The caption of this article is borrowed from the 1992 campaign slogan of former US President Bill Clinton who until then was relatively unknown nationally. His opponent, the incumbent George Bush Sr had a very high approval rating no thanks to the Gulf War which America emerged victorious and pundits tipped an easy second term for the erstwhile vice-president under the legendary Ronald Reagan. However, Clinton quipped during an interview ‘It is the economy, stupid’. That quip turned the tables around and showed how the economy had tanked under Bush Sr. That was what propelled the erstwhile Arkansas Governor to the White House and the rest they say is history.
Many politicians are already talking about the 2027 elections when 2025 is yet to be mid-year. It is as if the problem is solely with the APC and any other opposition party will give Nigerians the much-needed magic forgetting that the APC which they so demonize was once in the opposition.
The root cause of the current political crisis can be traced to the alteration of the political structure by the military after the January 15, 1966 coup which brought a unitary system of government to the country and tragically the so-called Giant of Africa is yet to wean itself off that terrible structure.
Prior to the coup, we had the four regions – Northern, Western, Mid-Western, and Eastern which brought development closer to the grassroots and then a weaker centre. So powerful were the regions that the then Leader of the Northern Peoples Congress, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello preferred to remain in Kaduna as the leader of the NPC rather than come to Lagos to become the Prime Minister.
The greatest mistake of the fourty-nine wise men led by Chief Rotimi Williams who drafted the 1979 Constitution was to switch the nation to the presidential system of government rather than the British parliamentary system. This is the root cause of the do or die politics that our blood-soaked polity has currently become.
The American Presidential system of government is too expensive which has accentuated the level of corruption in the country as political actors strive to outdo themselves to embezzle public funds so as to perpetuate themselves in power ad infinitum.
We must not copy everything from the West especially from Uncle Sam lock, stock, and barrel. There is the need to adapt a foreign idea to suit our own local peculiarities so that peace and prosperity may reign supreme in the land.
We need to desperately return back to the regions and break up this useless structure of close to 36 unviable states. We can have six regions of south west, south east, south south, north east, north west and north central. The capital of the south west can be in Ibadan which would go a long way to decongest Lagos as development will be more rapidly devolved to the ancient city where the sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo once sat as the Premier of the Western Region. The capital of the east can be in Enugu, south-south can be in Port Harcourt, North East in Sokoto, North West in Kaduna and North Central in Plateau which will bring peace to the much-troubled Middle Belt.
Nigeria’s capital can still remain in Abuja but we will just have a unicameral legislature – the Federal House of Representatives after abolishing the Senate. Each of the regions shall have a regional legislature and the head of the executive arm of government in the region shall be called the premier. While that at the centre in Abuja shall be called the Prime Minister.
The prime minister and premiers only have to directly win their constituency seats as they shall be the leader of the party with the majority seats in the various legislatures. This way the financial cost of electoral campaigns will be drastically reduced and the cost of governance will be cut down since the ministers are both in the executive and legislative arms of government at the same time.
There will be resource control by the regions and they will pay a minority of what they earn as taxes to the federal government. This way development will stay within the regions thereby causing a diffusion of it and decongesting the capital cities especially Abuja and Lagos. The centre will be much weaker and the political actors fewer which will discourage undesirable elements from getting involved in partisan politics. Also, the legislatures at all levels will be on a part time basis with only sitting allowances to ensure that only the brightest and best of minds in the clime get involved in politics.
To reflect the diversity of Nigeria, there will be term limits for the prime minister and premier of not more than two terms and zoning to ensure fairness.
Citizens from all walks of life should continue the clamour to press for a Sovereign National Conference so that flesh can be given to this idea in the best interest of the currently beleaguered nation.
If civil society groups could put pressure on the military to hand over power to civilians, then public spirited Nigerians should do likewise to get these fat cats in power to hand over power to them via the conference so that the way forward would be discussed robustly and solutions to the plethora of national challenges resolved.
If this conference doesn’t happen, even a change of party in 2027 wouldn’t bring the much-needed succour to Nigerians as it will be akin to pouring old wine in new bottles.
We need to press till uhuru in form of the conference comes as it is restructuring stupid!
This opinion is that of the writer and does not in any way represent the view of www.politicogazette.com.
