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Aisha Yesufu demands scrapping of Senate to reduce governance cost
Aisha Yesufu demands scrapping of Senate to reduce governance cost
Yesufu, Co-founder, Bring Back Our Girls Movement, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
She was reacting to calls in some quarters that the country should jettison its bicameral legislature and adopt a unicameral legislature to reduce the cost of governance.
NAN reports that unicameral legislature is a system with one chamber or house, as opposed to bicameral legislature which has two chambers (Senate and House of Representatives).
Some countries with unicameral legislatures include China (National People’s Congress), Sweden (Riksdag), Norway (Storting), Denmark (Folketing), and Portugal (Assembly of the Republic).
The activist said Nigeria could, alternatively, consider re-introduction of the parliamentary system of government to reduce the heavy funds spent on the National Assembly.
According to her, until something is done about the cost of running government and corruption, Nigerians will not feel the dividends of democracy.
“We need to really and critically examine our democracy and look at what fits us and serve the ordinary people and the masses. The one that will not be too expensive.
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“What we have now is too expensive. We need to cut costs and not just continue what we have that has not been working for Nigerians.
“I totally support the call for us to have a unicameral legislature. It is very important because the kind of governance that we are practising is very expensive.
“As a country, we really don’t have that kind of money. Apart from this, the fact is that both the Senate and House of Representatives end up duplicating functions in terms of what they do,” Yesufu said.
She said the Senate had been turned into “a retirement home for a lot of incompetent and failed governors who didn’t do anywhere well for the people in their state”.
She said that Nigerians had continued to bear the brunt of the hit on resources annually allocated to these political ‘retirees’ in the Senate.
Yesufu added: “It (Senate) is a joke ground; we cannot say what the Senate does is in a real sense different from what the House of Representatives do.
“They (Senators) do nothing special and at the end of the day, they are paid humongous amounts of our money and such huge allowances for doing nothing different.
“We found out that a good number of them, especially those that are former governors, while they get this humongous salary, are as well collecting pension from their respective states.
“There is no way democracy can work for the masses with this kind of waste of public funds that could have been directed to put happiness to the face of the common man.”
According to her, Senegal is practising a unicameral legislature, after abolishing Senate for the second time in September 2012.
She said: “The House of Representatives is capable of taking care of the law-making aspect of the nation, oversights and other things that the legislative arm of government does.
“Unicameral legislature should be adopted in Nigeria because bicameralism is too expensive apart from the fact that it slows down the business of lawmaking.
“It is not working for us, we don’t have the kind of money to run it and maintain this, especially at a time when the masses are suffering.
“Having a single legislative arm will pay us better in terms of reduction of cost of governance,” she said.
Yesufu decried that Nigeria had not in a real sense been practising a true federal system of government.
Speaking further, the activist said the country could also adopt the parliamentary system of government to reduce the cost of governance.
She said that Nigeria could no longer sustain the current presidential system of government.
“This will also pay us in terms of reduction of the cost of governance because whoever is leading the country is the one that is the first among equal.
“Ministers in this system are selected from members of the parliament that are elected.
“So, that reduces the cost of governance drastically and better than what we have now where separate people are brought in as ministers,” she said.
The activist said that both the bicameral legislature and the presidential system of government had brought a lot of pressure on the nation’s resources.
“We can have a parliamentary system of government, we shall be reducing cost of governance drastically well.
“The Prime Minister would not be this powerful and exercise control over everything, including the appointed ministers, because ministers are also members of the parliament,” she said.
Aisha Yesufu demands scrapping of Senate to reduce governance cost
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Just in: Tinubu swears in Rivers Sole Administrator Ibas
Just in: Tinubu swears in Rivers Sole Administrator Ibok-ete Ibas
President Bola Tinubu has sworn in Vice Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas (Retd.) as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State.
The administrator was sworn in on Wednesday after a short meeting with the President.
Tinubu announced the appointment of the retired naval chief at a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday, when he declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor, Ngozi Odu, and the state House of Assembly members.
The President said his decision was based on Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, saying he could not continue to watch the political situation in Rivers escalate without taking concrete action.
The suspension of Fubara and other elected representatives has been rejected and condemned by many eminent Nigerians, legal luminaries, groups such as Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Femi Falana, the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Nigerian Bar Association.
However, the emergency rule has been praised by the pro-Nyesom Wike Assembly led by Martins Amaewhule, accusing Fubara of contravening the Supreme Court ruling on the political situation in the state.
Ibas was the Chief of Naval Staff from 2015 to 2021.
He is from Cross River State where he had his early education.
The new sole administrator went to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1979 from where he proceeded to have a successful career in the Navy, rising through the ranks to the very top.
He is a member of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and the Nigerian Institute of Management.
President Muhammadu Buhari who appointed him as Chief of Naval Staff conferred him with the National Honour of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) in 2022.
News
Breaking: Tinubu declares state of emergency in Rivers State
Breaking: Tinubu declares state of emergency in Rivers State
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday night declared a state of emergency in Rivers State following the protracted political crisis in the state.
Tinubu made the declaration during a nationwide broadcast, saying it is for six months.
He announced the suspension of the Executive Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and all the members of the House of Assembly for six months.
He immediately named an administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Retd), to take charge of the affairs of the state for the six-month period.
Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution interprets a state of emergency as a situation of national danger or disaster in which a government suspends normal constitutional procedures to regain control.
A state of emergency allows the President to immediately make any desired regulations to secure public order and safety. (Channels TV)
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BREAKING: Tinubu addresses Nigerians on Rivers political crisis
BREAKING: Tinubu addresses Nigerians on Rivers political crisis
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday night will hold a nationwide broadcast to address the crisis in Rivers state.
Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said the broadcast will be transmitted by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
The broadcast is expected to be held by 7pm today.
Video: President Tinubu has declared state on emergency on Rivers state effective immediately, suspends Governor Fubara, his deputy governor and house of assembly members for six months.
He also nominated an administrator pic.twitter.com/jD1g9FHOez— Nigeria Stories (@NigeriaStories) March 18, 2025
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