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By Sani
Tukur Kaduna My
decision to write on this subject is a result of a noble intention in
mind to show the disturbing style of leadership in Nigeria and some
interesting developments emerging out of it. This
article is going to be a three-fold discourse.
The first part of it will demonstrate my opinion about democracy
in Nigeria. Subsequent part will provide possible scenario of what might
happen in Nigeria as a sort of semblance with South Africa’s case
under apartheid, which saw to a given extent, the fall of racism due to
the overwhelming number of impoverished black population.
The concluding part will look at the reasons behind the
regime’s inability to overcome the problems affecting the nation and
the outcome of such circumstances of on the overall polity as well as
what Nigerians should be on the look out for in a leadership.
DEMOCRACY
AS A SHAM Democracy!
The very word makes me tremble, and with good reason.
On the one hand, the term ‘democracy’ has become a rhetorical
tag that promises social justice, fairness, fair hearing, speedy process
of redress, freedom, human rights and so on.
On the other hand, it epitomizes something to the contrary, for
it allows people at the echelons of power and those close to them enjoy
tremendous edge over the masses that voted them into offices of
responsibility through the utilization of state resources for selfish
gains, the acquisition of state investments using the resources of the
state, enacting and implementing policies that do not reflect the
yearnings and aspirations of their populace, acting at the behest of a
select few whose interest has always been that of how to amass wealth
and much more. Nigeria
democracy has become overwhelmed with how to gratify the western world
and its financial institutions by pursuing religiously the three
contemporary economic tenets of deregulation, liberalization and
privatisation, etcetera. This
is evident in Obasanjo’s recent trip to the G8 summit in Georgia after
it became evident that the Nigeria Labour Congress’ (NLC), which is
the champion of democracy and that of the masses, is going on strike
over the stupendous increases in petroleum price in recent years. The
President’s trip, aside from the situation on the ground, borders on
lack of commitment on the part of the leadership to address domestic
issues that have multiplier effects on the entire fabrics of the nation.
I alongside every well-meaning Nigerian view this as a negation of what
the concept of democracy and by extension, what a political society
claims to represent. The purpose of a political society, Aristotle
argued ‘is to go beyond the bare necessities of life to the good
life.’ In the same
light, Professor Timothy Gorringe insists that, ‘the good
life means a moral life in which courage, temperance and magnanimity
could flourish. Any of the
vices could destroy the good life, but above all pleonexia
(acquisitiveness, the greed that knows no limit), along with
lawlessness, is the very opposite of justice.
It is not hard to tell that those in power and their cronies have
become preoccupied with things other than the welfare of the led. Also,
Nigeria’s democracy has given birth to yet another crafty fashion of
acquisition widely known as privatisation.
Needless to say that this reason and many others have continued
to influence the yawning gap between the rich and the poor and
subsequently the erosion of faith in government. I
always recall the words of Oscar Arias, a former President of Costa Rica
whose view of democracy has always been that of a just distribution of
power (political or economic) among a nation’s population. Oscar Arias
opines that democracy should not only be the distribution of
political power, but must and should be the distribution of economic
power as well. It is not
out place to state that the irregularities in income distribution
between those in government and others close to them vis-à-vis the
masses is one factor that has continued to threaten the survival of
Nigeria’s political system, for the leadership talks in a language of
ethics, principles and morality, but its disposition is to the contrary.
Recently, there were reports in the mass media, which that
certain amount of money expected from the privatisation exercise is
missing. Hence, it is becoming a daily thing in Nigeria to hear that
funds meant for this and that cannot be accounted for.
In essence, for democracy to be any different to dictatorships,
it must be accountable and transparent. The
fact that these benchmarks are found missing in our democracy calls for
a drastic effort on the part of the led.
At this point, I want to ask Nigerians one fundamental question.
Are we going to keep quiet and allow this fraudulent setting to
ravage our economy and bury us alive?
