Seven-Year Single Term Would Stabilise Nigeria’s Governance, Says LASU Professor

A professor at Lagos State University argued on Tuesday that a seven-year single presidential term would end Nigeria’s cycle of electoral chaos and deliver steady leadership. Adewunmi Falode, an expert in international relations and strategic studies, made the case during LASU’s 115th inaugural lecture in Ojo. Titled “Bespoke Solutions: Reimagining, Reifying and Realigning the Wheels of the Nigerian State,” the event drew dignitaries to the Buba Marwa Auditorium.

Falode slammed the current two four-year terms as wasteful and disruptive. He said leaders waste two years on court battles over results and the rest plotting re-election, leaving scant time for real work. Elections have cost billions since 1960—N2 billion in 1983 alone—plus untold lives and shattered businesses, often settled only by judges.

Nigeria must craft its own rules, not copy America’s costly model, Falode urged. He pointed to nations like Mexico and the Philippines with six-year single terms, and Liberia and Egypt that tailored democracy after colonial scars. A seven-year limit would carve out four stable years for governing, one for petitions, and two for the next race.

He pushed “competitive federalism” too—a lean centre with robust states, all bound by a shared constitution. Falode praised President Bola Tinubu’s tax reforms as a step toward fairer revenue sharing. But he warned against splintering the country into isolated zones.

Education tops his fixes for fractures, he added. Free compulsory schooling up to secondary level would crush ignorance and curb ethnic strife, much like China’s success with minorities.

– Key backers of single-term ideas: Governor Seyi Makinde, Peter Obi, economist Pat Utomi, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), and Ike Ekweremadu (who favours five or six years)
– Nations with single-term variants: Israel, Singapore, Armenia, Ireland, Japan, Burundi, Ethiopia, Egypt, Liberia
– Guests at the lecture: Olota of Ota Oba Abdulkabir Obalanlege, LASU Vice-Chancellor Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello (via deputy), Registrar Emmanuel Fanu, PUNCH MD Joseph Adeyeye

Nigeria’s birth pangs—ethnic rifts, minority cries, and lopsided growth—still echo from independence. Falode mourned how leaders ditched true federalism, letting tensions fester. Yet he held hope: a custom-fit system could knit wounds and spark shared progress for weary families.