Democracy without internal democracy is counterfeit – Onuegbu
Perhaps, one of the most influential labour strategists in Nigeria today, Rivers-born Chika Hygenus Onuegbu, who just bagged a Distinction at Masters Level in Commercial law from a UK university, has warned Nigerians to choose between revolution or military rule of moneybags continue to block the masses from being equal members of major political parties.
Onuegbu of the Osi Royal House of Mgbutam in Emuohua in Rivers State, who is member of the Emuohua council of chiefs, has urged the judiciary to return power to the ordinary Nigerians by giving standard ruling that would restore internal democracy so that moneybags would no longer impose candidates at elections and block out the members.
The Egwurugwu 1 of Emuohua Kingdom (Egwurugwu is rainbow which signifies arrival of peace wherever there is strife) who led in negotiation and reconciliations mechanisms to enthrone peace in Nigeria as head of industrial relations of the most powerful unions in oil and gas industry.
The two-time TUC chairman in Rivers State said he had vehemently rejected any suggestion of joining politics due to its dirty form in Nigeria but said after garnering huge insight and strategic knowledge in academic and training/grooming institutions around the world and working in Shell, a top human resource honing organisation worldwide, he is under huge consideration of changing his mind.
Our hopes in 1999 have been dashed
Problem is how to uproot these people blocking true democracy. On whether he would change his mind after four years of saying never, he said: I have been reflecting on your question and over the weekend, I have been asking the youths to join politics. I was among those as a students’ union leader who fought for this democracy. We had hopes that democracy was going to solve our problems and impact on our lives, but that is not the reality on ground. We no longer know the difference between democracy and military rule in terms of development. I am now beginning to think like the Claude Ake (then lecturer in the Uniport) did whether we should make a choice between democracy and development. Is democracy the issue or is it the crop of people in charge of democratic institutions that are the problem? If the people are the problem, how do we uproot them so democracy would become real? So, we may have to have a rethink, to actually join politics instead of running away.
Judiciary must fight for internal democracy to save Nigeria
That is why we enjoin the judiciary to focus on internal democracy in political parties because without this, only money bags would prop up candidates in the major political parties and silence the voices of the majority. That is why I have always supported any struggle that would ensure that internal democracy remains supreme.
Again, how can people participate and make impact without internal democracy? In the US, without internal democracy, Barack Obama wouldn’t have emerged because even in Kenya where he was born which has no internal democracy, he would not emerge president.
Religious leaders must act now
What I am doing now is to appeal to the youth to join politics. I appeal to religious leaders who say participation in politics is evil to have a rethink.
The Bible said the people rejoice when the righteous come to power. If the righteous do not participate, how would they rule? King David was a political leader. The Israelites had worship of God by their kings. This means if you have righteous leaders in Nigeria, the rest of the people would embrace righteousness as a way of life. The opposite is the case when you have sinners. The Bible placed a curse on sinners ( righteousness upholds a nation and sin is a reproach to any people).
You cannot remove Nigeria in the comity of nation from reproach. You can see clearly that why we are in that situation of reproach is corruption or sin. So, it is reason why religious leaders have to join this struggles. Let them look at History because wherever there was change, religious people partnered with the people to bring it. They want people to go to heaven. It is easier for people to go to heaven if they are not overburdened by what to eat and how to take care of basic needs.
We are talking about basic comfort. If the people are still talking of healthcare in a system that is deplorable where somebody takes N30,000 minimum wage in a forex regime of N450 per Dollar, obviously, inflation is very high. Clearly, it will be very difficult for any person to remain righteous. The religious leaders have reason to support change by encouraging their members to troupe out to join parties and play active roles in the parties.
Don’t allow us go back to the military
We do not want to go back to military rule. If what is happening continues, either a revolution with unknown outcome or military rule would emerge. If they come, people would jump up to celebrate them, only to regret some months later. Way out is for good people to join politics now. So, I am re-evaluating my position to stay out of politics but for now, I am only mobilising people to come out. I may remain silent but I may also change my mind and come out and bring my experience to better the lives of our people.
When people gather all that they gather in corruption, what can they eat in a day? If you eat too much, you fall sick. If you may go for many houses but you cannot sleep in more than four feet space at a time. Covid-19 has taught us a lesson; people cannot travel abroad to treat themselves. We are all locked down here. Nigerians should wake up and forget their differences and look for good governance and look for internal democracy. Without internal democracy, it defeats the idea of joining a political party and make change because the moneybags would make decisions. That is why when the courts take a decision in support of internal democracy, I rejoice. I hear the lords say it is their internal matter, but that means they do what they want. The courts should save democracy from the notion that it is their internal matter.
The court should examine why political parties exist; to select candidates and win elections. If the process is corrupt, how do we trust them to bring the changes the society needs. The system that brings them must be decent, open and transparent to encourage every person to join and aspire.
