Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has described Nigeria’s presidential system of government as “totally useless,” and expressed its readiness to engage other parts of the country in a debate on Nigeria’s future, saying it was ready for the restructuring of the country.

Convener of the Forum, Ango Abdullahi, a retired professor, stated this in a telephone interview with Vanguard.

Abdullahi, who expressed the preference of the North for a return to the parliamentary system of government, said the current presidential system had caused more division than uniting the country.

Abdullahi said: “Today, we may appear to have a federal system of government but we are truly not because these federating units are not viable, they are not functional, they are only functional from one point.

“Maybe we talk about the even more complicating factor that moved us from parliamentary that was quite democratic to the current so-called presidential system of government.

“If today I am involved in discussions in terms of how to restructure Nigeria, bring back democracy under a federal system that would allow federating units take decisions that are largely their own initiatives, then we have to move away from this presidential system and go back to parliamentary because the parliamentary system was working.

“You would not be a minister or a commissioner if you are talking about regions, until you were elected from your village. What is happening here now is totally useless.

“I can assure you that the North, at least from my own perspective and the perspectives of many groups in the North, is ready to engage in serious discussions as to how to reshape the Nigerian state to something that is better for not only now but also for the future generations that will be coming behind us,” he stated.

Vanguard