Democracy In Nigeria And Nigerians By Ado Musa adorimayemusa@yahoo Democracy is built on the equality of citizens; the freedom of these citizens to associate with one another for the realization of their ideals and the defense and promotion of their interests; and the freedom of these citizens to choose between the different political platforms of various political parties and candidates, and see to the actualization of the platforms they have voted for, if their choices win. But in Nigeria, people have effectively been disenfranchised by their own circumstances on the one hand, and their leaders’ perfidy on the other. As a result, Nigeria is approaching a situation where democracy is being practiced without democrats and elections are being conducted with scant regard for the electorate. The ballot is not respected by the government and the price of protecting it is too high for the people to pay; but the bullet, once universally feared, is now generally out of fashion. The biggest blunder of Nigeria’s ruling class has been its failure to build strong and stable social system to provide the kind of atmosphere that democracy needs to take root and flourish. The ruling elite is also guilty of, as described by Muhammadu Buhari, ‘deliberately promoting the social fragmentation that creates, feeds and reinforces religious and ethnic identities to the exclusion of civic and national identities. In discussing the linkage between Identity, Law and Strategy, Philip Bobbitt submitted that “It is the self-portrayal of a society that enables it to know its own identity. Without this knowledge a society cannot establish its rule by law because every system of laws depends on the continuity of legitimacy, which is an attribute of identity. Furthermore, without such a self-portrayal, no society can pursue a rational strategy because it is the identity of the society that strategy seeks to promote, protect and preserve.” In the light of the above, and looking at the year 2011 and beyond in the Nigerian political parlance, there are several vigorous challenges which must be met decisively and effectively if the polity is to endure. The questions of national identity, national integration, the issues of the legitimacy of authority and the transformation of Nigerian society into a true political community have still not been properly and definitively addressed and a lot will depend on when and how quickly they are asked and answered. There is no blue-print to achieve resourceful economic management, broaden educational opportunity, ensure food security, reduce absolute poverty, ensure security of lives and properties, promote real (not imagined) economic growth, fight corruption, provide employment and equal opportunities. Instead, treasuries are effortlessly and efficiently looted; people occupying responsible positions of authority demonstrate such lack of self control and inability to work with others as a team. Nations that assess situations as they unfolded without mercantilist intentions, according to Paul Mamza, do not fall into self-inflicted fatal accident of fate like Nigeria. Nigeria is the only country in the planet earth that no impossibilities of contempt exist even in the latent cusps of absurdities – that is why, he continued, its citizens were rated the most happiest in the entire world and yet the most corrupt in the universe and the same reason is responsible for why the cries of marginalization and oppression are mere imitations of a smokescreen. No country without the rudiments of a rule of law like Nigeria would not be vulnerable to perfidies and incriminate hostage of power-mongers. Why is the Nigerian polity so over-heated, and yet, it is apparently resilient? Could the Nigerian condition make a quantum transition to a worse condition, or maybe to a better reality, or could Nigeria simply stagnate ad infinitum? Is there any need to change the status quo in contemporary Nigerian politics? Are the rules of engagement in Nigerian politics overdue for drastic changes? How do we minimize the resultant entropy in the Nigerian political system? What are the most optimal and workable short-term solutions that can assure long-term resolution of Nigeria’s political dysfunction? At the heart of all these are the economic vicissitudes which have pulverized the nation. After fifty years of political and (economic?) independence, our economy has stagnated and the present office holders continue to blame the military for the country’s woes and hiding behind the toga of ‘nascent democracy’ which has been in practice for the past thirteen years. This is about the wellbeing of the population in the extent to which the economy successfully banishes poverty, want, ignorance and disease. It is, according to Dr. Mahmud Tukur, about success in wealth creation, prosperity for the broad masses of the people, security of life and property at home, at work, on the roads and in social harmony. However, a closer look at the performance of the politicians for the period covered leaves much to be desired. Billions upon billions of taxpayers’ money have continued to be siphoned through official sleaze. Corruption has become pandemic, executive impunity has become fashionable, and rule of law is only chanted at official gatherings without a dint of intention for its implementation. Insecurity of lives and properties has become rampant in the country, which is a more reason why we ardently need a viable polity – that is a Nigeria in which there is free movement of people, goods and services and country in which residency and participation rights are guaranteed for all Nigerians wherever they may choose to live. This connectivity is important and has to be appreciated by elite which has the reputation of greed and selfishness. We have been promised dividends of democracy, only to end up witnessing unprecedented looting of the nation’s treasury. We were promised good roads, healthcare, electricity supply and good governance, but Nigerians are still ‘suffering and smiling’ as they travel through the most pot-holed roads spread across the country; as for healthcare, the least said about it the better as people are on daily basis being eliminated by common diseases (such as malaria) which other nations have since forgotten about its existence. Electricity supply is near zero and Nigerians have become depressingly hopeless as to when the problem is going to be addressed. Another worrisome phenomenon is the cynicism which most people have in the integrity of a number of institutions or processes and the possibility that they may not deliver according to the rules. The most immediate one is the forthcoming elections. The Voters’ Registration Exercise has encountered many technical challenges and most people are skeptical on whether their votes