Nigeria – Regional System of Government, Some Senators do not Agree with the Idea

By Jumoke Ogbe, Abuja Nigeria

The Nigerian senate committee on constitution review has embarked on a two-day retreat on regional governance in Nigeria. This retreat is to see if the proposed system of regional governance can be added to the Nigerian Constitutional Review.

It should be noted that the country Nigeria, had a regional system of government from when it gained independence from the British in 1960 up till the coup of 1966 that saw the end of democratic rule in the first republic.

Since then, Nigeria has had several successive governments both civilian and military but has never reintroduced the regional system of government to the country.

The Nigerian senate is now broaching the idea of reintroducing the regional system of government to the country but there are a few senators who do not think that the idea is a good one.

The disagreements vary and cut across party and regional lines. Senators Opeyemi Bamidele APC and Ningi PDP both hail from different parts of the country, North and South but are unified in their views that the regional system of government has failed Nigeria in the past and so shouldn’t be reintroduced.

An objective look into the regional system of government that was practiced in the first republic will lead to the conclusion that it wasn’t the regional system of government that ended the first republic but corruption and avarice which was and still is an endemic problem for the Nigerian state.

The regional system of government as was practiced in the past gave rise to prosperity in all three regions of the country. Notable strides were gained by all three regions. The coup itself did not complain about the fact that the country was divided into regions, the main complaint was that the country was too corrupt and there needed to be some house cleaning.

Prior to the 1966 coup Nigerians lived freely anywhere in the country and there was exchange of ideas, goods and services across the nation. It was the coup that brought the division that has haunted the country till this day.

It will be wise for the senate to give this some more consideration because the benefits outweigh the consequences.