A SEMINAR AND PAPER PRESENTATION SPONSERED BY VOICE OF ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (VAPCON) KANO, NIGERIA PRESENTED BY ABBATI BAKO, MA, political strategy and communication, psc, University of Kent, UK (bsis, mti, Political Strategist) PRESIDENT/C.E.O INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL RESOURCE CENTRE (I.P.R.C) NIGERIA TOPIC:- POLITICS, DEMOCRACY AND LEADERSHIP WHO IS A POLITICIAN? (6) For Nigeria to succeed in its democratic journey it must adhere to the rules and regulations of the game as practiced in the developed democracies, and even less developed ones; Ghana, Zambia, Senegal, Namibia and South Africa are shining examples. Causes of our problems therefore, include: lack of discipline; selfish interest of our leaders who do not want to educate and enlighten the majority of the citizens on what politics is all about. Politics, in the real sense, means the struggle to allocate scarce resources among our teeming population. But the problem is that, the political leaders neglect the majority’, which is why we are facing problems, politically, economically and socially. A situation whereby a greater percentage of the citizens are not properly taken care of by the system, we cannot expect to have true and proper democracy. For example the Sheikh Lemu-led Presidential committee on the 2011 Election Violence and Civil Disturbances presented its report to President Goodluck Jonathan on 10th October 2011; issued a strong warning that the current state of affairs in the country “could provoke social revolution in the country unless measures are taken to improve people’s life conditions. The 22 member committee said that “the desire for change as result of frustration of people regarding the failure of successive regimes to solve the nation’s problems was one of the major causes of the post-election violence”. It was understood that, the presidential system of government adopted by Nigeria is purely western tradition. But in the western world, there is belief that, democracy never fights one another. For example, the E.U. nations are unified and united by democratic system and common capitalist market economy. There are 28 countries and about 500 million people in EU, almost all of whom belong to the same religion, but speak different languages like in Nigeria. In this respect, this paper argues that, unless Nigerians find a stable democratic system that will match their traditions and cultures, then peace, development and prosperity will not emerge. Example of countries that took such kind of democratic governance according to their traditions and cultures are Iran, China, Cuba and North Korea. They practice democratic systems on their own terms. There has not been any violence in their countries. Jega asks: “how can genuine democratization be ensured? Can democracy be successful in the context of mass poverty? Is democracy incompatible with our values, orientation and cultures and traditions? Is democracy only possible in the context of a capitalist system? How credible and viable are alternative democratic conceptions? How can democracy be sustained? How can democracy be consolidated in countries such as Nigeria, with profound legacies of militarism and militarization?” . This paper argues that, now is the right time that the respected scholar (Jega) should answer those questions; being Chairman of INEC. It has been estimated that presidential system of Government consume about a quarter of Nigeria’s annual income. One can ask the question: is this not too expensive for a third world country like Nigeria? This writing argues that, the only way is to change the traditions, cultures and attitude of people (which is the most difficult option) or the political system. This paper is of the view that parliamentary democracy may offer a remedy to Nigeria’s unstable democratic system: it is less expensive and may minimize the competitive election violence. To be continued Abbati Bako (psc)
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 21:09:37 +0000
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