Seven-year single term will stabilise governance — LASU prof

Professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies at Lagos State University, Adewunmi Falode, has called for a review of Nigeria’s constitution to allow a single, non-renewable term of seven years for elected public office holders.

Falode made the call on Tuesday while delivering LASU’s 115th inaugural lecture titled, “Bespoke Solutions: Reimagining, Reifying and Realigning the Wheels of the Nigerian State,” at the Buba Marwa Auditorium of the university.

His call aligned with those of Governor Seyi Makinde, former Governor Peter Obi, economist Pat Utomi, ex-President of the Nigerian Bar Association Wole Olanipekun (SAN), and ex-Deputy President of the Senate Ike Ekweremadu, who have advocated for a single term of between five and six years.

The scholar argued that Nigeria’s current two-term, four-year arrangement is “wasteful” and contributes to an “unstable, combustible and misaligned” political environment.

According to him, the system had consistently failed to deliver the dividends of democracy because elected officials barely enjoyed five months of undistracted governance before becoming entangled in post-election litigation and preparations for another election cycle.

Falode drew parallels with countries such as Mexico and the Philippines, which operate a single six-year term.

With a seven-year single tenure, he said, Nigerian political office holders would have at least four years of stable governance, while the remaining three years could accommodate campaigns and the resolution of election petitions.

He described Nigeria’s democracy as “elitist, exclusionary and divisive,” noting the huge sums budgeted for elections, aside from expenditure on post-election litigations.

He said, “Democracy has always been expensive in Nigeria. That of the 1983 federal elections frittered away N2bn, and at the end of the day, the military derailed the whole process! In 1999, Nigeria budgeted N1.5bn; N42bn for 2011; N108.8bn in 2015; and N242.2bn in 2022. The monies for post-election litigations and other incidentals are not factored into this.

“The shocking thing was that at the end of such elections, where humongous money had been expended, with countless lives lost and businesses destroyed, it would still take the intervention of the judiciary for the wheel of democracy to be realigned and readjusted”

According to him, the current cycle leaves office holders with two years spent fending off petitions, about five months for effective governance, and the rest of the term preparing for re-election.

“This has been the unhappy circle of every federal election in Nigeria since 1960.

“Nigeria will have to tweak its constitution to allow for a single term of seven years. A variant of this is what is obtainable in Israel, the Philippines, Singapore, Armenia, Ireland, Mexico, Japan, Burundi, Ethiopia, Egypt and Liberia. Those of Liberia, Egypt and Burundi are instructive. They also had nearly identical colonial baggage as Nigeria, but went ahead to domesticate or customise their democracy.”

Falode argued that Nigeria could not continue to borrow wholesale from the United States, insisting that the country lacked the resources to sustain the same model.

The two four-year term limit is wasteful and makes the country’s political development unstable, volatile, combustible and misaligned,” he said.

“Nigeria should make it a single six- or seven-year term: I have already removed two years to resolve post-elections petitions, four stable years for governance, and the remaining one year to campaign for the next election cycle,” he said.

The professor also canvassed for what he described as “competitive federalism,” urging Nigeria to domesticate its federal structure to correct long-standing fractures in the nation’s governance system.

Citing former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s inclusion of the Federal Character Principle in the 1979 Constitution as an example of innovation, Falode said the country needed similar creativity to strengthen its federal structure.

He said, “Nigeria must customise or domesticate its federalism if it hopes to correct the obvious fractures in the nation’s seams. And what form will this take? I call this competitive federalism. This means a weak or decentralised centre with strong states.”

He stressed that his proposal was not regionalism, adding, “I am against anything that will fracture Nigeria into different parts or that champions the idea that states should be developed in silos and independently with minimal interactions with other units in the federation.

“States in the country should be allowed to co-exist, but based on clearly spelt-out and agreed terms. Historically, the different constitutional conferences and constituent assemblies had done the job of creating a White Paper of those things that can promote unity, peace and equitable development among the disparate groups in Nigeria.

He stressed that his proposal was not regionalism, adding, “I am against anything that will fracture Nigeria into different parts or that champions the idea that states should be developed in silos and independently with minimal interactions with other units in the federation.

“States in the country should be allowed to co-exist, but based on clearly spelt-out and agreed terms. Historically, the different constitutional conferences and constituent assemblies had done the job of creating a White Paper of those things that can promote unity, peace and equitable development among the disparate groups in Nigeria.

What is needed is the political will to implement those decisions. The Nigerian Constitution is the best wheel to correct all the punctures, wear and tear Nigeria is experiencing.”

Falode applauded President Bola Tinubu for steps toward fiscal federalism through the 2025 Tax Reforms Bill, which he said would “promote equitable and competitive distribution of revenue and allow states to think outside the box on revenue generation, deepen taxation and have funds for construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of public facilities.”

On persistent ethnic and religious agitations, Falode recommended education as a central tool for national integration and political development.

He argued that compulsory education up to secondary level would create enlightened citizens resistant to extremist ideologies.

“I consider education to be the most important wheel,” he said. “Education is key to national integration and political development. I specifically picked China because it has a large Muslim minority – the Uyghurs – unknown to most people. Yet, we hardly ever hear of religious extremism or large-scale terrorist attacks in the country. Education made this possible.”

According to him, China’s deployment of a unified national language and tailored education model has fostered literacy, national identity and economic competitiveness.

Nigeria, he said, must adopt a similar approach.

It is not just education but tailored or domesticated education. This is the way to go for Nigeria to realign its economy, reduce unemployment, promote unity and peace and spur development.

“Nigeria must make universal primary and secondary education free. Sending children to school must be made compulsory up to the secondary level. This will allow the state to shape the students into responsible citizens who will contribute to the development of the state. “Importantly, it will be difficult for religious and ethnic extremism to flourish in a society that has deployed adequate resources to combat ignorance through quality education,” he said.

Falode traced the disruption of Nigeria’s social harmony and political development to British colonialism and the indirect rule system.

He noted that despite various attempts since independence, the nation continued to grapple with governance challenges, ethnic and religious tensions, minority rights issues, political instability and uneven economic growth.

He argued that Nigeria might have made substantial progress had it continued on the path laid by its nationalists, who opted for federalism, regionalism, parliamentarianism, multiparty politics and a written constitution.

“At the point of independence, the state was confronted with multiple challenges: governance, ethnic and religious tensions, minority rights, political participation, and economic development,” he said.

“With three dominant ethnic groups: the Hausa/Fulani (North), Yoruba (West), and Igbo (East), alongside over 250 other minorities such as the Ijaw, Nupe, and Tiv, Nigerian nationalists opted for federalism, regionalism, parliamentarianism, a multi-party political system and a written constitution as mechanisms to steer the country toward economic growth, political stability and democratic development.

“In hindsight, this arrangement would have provided the perfect framework for realigning the already faltering tyres of the state. Federalism, in particular, is well-suited to multi-ethnic societies like Nigeria.”

“Had Nigeria’s post-independence leaders adhered to the principles of federalism, adjusting and refining the system to meet local realities, the malalignments and maladjustments that later derailed the country’s journey toward democratic stability might well have been avoided,” he argued.

Among dignitaries at the lecture were the Olota of Ota, Oba Abdulkabir Obalanlege; LASU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Prof Taiwo Afisi; LASU Registrar, Emmanuel Fanu; and the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of PUNCH Newspapers, Mr Joseph Adeyeye.