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Blame Seven Years of Democracy By Mutiu Animashawun
Rabble-rousers come out of woods on the seven years of democracy. Why not? Democracy is inherently slow, moves with a rumbling noise, and is a possible safe-harbor for unintended consequences whether the watchdogs are in positions or not. It has not been the expected panacea for sixteen years of our national deterioration. The whole gambit of electioneering is time-consuming and energy-consuming. By the time it is said and done with, the tussle of ruling begins with another set of maneuver for housekeeping. Meanwhile, the proper business of governing is yet on the political radar for sometime. Even when it gets on the radar, the engine of democratic process grinds very slow before a bill becomes a law-- it may take eon.
Despite the not-so-great inroads Nigeria has made in democracy since 1999, the sorry state of infrastructure can not be changed within seven years even if the political class are running on every cylinder 24/7 in all honesty. What is even laughable is using democratic process to change wanton destruction of sixteen in seven years from the ground up. That is a tall order.
Accountability works elsewhere because the electorates feverishly demand and tirelessly work for them to curb excessiveness of elected. Hence, it is the cumulative efforts of citizens that will find footing for accountability rather the likes of EFCC, which has been twisted and turned into political whipping posts. Who wants their dirty laundry in the public? EFCC may not be perfect but a deterrence of a sort.
Accountability takes a long time to be effective and, most importantly, finding the right executors in the murky waters of Nigerian society add another dimension to already complicated processes while the unrest in the oil-rich South-south endangers our main foreign exchange earner. Lest we forget that Nigeria is still learning the crucial elements of democracy regardless of Nigerians or Nigerian-born experts at home and aboard. We have not had a long tradition to support us when the going gets tough without military coming into power. In fact, the principles of democracy will and can not enforce themselves without human beings willing to comply. How many are available among the crop of political class other than self-denial to soothe a painful fact? Building accountability becomes not only difficult tasks but practically impossible to begin with in our culture of corruption.
We can not run away from our dark past as we are running into a bright future in democracy. The unabated entropies farmed parasites deeply entrenched in their ways especially between 1983 and 1999. The run of events within those sixteen years also etched failures in every aspect of our government. The parasites are tapeworms with fitting appetites at the national coffers. Regardless of the turn of events in 1999, the gluttons are yet to be flushed out of our national gut. So it is an unending battle to bring good governance to fruit because whatever is meant for the national improvements is barely absorbed. One apparent unintended consequence is that parasites find comfort in political parties to continue business as usual.
But the advert of likes of EFCC ushered in a new era. As a result of which it became much more difficult to continue business as usual, leading to political masquerades trampling one another within the same ruling political partying in either the state or federal. The implosions diverted needed energies from the business of governing Nigeria. Even when the focus was renewed, the unrest in the South-south flared up and still threatening oil price worldwide. With all these new constraints, the equation of governing becomes much more complex in spite of growing public spending-- the raw numbers belie not only the inflationary effects but also the uncertainties of doing business in a corrupted environment-- to revive long death projects. Yes, they are hunted right from birth. If the hurdle is not preying on at very junction along the bureaucratic trail, it is protection money to save jobsites from the street urchins. After all these, a sizeable chunk of the contract value is gone before work even starts. Stretching the leftover means quality or planned size scaled back: road paved with crushed stone in place of tarred one or under capacity drainage system in place over one. And a torrential downpour washes the road away and the ensuing flood overwhelms the drainage system.
Those are not the fault of democracy but that, of course, is lack of humans willing to carry out democratic principles. But, to rabble-rousers, it is one heck of shortcomings.
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