A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, has faulted the recent move by some lawmakers to return Nigeria to parliamentary democracy.

Nothing that the current presidential system is not as defective as being painted in some quarters, the former minister blamed politicians for the rot in the system.

A bill seeking to introduce the parliamentary system of government to the country passed the first reading at the House of Representatives in February.

Lawmakers in support of the bill have also been visiting prominent Nigerians to solicit their support for transitioning the country from the current presidential system of government to the parliamentary system.

Notable Nigerians, including a member of the Northern Elders Forum and former vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Ango Abdullahi, have also spoken in favour of the parliamentary system.

But in his keynote address at the Songs of Nigeria Festival awards ceremony (SONIFES) in Abuja on Tuesday night, Akinyemi faulted claims that Nigeria’s presidential system is prohibitively expensive, arguing that “It is the human beings who are operating the system who decide to make the presidential system costly” through inflated compensation.

He called on Nigeria to identify its democratic shortcomings and formulate its model of “Nigerian federalism” rather than attempting to imitate other nations’ federal structures.

His words: “We also must not confuse structure with Human personalities. We talk about the presidential system being so costly that we cannot afford it and therefore we must go back to parliamentary system. Seriously? Are we really serious about that?

“Is it the presidential system that determines the salaries of our national assembly members? No, it is the human beings who are operating the system and who decide to make the presidential system costly.

“It is the people who we voted into power who decide exactly how much they are paid, who decide how much their allowances are. If we decide to cut the salaries and allowances of the executive and national assembly by one third, we will find out that the presidential system is not as expensive as we have made it.

“It is just sheer laziness. We run away from the problem and then with an attempt to decide to people, we come up with solutions and that solutions is going to be put together by human beings who will decide what the salaries of the prime minister and parliamentarians will be.”

The diplomat also accused state governments of financially stifling and undermining local government authorities in contravention of democratic principles of governance.

Akinyemi argued that democracy requires far more than just holding elections, pointing to deficiencies in education, infrastructure, women’s empowerment and the rights of local governments.

He added: “If we agree to be fair and truthful, the state governments have almost killed or if they haven’t even killed local government establishment. I don’t want to get into the debate as to whether it is the business of the state or what it does with the local government within the concept of true federalism that the federal government has no business with local governments. Let’s leave that alone for now.

“But the local governments that are under the states financially have suffered considerably. Not enough money has been given to them. The money voted for them by the federal government, the state has found a way around this money not getting to the local government. This is what has led the AGF to take the states to court.

“The solution to a problem has to found in the assesment of the problem and not for us to go into a debate as to whether true federalism means we should leave the bolts of the state governors upon the neck of the local government.

“I have argued in several places that there is nothing called True federalism. If you look at the federalism that is practiced Australia compared with the federalism practice in Brazil, with that of Canada and compare it with quasi federalism practice in Britain and United States, you will find out some issues which are common to these federal structures, there are massive differences in the federalism that is being practised in this country. So when we talk about true federalism which one is Nigeria supposed to pursue?

“Therefore we must make it clear in our mind that kind of federalism we need to practise. We must seriously tackle the issue and then we can have Nigerian federalism. To have Nigerian federalism is not something that we should be afraid or apologetic about. It is sheer laziness for us to be talking about copying what is done in American when it may not suit us.”

Stressing that Nigerians have abused the concept of infrastructure, he denounced the tendency by governors to celebrate minor road projects as major infrastructure development accomplishments

“And this, I concede, although like everything that we do in Nigeria, we abuse the concept of infrastructure. Why should a governor with all paraphernalia come to cut the tape of a five-mile, 10-mile road and we regard that as development?

“What else is the governor supposed to be doing? That is not what one means by development, because he’s just doing his job.

“But it has become, like everything else in this country, something that we practice. Roads, these days, tips are spread across roads. Let us go beyond that.

“Let us put the children in school. Let us have women’s development. The Beijing agreement was that 35% of women should be represented in parliament. Have we achieved that? The answer is no. So we must work towards that”, he added.

SONIFES ’24 President, Dr. Elizabeth Ben-Iheanacho hailed the silver anniversary as a milestone worthy of commemorating Nigeria’s democratic journey through its rich cultural traditions.

“Our songs, festivals, music, films, theatre, dances and traditional institutions have been the bulwark of making democracy in Nigeria the collective experience of the people,” Ben-Iheanacho stated.

Drawing on spiritual numerology and popular symbols, the SONIFES president described the number 25 as signifying grace, glory, law, overlap, faith, intuition and confidence.

She deemed the 25-year mark as a “landmark worthy of celebration through songs, dances and the best of our cultural performances.”