Nigeria should adopt French presidential system of government – Yakasai

Tanko Yakasai, a founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum has pushed for the adoption of the French presidential system of government in Nigeria against the American system currently being practiced.

Yakasai held that the French system will cost the country less than it does currently. He made the recommendation during his address as the chairman of TheNiche Annual lecture themed ‘2023 Elections and the Future of Nigeria’s Democracy.

“The reason why I am advocating the adoption of the French presidential system is that it is far cheaper to operate and therefore more suitable to our own reality as a developing nation,” he said.

“The operation of American system  made administering Nigeria which is a federal state with diverse nature more expensive to run and extremely difficult to develop and prosper, unlike many of its sister developing nations.”

France has both a president and a prime minister. The president is the head of state, the most powerful person in French politics, and generally the most well-known figurehead of the French government.

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“France is a republic and a parliamentary democracy and has a hybrid presidential/parliamentary political system. The head of state is the French President who appoints the Prime Minister as head of government,” according to expatica.com, a platform that provide expat-friendly services.

“The public elects the president who usually represents one of the French political parties. It is the responsibility of the French president to appoint a prime minister as head of government.”

The former commissioner for finance in Kano State also maintained that regional government system will work better for the country.

“It has been my long-standing argument that the regional system of government worked better for the country when compared to all other experimentation. However, in view of the changing local and international dynamics coupled with institutional limitations, reverting to the regional system may not be helpful and feasible under our current precarious situations,” the former commissioner said.

“For this, I advocate for people-oriented change and peaceful restructuring of the current federal system to devolve power and responsibilities to the sub-nationals which would, in turn, offer better opportunity for stability and unity.”