I say we shouldn’t allow this to happen.
We can remedy the situation by a concerted effort to kick-start
the leadership to perform or kick them out of office constitutionally to
stem their comeback by 2007. ENCOURAGING
DEVELOPMENTS TO OPEN THE EYES OF THE LEADERSHIP Interestingly,
a leap into a handful of events will surely inform the need to
understand clearly that Nigerians have been pushed to the wall and what
remains is just a catalyst to enable the masses rise up against decades
of subjugation and suppression. Purportedly,
there are a number of cases to enumerate my stand that the nation is on
the verge of witnessing major changes, but this time it is going to be
spearheaded by the masses to oppose years of suppression by the ruling
class. What supposedly
happened to IBB in Zaria on the occasion of the Wedding Fatiha of Munnir
Jafaru’s daughter is enough to understand my stand that it is just a
matter of time before the masses rises up against the ruling class.
Others are that of the uprising in Kontagora over local
government elections, and much more.
It is right to point out that these people constitute a group
that was hitherto invulnerable. As
such, this represents a clear-cut demonstration of the waning of the
trust Nigeria’s leaders have been enjoying over the years and such is
enough for a blind person to know that all is well with the polity, for
the masses are beginning to get kick started and by implication,
expressing their dissatisfaction with the leadership’s indifference to
the plight of the masses. In
addition, a meeting to look into the nation’s security situation was
convened at the behest of the President.
Amusingly, the meeting drew a number of Nigerians, including
former Heads of State, governors and members of the Elite Corp. I
thought the meeting was to look into the antecedents of the problem in
order to make sound judgements on how to remedy the situation because to
provide laudable solutions to a problem at hand, one must get to the
bottom of it by understanding the precursors.
One possible precursor to the security problem is the quantum of
resources that goes into the pockets of corrupt state officials through
dubious corrupt schemes. Others
lie in government’s policies that tilt in favour of a select few and
not the downtrodden Nigerians. For
example, the recent increase in prices of fuel and its trickle down
effect on the whole of Nigeria’s economy.
This is reflected in the overwhelming support the Labour enjoyed
from Nigerians during the recent strike action.
A
LEAP INTO SOUTH AFRICA’S EXPERIENCE UNDER APARTHEID It
appears that an understanding of what happened in South Africa during
the apartheid order
will surely alter our
thinking that the minority whites in South Africa forfeited the apartheid
order not because of sympathy, but because they could not have sustained
it any further,
for the non-whites have overwhelmed them a great deal in population. When
South Africa’s minority white population institutionalized apartheid
as a policy to govern
the country in 1948, the ratio of Africans to whites was 3:1-
approximately 3 Africans to
a White. They realised the importance of some factors to really govern a
majority population
of blacks: -
Political
power including that of the economy to be in the hands of the Whites. -
This
minority had to be armed and capable of maintaining order by means of
violence - both threatened and real. -
There
has to be sufficient and sophisticated surveillance system to cover the
non-white people to unearth political troubleshooters and to maintain a
certainty of punishment in order to deter public revolt or unrests. In
the years 1948 to 1965, we saw tremendous changes in the trend, with the
60s favoring the non-whites with a ratio of 6:1. In the 70s, the ratio
was astonishingly 8:1. Indeed, by 1980s the population of non-whites has
exploded to an overwhelming nine-fold. With this, the status quo became
extremely vulnerable and the ruling elite decided to consolidate their
gains of the past by settling to a multi racial democracy or let the
leadership be claimed by force. In
Nigeria for example, a similitude can be drawn from this but not from
the perspective of segregation in terms of skin colour, but in terms of
the population of the poor that make up the majority of Nigerian
population. It is hard to come up with an exact number of Nigerians
living below poverty thresholds, but I am sure such figure is going to
be outrageous. The South Africa's apartheid experience is somewhat
tended towards shedding light on the possible effects of deprivation and
poverty vis-à-vis the increasing number of poor Nigerians.
