By Onyedi Ojiabor, Sanni Onogu and Tony Akowe, Abuja
Nigerian politicians, comprising governors and lawmakers,on Thursday called for the strengthening of democracy.
They noted that despite its hiccups, the government of the people, by the people and for the people remains the most potent system to take the nation to greater heights.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, former Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima and Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Maritime, Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu x-rayed Nigeria’s democratic experience in the last 20 years.
They spoke in Abuja at the 17th edition of Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme: 20 Years of Democracy in Nigeria: Strengths, Weaknesses and Opportunities.
The speakers concluded that despite various challenges, the country’s democracy has made significant progress since 1999.
Lawan, who was represented by Senate Deputy Chief Whip Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, noted that “representation, appropriation and legislation are critical to good governance”.
He added: “These virtues are enshrined in a democratic set-up, which Nigerians have experienced in the last 20 years.
“Nigeria has made substantial progress on all counts, in the evolution of our nation, via the democratic dispensation. We have been steady, determined and forward-looking.
“We have developed it to the point where we can look no other way other than the democratic way. What we now have to do as we have been doing in the National Assembly are ways of perfecting the system.”
Dr Fayemi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), warned that Nigerians must work together to preserve democracy.
“We must not only democratise the political space, we must also democratise the economic opportunities to be more inclusive, more responsive and more beneficial to all concerned,” he said.
President Buhari, the governor said, was addressing the nation’s challenges by creating opportunities in the agricultural sector, among other sectors.
Fayemi insisted that “one thing that must be confronted is the need to come with a socio-political and economic structure that will make the government at the sub-national level the centre of concrete development”.
He said: “Our federal system as currently constituted is over-burdened and could be more effective to serve the interest of accelerated national development. Similarly, the democratic space needs to be more open for inclusive representation.
“This has to be dealt with at electoral principle level more than at electoral contest level. For example, we should develop a creative mix of proportional representation rather than a winner-takes-all system.”
Shettima identified insurgency as one of the weaknesses of the current democracy.
The former governor argued that military solution may not eliminate insurgency but efforts at eradicating poverty from the land would.
Ikpeazu criticised the Executive for consistently encroaching on other arms of government and, sometimes, seeking to manipulate and influence them.
She said: “The problem we have in Nigeria in the 20 years of our democracy is that the Executive arm of government has consistently encroached on other arms and sometimes, sought to manipulate and influence them. “
Other dignitaries at the event included a former Botswana President Festus Mogae, former Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who chaired the occasion; immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
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