This must concern the judiciary. If their role is only to try those who stole or committed crime but refuse to address some of the root causes why those evils happen, then that is bad. People should stop caging the judiciary and look at in terms of what the intended objective was. Why was that law made? The law for election was not made to allow political parties to bring rotten fingers to choose. If that were so, the objective is for the parties to be the model the society wants to be. Then they present people that are models for us to choose. If they fail to do this, I expect the judiciary to get angry and hammer them on the head and force them to do the right thing.
Book and radicalism
He stated: “Academically, I studied in the University of Port Harcourt ( Uniport) and I had different uncles each goading me to choose one profession or the other. I personally wanted to be an engineer, my father wanted me to study medicine, but my uncle wanted me to be an accountant, and some others with their own choices, all for me.”
It was by the whiskers that the radical Chika Onuegbu managed to graduate in the Uniport going by the daily surge of radicalism in the university during those military years.
He went on: “After my graduation in accounting, I joined Akintola Williams (now Deloitte) and later became a chartered accountant. I later became a chartered tax practitioner. I worked in various organisations and along the line, I started a Master of Business (MBA) in Uniport, but another of my uncles met me and asked me if I was learning anything new at the MBA level in accounting. Hearing that I was not learning much new, he advised me to do an Msc Economics to learn new things. That was how I abandoned that programme and did Msc Economics at the University of Calabar (Unical) when job took me to Calabar as a Resident
The Bible said the people rejoice when the righteous come to power. If the righteous do not participate, how would they rule
Control Officer (Auditor).
“It was while I was studying Economics that I saw the concept of Veracity Effect which tried to explain why developing countries like Nigeria hardly achieved economic development. It teaches that this is because institutions that drive development are weak while groups with interests grow stronger. By this, if one really wanted to make impact, going to become a professor would not aid one because institutions are weak. You should join any of the platforms that make impact in such societies and use it to make change.”
A journey in social unionism I had decided never to join unionism or politics after my first degree in the Uniport because of a lot of distractions and many burdens some of us carried, but after reading the Voracity Effect theory, I decided to join the union ( Trade Union Congress, TUC) leadership, the idea being to bring positive change to the workers, the corporate world and to the society. That is why I embraced social unionism; not just looking for welfare of workers alone but in the socio-economic landscape of the country.
For instance, if you have bad roads, it impacts on welfare of workers; poor educational standards would affect the welfare of workers such as taking their children to private schools or abroad. If the healthcare system is very poor, the workers may die or spend too much to survive. What it means is that the welfare of workers (contrary to expecting the labour leader to focus on salaries), hinges more on other factors within the economy than salary or money at hand. Money is basically the store of value, but money is useless if you can’t exchange it with worthy goods and services such as housing, education, health, etc.
What it means actually is that trade unionism should not just be about salary, about naira and kobo issues of workers, but about total package especially good governance. If there is good governance, the average cost of living per person would be small because of efficient provision of goods and services ( power, transportation, healthcare, excellent educational system). The worker would not have much to do with cash. Even those who steal in Nigeria justify it with fear of what would happen to them in the society if they didn’t have enough cash because of state of infrastructure and common services. The danger is that when they start stealing, they forget that their actions deteriorate the same malady they wanted to avoid. That is why we say corruption is violence, too.
That is what motivated me to deviate, after obtaining Masters in Economics, having been trained by Amsterdam Institute of Finance and some of the best schools in the world. Now, instead of using that strategic knowledge for myself, I decided to bring it to the services of the union.
I am not surprised whether I would be victimised or not because I have placed that knowledge at the disposal of the society. That is why I agreed to serve as chairman of PENGASSAN/NUPENG on PIB even after I retired, pro bono. It is very important to me. That is why as chairman of TUC, I was not always talking of workers salary but issues of the common man. If the common man is angry, the workers would be impacted; insecurity, social vices, etc. it is this realisation that drove my participation almost as if it’s a religion.
Having joined the union and done all this, I sought to improve my knowledge. As a leader, the knowledge of Economics helped me to understand actions of government, actions of individuals, etc. The definition of Economics I like most is ‘Economics as the study of man or woman in the ordinary business of life.’ This brings down the study of Economics to everybody.
When I became TUC chairman, Rivers State, I sought to improve my knowledge of leadership, but I was looking at what leadership I would focus on. You know there is Management and Leadership. Leadership is about vision, about bringing your vision to reality. It is about directing and making people to join you on that difficult journey and help you realize your vision of moving the people to higher heights. That drove me to do a Masters in Innovation and Change in the UK.
So, leading the Rivers State TUC and being National Industrial Relations Officer of PENGASSAN gave me the opportunity not only to study those things but apply them in real life. That helped my knowledge. Now, how do I bring innovation into the union business, how do I drive the union, drive change, and make sure that at the end of the day, we achieve what we want to achieve as a group? I completed the programme and the knowledge impacted on the position. I am sure everybody and TUC national leadership could attest to the progress TUC Rivers achieved during that period.
Within that period, I became an associate and later Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in 1978 and in 2009 I made Fellow of Institute of Taxation. The FCA is like the SAN in law. This way, you have got to the peak, and the same in taxation as a fellow. When I am doing analysis, I move from accounting to Economics and to taxation; all are related.