Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State Thursday called for a review of the Nigeria constitution to provide for a change from Federal to the Parliamentary System of government.
Governor Ortom made the called in Government House Makurdi, while inaugurating the Committee to Prepare Benue State Submission to the National Assembly Committee on review of the 1999 Constitution.
He said it was clear that the system was not a cost-effective system for the country’s context and that Nigeria would be better off switching to a Parliamentary System.
He noted that the Parliamentary System of Government provided
opportunities for power-sharing such that smaller parties also participate in governance to the extent of their electoral performance.
According to Ortom, the system is also more accountable as it provide for regular interface between the leaders of the Executive and the representatives of the people.
“It is also considerably less complex.
“The Federal Government should have a Subsidiary function. This means that it should perform only those tasks that cannot be performed at a more local level.
“The current practice in which the Federal Government has Constitutional powers in nearly 100% performance while the States and the Local Government Areas are only able to function in 30% or less of these areas is a distortion of the spirit and practice of Federalism.
“We need the Constitution to set out a system which the various tiers of Government can simultaneously engage in the types of relationships
that are common to all functional Federations by specifying the areas in which the tiers have Autonomy, areas in which the need to cooperate, areas where the relationship is supervisory and areas where power is shared,” he noted.
Governor Ortom said to further strengthen the Rule of Law and promote accountability, Nigeria need to separate the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation from that of the Hon. Minister of Justice.
He further said there is the need to also separate the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation from that of the Accountant-General of the Federal Government (and similarly for the office of the Auditor-General).
“We need to institutionalise a framework for conflict resolution that proactively providing for which/how disputes about autonomy, cooperation, supervision and power sharing will be resolved.
“We will need to establish a Constitutional Court to support the Supreme Court in settling disputes between the levels of Government as a Court
of First and Last resort.
“The country also need an Inter-Governmental Relations Council with a mandate to undertake the tasks set out in the paragraphs above,” he added.