would really count. This is in addition to the concerns people are raising about the role of the security agencies during election. All these need to be seriously looked into and appropriate measures applied to disabuse the minds of Nigerians on the government’s good intention of sanitizing the polity. Politically we have not been able to achieve the stability our country needs, the quality of governance which Nigerians expect, and the delivery of services which they are entitled. Ethnicity, religious intolerance, incompetence, greed, insincerity and insensitivity have characterized our leadership. There is hardly an attempt to build the institutions of the polity such as the political parties, the legislatures and the judiciary which are the bedrock of a democratic system. The arrogance and the disregard for the needs of the people reflect the indiscipline, the extravagance and the dishonesty which have become the hallmark of the behavior of those in authority. The National Assembly, as representatives of the people, and who are supposed to enact laws leading to good governance in a modern democratic setting; who are also expected to check the excesses of the executive arm of government, has compromised its constitutional roles, abandoned the electorate, and become praise-singers to the executive and rubber-stamp legislature. It has become a hub for corrupt practices and malevolent constitutional juggling in complete disregard to the needs of the common man. The House of Representatives, for example, in apparent show of indiscipline and inability to exhibit some level of civility and self control was seen on the screens of television in a free-for-all fight last year simply because a corruption allegation was labeled against the ‘honourable speaker.’ The above scenario reminds one of the story being told about a patient who needed brain transplant. Two options were available to him, one brain from a university professor, the other from a politician. The surgeons gave their patient the privilege to choose of the two options. The patient, to the astonishment of the surgeons chose the politician’s brain. The surgeons asked why he rejected that of the professor and preferred that of the politician? The patient explained that he was sure the professor must have used every cell of his brain while the politician may not have utilized any, so why take a used brain when you have fresh and unused one? One does not know who the patient was but one can see what he thinks of politicians. (apologies to Dr. Bugaje). The National Assembly in Nigeria’s democracy allocates to itself 28 per cent of the total overhead cost of the country’s annual budget, in addition to the plethora of sidekicks that come their way in the course of their so-called ‘oversight functions’ in the ministries and parastatals. When the amiable Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi opened the Pandora’s Box, the National Assembly summoned him for ‘clarification’; the erudite CBN Governor stood his ground and heavens did not fall. They thought the Mallam was a man who could easily be intimidated. Unfortunately, the National Assembly came out more humiliated than before the Mallam’s appearance before it. Perhaps, they forgot their encounter with another Mallam, but this one was Nasir Ahmed El-Rufa’i, when he told the world that a substantial amount of money was demanded from him to pave way for his being cleared for a ministerial post then. I am sure, dear reader, you haven’t forgotten how the Mallam showed the Zwinginas and the Sodangis of this world that they were just ‘choir boys’ as far as integrity was concerned. The arrogant display of mostly ill-gotten wealth by the political office holders in Nigeria continues to attract indignation and hatred from the masses. The ‘morbid symptoms’ of such a display, to quote Gramsci, ‘are those of polarization and a general crisis of the state and of political authority to a nation’ Members of the National Assembly seem to have forgotten or deliberately refused to admit that we have so many problems that need their attention as lawmakers. For example, we have an educational system essentially elitist but advertised as popular and mass oriented, which guarantees that most Nigerian young people cannot realistically hope to have more education than is necessary for them to join an exploitable labour reserve in the rural and urban centres. Knowledge, as we were once reminded by Waziri Junaidu, is certainly universal and timeless but it has a social cultural stamp. It also has a purpose and a commitment to a particular world-view. It therefore cannot be neutral. Does our contemporary educational system in any way reflect our historical or cultural backgrounds as Africans? Does our educational system portray the identity of our forefathers? What kind of behavior is being exhibited by our young graduates from these kind of schools scattered all around the country? Does it reflect anything near decency, composure, sense of responsibility, truthfulness, and integrity? Our people must not sit by the fence. The time has come to reclaim our sovereignty and our country. We must wake up from our slumber and ask questions regarding the welfare of our community, the whereabouts of our Value Added Tax revenue, the whereabouts of our monthly allocations from the federation accounts. We must be able to ask our elected representatives the kind of policies they are formulating for us in terms of education, healthcare, and infrastructural development. We must also ask some questions about the integrity of elections and legitimacy of authority in all the three tiers of governance In Gramscian language, the problem is how to construct a counter-hegemonic blocco storico – a “we” that might comprise a new constellation of democratic and progressive social forces. The “how” needs to be effective and open-ended, plural, inclusive and flexible, and it must be forged in terms of a realistic political optimism that is creative and forward-looking. The idea of collective political will thus concerns the possibility of a national political association or imagined community of the progressive counter-movements. We, as Nigerians must understand our differences and arrive at a general consensus on the need for us to summon courage and vote only those good Christians and good Muslims from amongst us who will save us from the hands of the present manipulators who have no respect for human feelings and aspirations. We must arrive at a consensus that only a collegiate leadership of knowledgeable, humble, patriotic and committed Nigerians is voted into office this time around. We have had enough of this contraption.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 19:19:09 +0000
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