Democracy in Nigeria too expensive, says Sowore
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, has said the current democratic system of government being practised in Nigeria is too expensive for the nation.
This is as he said if elected president in the forthcoming February elections, he would scrap the Senate or the House of Representatives completely to leave the country with a unicameral legislature.
Omoyele said this when he appeared at ‘The Roundtable’ organised by PUNCH Newspapers on Wednesday.
The AAC presidential candidate said it is a part of his transformation agenda to cut down the cost of running the country, adding that Nigeria does not need a bicameral legislative system.
He said, “It is my legislative agenda and transformation agenda to cut down the cost of business and that the Nigeria Senate or the House of Representatives (will be scrapped); we do not need a bicameral legislative system because it is too expensive.
“And as I was dropping that joint, our President, Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that our legislators added some trillions, I’m not sure about the exact figure, but they padded the budget.
“I then said to myself and according to advice from other people that have listened to this brilliant idea, maybe not the Senate should be cut off but the House of Reps. We should be able to do ok with just the Senate, with 107 members. They can adequately represent the constituencies in Nigeria and check the government.
“Otherwise, we are just going to go bankrupt one day because we have irresponsible overhead that we don’t need.”
The politician further said not only should the cost of government be cut down but also the size of government.