has also in turn allowed corruption to thrive on a very large scale in the system". It is not. Wastages and corruption have always been in Nigeria. It is in all the systems we have tried; parliamentary, presidential and military.

All you need to do is to look at the coup speech that heralded the collapse of the parliamentary system in 1966.

The young Major Chuckuma Kaduna Nzeogu stated emphatically in the speech that "The aim of the Revolutionary Council is to establish a strong united and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife".

You can read the rest of the speech here: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/09/radio-broadcast-by-major-chukwuma-kaduna-nzeogwu-%25E2%2580%2593-announcing-nigeria%25E2%2580%2599s-first-military-coup-on-radio-nigeria-kaduna-on-january-15-1966/%3famp

If the republic was an Eldorado as it is being painted, why bother reestablishing it? Mind you, they had to wipe out a section of the first generation of political leaders to prove their point. They didn't just wake up to hijack the system. They were idealistic just like you. They were into all this parliamentary system presidential system thing too. More than that they were more aggressive in taking steps to "correct the systematic corruption" of the day.

By far the deepest cause of the so-called wastage is self interest which is a variation of self preservation in a country that has no one loyal to it. Self preservation manifests in primitive acquisition of material things and positioning the future for the individual, family members, clan and then ethnic group in that order.

What you see are people making money off the government for their children or preserving positions for their kins or filling up agencies, parastatals positions with their clan or outrightly establishing agencies for their tribe. These increase the cost of running the government beyond any other measure. No parliamentary system will ever curb that.

Thirdly, to make a "sincere comparison" of the economic performance during the parliamentary system and the presidential system to someone who has a prefix Dr. before his name is assumed to mean employing globally recognize, time tested economic indices, right? Ok.

Here we go - the population of Nigeria in 1963 was 48m, in 1966 it was 51m. In 1999 the population was 119.3m and by 2014, the projected population was 176.5m. The GDP in 1963 was $4.2b, $6.4b in 1966. In 1999 Nigeria's GDP was $35.87b and $569b in 2014.

Per capita GDP in 1963, 1966 and 2014 are $874, $804 and $3,221 respectively. Life expectancy was 39.45 years in 1963; 40.84 years in 1966. it was 53.30 years in 2014. Infant mortality was 196 death per thousand in the 1960s, it is 65 now.

There were 5 universities in the entire country, Ibadan, Nsuka, Zaria, Ife and Lagos until 1970. More universities were established by the federal and state governments between 1979-1983 than the whole 12 years of the first republic.

We currently have over 120 universities in the country, which means that Nigeria produced fewer university graduates to run its economy in the 1960s than now. There are more doctors and nurses per 1000 persons now. There were fewer primary school and secondary schools then than now.

Fewer villages, towns and cities had electric power in the 1960s. The hydro-electric plant in Kainji was built by the Europeans. Only government offices and few homea had telephones and few homes had television. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway was not constructed until 1978. Hospitals were mostly in the cities with little access to healthcare services by the majority rural people. Public healthcare delivery is better now than then; there are more University teaching hospitals now, over 26 federal medical centres running alongside state's and private facilities.

More dams were built in the four years of 2nd republic than 12 years of 1st republic. There was a massive spending on the Steel Plant in Ajaokuta to jumpstart the industrial economy in the 2nd republic. It was sadly abandoned by military governments thereafter. More Nigerians lived in mud houses in villages than cement block homes in the 1960s. From 2006-2015 more Nigerians owned their own homes (cement block, zinc roof) more than at any time in the history of Nigeria.

The 1960s economy was largely agragrian. Export was raw agricultural products. Foreign ownership characterized the industrial and retail sectors of the economy in the 1960s as against the current indigenous ownership structure. Government dominance in the first republic's economy is visible in the construction of monuments.

The financial institutions and markets were weak and rudimentary in the 1960s. Nigeria's banks and the capital markets are stronger, diversified and capitalized now than the 1960s.

Nigeria was already inching towards a private sector driven economy in 2014 with a GDP projection of $1trn in 2020 that would have made it an upper-middle income country before the sudden "change". It moved remarkably from agriculture led system to a service sector driven. Foreign capital inflow in form of FDI was top in Africa. The middle-class grew exponentially up to 2014.

But now, they said everyone should find his way back to the village to live in huts with thatched roof and gathering fruits.

Corruption will always thrive in government as long as the foundation of the country remains. If you like introduce "angelimentry" system of government.

There is nothing like less creation of pilitical offices. That was also the forceful but myopic argument supporting reduction/merging of government ministries in 2015. The socalled reduction of ministries has not impacted positively in any significant way on the cost of running government. It has changed nothing. There are even more brazen insertion of bogus expenditure in the budget of the socalled nimble ministries than at anytime before. Fewer ministries, more expenditure.

If you like change to emirate system or the Vatican model, what you think you saved in one section will go in another direction. If you don't give money to "clerics for prayers" in exchange for intelligence, you will release 10 times of it to armed groups in exchange for kidnapped victims. What you don't spend on education because your people don't go to school, you end up spending 5 times of it on RUGA Settlements or Cattle Colonies across.

porka:


Firstly, you seem to be using regionalism and parliamentary system of government interchangeably. They are not synonymous. The former is an administratIve division while the latter is a political system. This is one of the confusions in the narrative of the advocates of the parliamentary system. You have to clear the confusion before any meaning can be made of your position.

Secondly, it is fallacious to state that "majority of the problems that we witness in our country today, very much has to do with the presidential system of governance that has creataed a lot of wastages in government, which has also in turn allowed corruption to thrive on a very large scale in the system". It is not. Wastages and corruption have always been in Nigeria. It is in all the systems we have tried; parliamentary, presidential and military.

