Making Democrats from Politicians through Education in Nigeria

By

Shuaibu Ibrahim Fari

shuaibu_fari@yahoo.com

At a time when the term politician seems or tends to convey some negative connotation in Nigeria, Nigeria seems to have in abundance, “politicians”, especially after 1999.   But the term democrat conveys some positive connotation.   

Nigeria seems to be short of democrats.  What is the difference between a politician and a democrat?   What is responsible for this gap?   How do we bridge the gap?   Can the gap be bridged through education?   What kind of education?   What instrument of education should be used?          

Today I hope I would not be accused of copying my view from other systems.  Today My view is that Nigeria is not an island unto itself.   Those who criticized me last year ought to have appreciated the fact that Nigerian Constitution makers copied copiously from the Bangladesh Constitution that in turn copied from the Pakistan and the Indian Constitution.   Those who are in doubt should read the “Fundamental Objective and Directive Principles of State Policy”.   Today I shall be calling attention to the classical issue of citizenship that is based on education.   This is not copying.   It is universal.    But we have to deal with the ignorance that persists in certain quarters about political education for democracy.

NIGERIAN POLITICAL CLASS MUST OVERCOME IGNORANCE

There is a display of ignorance among some members of the political class that persisted in the country since 1989 when President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida introduced the idea of politicians undergoing some training program as part of the transition program of the time.   This ignorance is manifest in the thoughts and actions of some politicians.   One and only political theoretician of the extreme right in Nigeria,

I am happy that the focus of this write-up is on the present generation of Nigerian political leaders those who kill to maintain their political ambitions.   This has nothing to do with age.   My understanding of the present generation has to do with the Nigerian politicians who took over the governance of Nigeria at all levels since the beginning of Democracy in Nigeria.   

When I decided to pick the title “Making Democrats from Politicians through Education” I knew that there are some politicians who strongly believe that politicians do not need to go to school.   This is unfortunate because Nigeria is a party to the Vienna Declaration of 1993 under which education is to be used to emphasize the indivisibility and universality of human rights and the primacy of democratic rights.

The problems that the current generation has today should be attributed to the defect in the preparation for the task that they have been facing since 1999.   Many if not all are politicians who are not democrats.   After all those who made up the five political parties that jointly “nominated” General Sani Abacha as their sole candidate to run on the ticket of those political parties were “democrats”.   They would have continued to be “democrats” along with the military strongman if he had not died.   The likes of some politicians who are one of the proponents of that kind of “democracy” would have continued to mislead there fellow politicians that what existed before 1993 was no democracy because according to the conservative theoretician, “professors, intellectuals exploited the good nature of IBB to create works for themselves and make money”.   This view persists in certain quarters in Nigeria that IBB’\s craze for education for democracy that he introduced, was responsible for the crisis over June 12. I wish Nigerians would read in full the inaccuracies, distortions and the anti-democratic sentiments expressed in the interview by this distinguished Nigerian politician.   My view is that it is better to call that type of Nigerians (and they are many) politicians are not democrats.  

SOCIAL MAN; POLITICAL MAN; DEMOCRAT

Are politicians made or born? The answer lies in the distinction between a social man or a man in society and a political man or a man participating in political activities.    

Another distinction is that not all people who live in a society are in politics or could be called politicians. But one could be both. This is empirically valid.

Not all people who live in a society or those who become politicians are democrats.  This is also empirically valid.   

DEMOCRATIC LIFE AS A LEARNED BEHAVIOR

For those who want to promote democracy in a society like Nigeria, there should be an understanding that no one is born a democrat and that democratic life is an acquired or learned behavior.   This also means that if we learn anti-democratic behavior, we can also unlearn it.   

One would recall that those who were communists in Nigeria and in the third world countries were in a dilemma after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.   The political leaders in the African countries who thought that the communist states were practicing their brand of democracy had to have a second thought after the collapse of the Soviet Union.   The old Soviet bloc could no longer serve as an alternative vision to developing countries.   

Those who read the debates over the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) would have noticed the different views about the concept of democracy.   There is virtually a consensus on the concept of democracy; hence the UN Human Rights Commission resolved this as a right in 1999.    Are we surprised that the Communist states had and still have to unlearn communism based on one party and learn to be democrats based on multipartism after the fall of the Berlin Wall?   This was not an easy feat. This was done with a lot of help from mature democracies in the West.   This was through education that many US organizations mounted in the various new democracies, as they were called after the collapse of the Soviet Union.       

What I am trying to demonstrate is that one would need democrats to help those who lived too long in a non-democratic life to transit to democracy.   This is based on the assumption that only democrats can make democrats. Nigeria lived too long under the military to appreciate democratic life. All these are some of the issues that are at the root of the political education in general and education for democracy in particular.    

The political education in communist states in the past followed some rigid program that is very different from the education for democracy. This should be my second occasion to address the questions raised by those who are ignorant about political education in general and education for democracy in particular.   They are many among the current politicians.    

The 1999 transition to civilian rule that gave birth to the current generation of politicians could not be said to be a transition to democratic rule for obvious reasons.   

One, the politicians were no democrats.    Two, they did not believe in democracy. Three they were party to the backsliding of democratization in the past. 

In my view, all those who are shouting democracy or 'we are in a democracy' cannot be expected to nurture what they do not believe in and what they actually did everything to undermine in the past.   We can see this from the way they have been carrying on since 1999 especially from the way they organize parties, seek election and run their government.

 

 

 

SHUAIBU IBRAHIM FARI

DUKUMA DUGUL

INGAWA KATSINA STATE

234-80-23454141

Shuaibu_fari@yahoo.com