Re: Presidency: Nigeria should adopt 6-yr single term

Ihave just read a report titled, “Presidency: Nigeria should adopt 6-yr single term” on Page 13 of Daily Trust paper of Monday, September 24, and wish to comment that single tenure for president and the governors will be counter-productive, precisely because it does not have the needed incentives and rewards which can motivate for higher performance.

I am tempted to make the comment because few weeks ago, the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu made similar calls which suggest the debate about whether Nigeria should adopt single tenure or not has not been put to rest by the last elections which saw the opposition defeating a sitting president.

It is very important for Nigerians to note that any leadership or management principles and practices which have no form of incentives or rewards that can motivate for higher performance is unserviceable. In single tenure both the good and the poor performers are treated the same, to wit, no reward or incentives good performance and no sanction for feckless performance. As a result, there is nothing to reward and motivate practitioners to perform more.

If the reason for such calls is to reduce cost of elections, then we suggest that all elections be conducted on the same day. In that way, both cost and band wagon effects will ebb. If Kenya could conduct all their elections on the same day, Nigeria could also do so.

And if the call is informed by the fear of abuse of incumbency, then we retain the two tenures for both president and governors which should NOT BE CONSECUTIVE. That is to say, no president would be allowed to conduct elections in which he is a candidate. This model has worked in Chile and in Uruguay. It can work in Nigeria.

Once again, I wish to say single tenure of six years for the president and the governor will be counter-productive and therefore unserviceable.

Anthony N Z Sani, Kaduna