All you need to do is to look at the coup speech that heralded the collapse of the parliamentary system in 1966.

The young Major Chuckuma Kaduna Nzeogu stated emphatically in the speech that "The aim of the Revolutionary Council is to establish a strong united and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife".

You can read the rest of the speech here: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/09/radio-broadcast-by-major-chukwuma-kaduna-nzeogwu-%25E2%2580%2593-announcing-nigeria%25E2%2580%2599s-first-military-coup-on-radio-nigeria-kaduna-on-january-15-1966/%3famp

If the republic was an Eldorado as it is being painted, why bother reestablishing it? Mind you, they had to wipe out a section of the first generation of political leaders to prove their point. They didn't just wake up to hijack the system. They were idealistic just like you. They were into all this parliamentary system presidential system thing too. More than that they were more aggressive in taking steps to "correct the systematic corruption" of the day.

By far the deepest cause of the so-called wastage is self interest which is a variation of self preservation in a country that has no one loyal to it. Self preservation manifests in primitive acquisition of material things and positioning the future for the individual, family members, clan and then ethnic group in that order.

What you see are people making money off the government for their children or preserving positions for their kins or filling up agencies, parastatals positions with their clan or outrightly establishing agencies for their tribe. These increase the cost of running the government beyond any other measure. No parliamentary system will ever curb that.

Thirdly, to make a "sincere comparison" of the economic performance during the parliamentary system and the presidential system to someone who has a prefix Dr. before his name is assumed to mean employing globally recognize, time tested economic indices, right? Ok.

Here we go - the population of Nigeria in 1963 was 48m, in 1966 it was 51m. In 1999 the population was 119.3m and by 2014, the projected population was 176.5m. The GDP in 1963 was $4.2b, $6.4b in 1966. In 1999 Nigeria's GDP was $35.87b and $569b in 2014.

Per capita GDP in 1963, 1966 and 2014 are $874, $804 and $3,221 respectively. Life expectancy was 39.45 years in 1963; 40.84 years in 1966. it was 53.30 years in 2014. Infant mortality was 196 death per thousand in the 1960s, it is 65 now.

There were 5 universities in the entire country, Ibadan, Nsuka, Zaria, Ife and Lagos until 1970. More universities were established by the federal and state governments between 1979-1983 than the whole 12 years of the first republic.

We currently have over 120 universities in the country, which means that Nigeria produced fewer university graduates to run its economy in the 1960s than now. There are more doctors and nurses per 1000 persons now. There were fewer primary school and secondary schools then than now.

Fewer villages, towns and cities had electric power in the 1960s. The hydro-electric plant in Kainji was built by the Europeans. Only government offices and few homea had telephones and few homes had television. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway was not constructed until 1978. Hospitals were mostly in the cities with little access to healthcare services by the majority rural people. Public healthcare delivery is better now than then; there are more University teaching hospitals now, over 26 federal medical centres running alongside state's and private facilities.

More dams were built in the four years of 2nd republic than 12 years of 1st republic. There was a massive spending on the Steel Plant in Ajaokuta to jumpstart the industrial economy in the 2nd republic. It was sadly abandoned by military governments thereafter. More Nigerians lived in mud houses in villages than cement block homes in the 1960s. From 2006-2015 more Nigerians owned their own homes (cement block, zinc roof) more than at any time in the history of Nigeria.

The 1960s economy was largely agragrian. Export was raw agricultural products. Foreign ownership characterized the industrial and retail sectors of the economy in the 1960s as against the current indigenous ownership structure. Government dominance in the first republic's economy is visible in the construction of monuments.

The financial institutions and markets were weak and rudimentary in the 1960s. Nigeria's banks and the capital markets are stronger, diversified and capitalized now than the 1960s.

Nigeria was already inching towards a private sector driven economy in 2014 with a GDP projection of $1trn in 2020 that would have made it an upper-middle income country before the sudden "change". It moved remarkably from agriculture led system to a service sector driven. Foreign capital inflow in form of FDI was top in Africa. The middle-class grew exponentially up to 2014.

But now, they said everyone should find his way back to the village to live in huts with thatched roof and gathering fruits.

Corruption will always thrive in government as long as the foundation of the country remains. If you like introduce "angelimentry" system of government.

There is nothing like less creation of pilitical offices. That was also the forceful but myopic argument supporting reduction/merging of government ministries in 2015. The socalled reduction of ministries has not impacted positively in any significant way on the cost of running government. It has changed nothing. There are even more brazen insertion of bogus expenditure in the budget of the socalled nimble ministries than at anytime before. Fewer ministries, more expenditure.

If you like change to emirate system or the Vatican model, what you think you saved in one section will go in another direction. If you don't give money to "clerics for prayers" in exchange for intelligence, you will release 10 times of it to armed groups in exchange for kidnapped victims. What you don't spend on education because your people don't go to school, you end up spending 5 times of it on RUGA Settlements or Cattle Colonies across.

For clarification purpose, reference to the days of the regional government in Nigeria,is a pointer to the parliamentry system of governance that was in play at that time.
Aside from that, this debate can go on and on, but the truth remains, our system of government is simply not just working to suit the urgent needs of our nation.
But if you assert that all the systems that Nigeria has pratice has failed, what system of government do you suggest that we should practice?

While the US who are owners of the preside tial system have 2 senators per state, Nigeria has 3. Meanwhile some states in the US are larger than the whole Nigeria. Yet they have only 2 senators each.