The National Conference Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government has voted for the scrapping of the Nigerian Senate, suggesting that Nigeria adopt a unicameral legislature in a modified Presidential system of government.
Nigeria currently practices a bi cameral system of government with a Senate and a House of Representatives.
At yesterday’s session Northern delegates voted in favour of 60% representation by population and 40% by equality of states whilst their southern counterparts voted the opposite.
The committee’s Co-Chairman, Mohammed Kumaila, said: “We agreed that there should be a unicameral legislature with one House of Parliament.
“In taking this decision, we took cognisance of the fact that the Senate, as we have it today, with equality of states as the guiding factor while population is what determines representation at the House of Representatives.
“We have to reflect the two factors so that no segment of the state would feel neglected or undermined.
“The decision was based on the need to be fair, futuristic and building the country on a solid foundation because the issue of population is critical.
“For instance, there is no way we can compare Yobe and Kano when it comes to population, so if we pick 100 per cent representation on the basis of population, states like Kano would be disadvantaged as all would have the same number of representatives notwithstanding the number of their population.
“That is why we say the other half of 50 per cent should be based on population because the parliament is about representing the people. Moreover, we are also of the opinion that the 50-50 option would be easier to adopt at the plenary as all interests would have been taken care of.”
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