Most political parties add no value to Nigerian democracy – DG, NILDS
.Suggests 3 party system, asks INEC to initiate bill for reform
A professor of Political Science and Director General, National Institute for Legislative & Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Abubakar Suleiman, has berated the occupation of Nigeria’s political space by 91 political parties.
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He said majority of the existing parties out of which 76 fielded candidates in the 2019 general election add no value to the nation’s Democratic process.
Prof. Abubakar rather suggested a three political party system democracy for effective and manageable political process.
The former minister of National Planning said this while fielding questions from journalists on Friday at the Pre – Convocation press conference of the University of Benin/NILDS 3rd Convocation ceremony coming up on Monday, October 28.
Rather than being democratic institutions, he said most of these parties are organisations of men and women advancing personal interest.
The director general said: “Most of the political parties that we have, I stand to be corrected are Jankara political organisations and they are adding no value to democracy.
“I want to subscribe therefore that for us to have a well deepened political culture, the earlier we take recourse to three political parties the better.
“Some political parties today do not have offices at the various state levels but yet they occupy space on the ballot papers thereby causing confusion.
“When you talk about inconclusive elections, over voting, some Nigerians in the rural areas find it difficult to differentiate between symbols because we have a ballot paper that is unnecessarily lengthier than 1km. So the earlier we have guided democracy with respect apologies to President Ibrahim Babangida, the better for all of us”.
Prof. Abubakar called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to initiate a bill for an amendment of the electoral act.
He said if care is not taken in the next two or three years, Nigeria could have about 200 political parties.
He said the institute would be committed to sensitising Nigerians on their rights, responsibility during election, adding that NILDS is envisioning establishing a democracy radio through which it can reach out to Nigerian electorate and sensitise the people on the workings of the legislature and mobilise Nigerians on democratic ethos.
Speaking on the coming Convocation ceremony, the director general said between 2013 and 2019, the institute has enrolled a total of 271 students for various programmes with the greatest number of them coming from the National Assembly.
Different programmes run by the institute in conjunction with the University of Benin, he said, “have been hugely impactful as evidenced in the rising number of parliamentary staff admitted”.
He said the National Universities Commission (NUC), in the light of tremendous success of the postgraduate programmes, has given approval for the commencement of Postgraduate Diploma in Elections and Political Party Management, Masters degree in Elections and Party Politics and Constitutional Law and Constitutional Development.
Prof. Abubakar said 65 students will be conferred with various degrees on Monday broken down to 23 Masters in Legislative Studies, 15 Masters in Legislative Drafting and 22 Masters in Parliamentary Administration.
