Rep: Why we are pushing for parliamentary system of govt

Kingsley Chinda, a house of representatives member from Rivers state, says a bill to introduce the parliamentary system of government was introduced to reduce the cost of governance.

He said a parliamentary system will ensure accountability and transparency in government.

Chinda is the lead sponsor of the bill introduced in the house on Tuesday. The bill is being co-sponsored by 70 other lawmakers.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, the lawmaker said the presidential system of government has not helped Nigeria.

“One of the major criticism of the presidential system is that the cost of governance is high. You can also see that in our budget just presented, over 50 percent of that budget goes to recurrent expenditure,” he said.

“We feel that if we look elsewhere and try a system that will bring down cost of recurrent expenditure and increase cost of capital expenditure, Nigerians will benefit more from it.

“I also see a situation where there is always that friction between the executive and legislative arms. A parliamentary system will iron out that friction completely. It will also help us to check issues of corruption because ministers will be in parliament there to account properly for what they are doing.”

He added that a parliamentary system of government will ensure all arms of government are carried along in government policies.

The bill is coming barely three months to the end of the current eighth assembly, raising doubts of its passage.

Chinda said while it may be difficult to pass the bill before February, lawmakers at state assemblies have begun to key into the idea.

“The major hindrance is that we might not have all the time to pass this. But we have our colleagues at the state level who have already keyed in,” he said.