Former Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Adamu Fika has called for the abolition of the Presidential System of governance.
Fika, represented by former registrar of Bayero University, Kano, Alhaji Sani Aminu, made the call in Bauchi while presiding as chairman of a Public Lecture organised to celebrate the third year anniversary of the administration of Gov. Muhammed Abubakar of Bauchi state.
He observed that apart from being expensive to implement, it lacked reliable mechanisms for checks and balance.
“We should do away with this expensive and corrupt presidential system, which lack genuine checks and balances.
”It has proven to be unsuitable for our country; it was never the wish of Nigerians, but was imposed on them by the military.
“We should revisit the parliamentary system which was based on the 1963 constitution; with necessary amendments,” said Fika, who served as Head of Federal Civil Service from January 1986 to April 1988.
He also kicked against the continuous operation of the two-chambers system, adding that such an arrangement was no longer necessary.
“We should also consider if it is necessary to continue to have two chambers of the legislature; before 1960, we did not have Senate.
”It was however introduced as a counter-balance for the Northern region, which had more number in the House of Representatives, than the number for the three regions of the south combined.
“Now that the anomaly is no longer with us, do we really need to have two chambers of the national Assembly?,” Fika questioned.
He stated that it had always been his contention that unless Nigerians revisited and readopted the principles and practices of good governance bequeathed by founding fathers, the nation would continue to “wallow in backwardness”.
Fika said that it was regrettable that succeeding Nigeria leaders had deviated from the noble practices of the country’s founding fathers.
He observed that as a result if this act of commission, a major damage was inflicted on the country as the constitution was dumped on the orders of the military.
Fika said following this development, “public services was brought firmly under political control and political consideration became sole criterion for appointment into public service.
”Thus, within one and half decades of the military intervention in governance, things began to fall apart and within the last three decades, the quality of governance had changed drastically for the worse.
“The noble course chartered earlier became roughened by greed, self-centeredness and avarice, laced in and massaged by corruption of unimaginable scale,” he said.(NAN)