The similarities are: ·
Nigeria’s
government, though unpopular, is utilizing every arsenal of force at its
disposal to bring the masses under control. ·
Political power including that of the
economy is in the hands of those in government or their cronies. They
are however, using a cleverly approach towards acquisition of state
resources. For instance, the privatisation scam to acquire what is left
of our people for centuries in the name of boosting efficiency. ·
The
utilisation of security operatives to do government’s dirty work is
becoming a phenomenon. For
instance, the suppression of the rights of Nigerians to assembly, to
association, and to expression is to name a few.
This
commentary is meant to ignite thoughts in the minds of Nigerians that
there is no two-way about it, that we must surely take matters into our
own hands because the leadership lacks neither the credibility nor the
compassion to address some of these problems.
In the same vein, South Africa’s minority white population
succumbed to the overwhelming pressure of the indigenous and
impoverished blacks because of nothing other than the gap created by
population. The same scenario is likely to happen in Nigeria, for the
population of the poor is increasing and something must be done to
subvert the excesses of the government.
This is easy because there exist poverty as an interesting bond
that joins Nigerians together. It
is not out of place to note that Nigerians from diverse ethnic and
religious backgrounds are seriously suffering from poverty aside from
the divides between them. So
Nigerians must try as much as possible to mend these differences and
create a genuine convergence to fight the evils of this leadership.
The downtrodden make up a large portion of Nigeria’s population of
over 100 million people or thereabout and this calls for a union on the
basis of poverty and injustice to put a stop to their excesses in order
to make Nigeria a better place for us and our children. WHY
THE LEADERSHIP IS FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO REMEDY NIGERIA’S PROBLEMS
This
brings us to the leadership’s inability to ameliorate these problems
because of: -
Lack
of credibility
the second coming of this leadership was marked by grievous electoral
malpractices and fraud. It
is no doubt overpowering for the regime to loose foresight, because they
are aware that they lack the mandate of the people. -
The
regime’s anti-corruption drive is also a fraud because quite a lot of
cases have been swept under the carpet, while others desire concern by
the day. Investigation
into the National ID Card scam is yet to be fully consummated. Also, El-Rufai’s
testimony, which had so far indicted two ‘distinguished’ Senators of
having asked for bribe before giving him a clean bill of health for the
appointment as minister was buried prematurely. All these have attested
to the serious scandals happening at places of power and the
leadership’s attitude of ‘let sleeping dog lie’.
A genuine effort to investigate the matter and bring all villains
to book will surely give the leadership a big boost and put the nation
in a good light rather than spending billions on COJA and CHOGM trying
to do the same. -
The
leadership is made up of people who think they are above the law and
therefore could toy with it and nothing happens. It is high time for
those in power to know that they are no different to any ordinary
Nigerian or anybody else for that matter.
The offices they occupy can only last for a short spell of time
and must account for their deeds on earth by becoming poor and
irrelevant in the society and most certainly, face the wrath of hell
fire on the day of judgement. Cases in point are that of local
government Chairmen and Councilors that have stepped down some 2 years
ago. Most of them have
become dead broke and have now resorted to ‘maulah’
– another word for begging. STANDARDS
OF A GOOD LEADERSHIP
What
Nigerians should be on the look out for in a leadership is the
leadership’s untiring desire to fulfil certain basics. The weekly
Newsmagazine ‘Time’ of July 15, 1974 carried a selection of opinions
by various historians, military men, businessmen and a lot many others
on the subject of who is a leader and what constitutes a good
leadership. Jules Masserman,
a United States psychoanalyst put the standards straight by giving
promising criteria wherewith to judge:
He said leaders must fulfill three functions, which are: -
Provide
for the well-being of the led, -
Provide
a social organisation in which people feel relatively secure and -
Provide
them with one set of beliefs. How do you rate the present leadership given the criteria demonstrated above? I rest my case. |