A renowned political and civil rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, has called for the scrapping of the Nigerian Senate to reduce cost of governance.
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.
The unicameral legislature is a system with one chamber or house, as opposed to a 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.
What we have now is too expensive. We need to cut cost 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.
