Reclaiming public trust

Ademocratic political system, being based on the express will and consent of the people, depends on the trust between the government and the governed. That trust, often called public trust or political trust, is the perception by citizens that their government, its institutions and the leaders will always do the right thing even without scrutiny, as the political scientist, Arthur Miller described it 50 years ago.

Public trust is, therefore, the bedrock of any relationship between leaders and the led. Unfortunately, Nigerians have little or no public trust because the government, its institutions, and its officials at all levels have not earned it.

For one, a high level of trust in government by citizens increases the government’s legitimacy to act on behalf of the governed and therefore, gives concrete meaning to the whole idea of democracy itself. A high public trust also improves the general political atmosphere within which governance occurs. Moreover, where trust in government is high, citizens willingly comply with government directives, such as paying more taxes, which, in turn, enhances the effectiveness of government and its ability to achieve set goals.

In Nigeria, however, successive governments at federal, state and local levels have not only repeatedly dashed citizens’ trust, but have simply refused to earn it. First, successive governments, public institutions and leaders make promises to Nigerians, either during elections or when in government proper, but never do enough to keep their word.

In the past decade or so, for example, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, as it now prefers to call itself, has routinely promised Nigerians that it will revamp its refineries and improve domestic self-sufficiency or put an end to the costly importation of refined products. Yet, so far, not a single one of Nigeria’s refineries is pumping out refined products, despite the billions of dollars reportedly spent on them. The Obasanjo, Jonathan and Buhari administrations each promised to reduce the mounting cost of governance by reforming public institutions, but none did enough to keep its word. The immediate past government also promised to recruit 350,000 teachers to improve the fortunes of basic education across the country, a promise that was not kept throughout its eight years in office.

In fact, examples of failed promises by previous and current governments in Nigeria abound, including the botched Nigeria Air project, recruitment of thousands of policemen and women each year, the failed palliatives measures to cushion the effects of subsidy withdrawal, and the so far yet to be realised student loans scheme promised by this government. All of this litany of failed promises only work to reduce Nigerians’ trust in government.

Furthermore, corruption scandals, so ubiquitous in the media also weaken the trust that citizens have in their governments. Nearly every day, Nigerians wake up to the news of one or other corruption scandals allegedly perpetrated by the same public officials that are entrusted with the power to work in the common interest. And each day, the scale of corruption reported in those scandals is only growing, not reducing, as if successive government officials are in a competition over who steals the most from the public till.

The current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for example, has been in office less than a year. Yet, it has been engulfed in a series of corruption scandals that are spreading across several departments of government and involving many senior officials that were appointed only months ago. No government can hope to earn the trust of citizens in a situation such as that.

Third, Nigeria’s public institutions, funded by huge annual budgets, are notoriously irresponsive to citizens’ needs, even during life and death emergency situations. Fire services routinely do not turn up to help quench fires that destroy not just properties, but often Nigerian lives. Only last week, the whole world watched as several Nigerian families negotiate with kidnappers and crowdfund to pay outrageous ransoms while the police did almost nothing to help other than to say, quite offensively to many Nigerians, that they are “on top of the situation”, words that have completely lost their meaning.

Our point is that all of these things not only reduce public trust and the capacity of the government to function properly, but also points to Nigeria’s worsening quality of governance. And as Vice President Kashim Shettima rightly implied recently, the consequences of declining quality of governance are everywhere for all to see. From the southeast to the northeast, feelings of exclusion, abandonment and disillusionment have resulted in citizens taking up against the state in insurgencies of various hues, whether in the name of secession from Nigeria or to form a theological republic. In much of the rest of the country, rampant banditry, kidnapping and sundry criminality have taken hold, leaving citizens to their own devices as the government watches on either unable, or unwilling to reign in the situation.

We, at therefore, call on President Bola Tinubu to take active measures in restoring and reclaiming Nigerians’ trust in their governments. A first step will be to lead by example by keeping his own promises to Nigerians, as well as ensure that his appointees do the same, including in fighting corruption, not in the media, but in courts. Government agencies must also be seen to be genuinely on top of the situation not only in fighting crime but also in responding to the needs of Nigerians. The government must work to reclaim public trust because without it, there is no legitimate government.

On January 21, 1925, Albania declared itself a republic.