The impact of democracy on the lives of Nigerians ( 2)
General appeal of democracy
AMONG the reasons for the appeal of democracy world- wide are: Responsive and rule- governed leadership; freedoms and rights; political tolerance; as well as, voting system, and citizen participation through representation.
Obstacles to democracy in Africa include: Formalistic or dubious elections; scant participation by the majority; haphazard respect for human rights; poor commitment to the Rule of Law as well as, lack of accountability, weak institutions, and above all, corruption.
Democracy and the Nigerian experience The final part of our discussion is for me to address the core of the topic, namely the impact of democracy on the lives of Nigerians: And, I want to do this in two parts: Deficits of democracy in Nigeria and benefits of democracy.
Permit me, to limit my assessment of the Nigerian experience in democracy to the almost 24 years since the end of military rule, in May 1999. And, in so doing, I have identified some of the deficits and benefits of democratic rule in Nigerian since then.
However, there is the need to caution against the temptation to attribute all of our social challenges to the failure of democracy. The truth is that some of our problems in this country have little or nothing to do with governance.
In Nigeria, democracy has continued to falter because of:
Poor leadership due to the fact that politicians are hardly democratically elected; and if you are not democratically elected, the tendency is for you to disregard the interests of the electorate.
Nigerians are rooted in an authoritarian culture, tied to our traditional attitude of leadership and respect for elders and more importantly, millions of Nigerians are mere spectators and peripheral participants in the drama of governance; in fact, a majority of Nigerians are on- lookers!
Deficits of democracy in Nigeria
Political parties do not have internal democracy. In the past, many so- called political leaders did not emerge from legitimate primaries.
Political parties, generally, prepare more to rig elections than woo the people to their side. Every critical player in the electoral system is compromised, and
Politicians use violent means to influence political outcomes.
Impunity
In Nigeria, laws, rules and regulations are blatantly violated; political leaders have increasingly become unaccountable to the electorate, and there is an increase in the general latitude towards criminality.
Corruption
The pillage of our commonwealth has gone ballistic in the last 23 years; corruption has been unrelenting in upward march, as Nigeria leaders no longer steal in millions ( except foreign currency) but in billions of naira.
Emasculated Local Government system
The system of local government administration in Nigeria is a charade; governors violate the constitution, dissolve local governments at will, put their chorines at the helm of affairs and hijack their monthly allocations; the result is that we have no functional local government system in Nigeria.
Compromised and powerless State Houses of Assembly
State Houses of Assembly no longer serve as a check on the Executive; the Assemblies have become theatres of compromises and tradeoffs; in situations where Governors have been impeached, in the past, it was always at the instance, insistence and manipulation of the Federal Government; members of the Houses of Assembly are, generally, eager to be settled and, therefore, forget the reasons for which they were elected.
Self- serving leaders
Although Nigerian leaders go through the processes of democratic elections, they quickly forget their beginnings and distance themselves from the people. They build fortified fences around their mansions; provide their own municipal services ( water, electricity, etc); ride in armored vehicles; vote huge salaries, allowances and set aside security votes for themselves; as well as, send their children to expensive private schools and universities here and abroad, and go for their medical check- ups and treatment abroad, on a regular basis, all showing that in Nigerian, politics has become the most lucrative business, followed by religion!
Poor infrastructure
Nigerian roads, hospitals, public schools, universities, electricity, water supply, etc., remain at the same level of inadequacy, decay, and incontinence since 1999.
Poor economy
The Nigerian economy is supposed to be the largest in Africa. Yet, it remains a ‘ Macro illusion’; the billions which change hands everyday do not trickle down to the ordinary man; Poor economic management and corruption have left the majority of the people where they have always been, i. e in unemployment and poverty;
Nigeria has acquired the unenviable title of “the poverty capital of the world.”
Also hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have fled abroad ( the japa syndrome), to escape the harsh conditions of the economic system; the exchange rate of the naira has plummeted; it is now as low as N1,300 to the dollar and continues to fall!
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 133 million Nigerians are multi- dimensionally poor, and 63 per cent of the people have no access to health care services, education, and pipe- borne water, and the latest Human Development Index puts Nigeria at No. 161 out of 189 countries.
Terrorism and kidnapping
One of the pernicious consequences of poor governance in Nigeria has been the rise of terrorism, banditry and the spread of kidnapping. Past Presidents, Jonathan and Buhari, seemed powerless to deal with Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, thereby, constituting a threat to the sanctity of Nigeria’s sovereignty.
The resurgence of centrifugal forces
Centrifugal forces have become more toxic in Nigeria. Although ethnicity was not always far away in the altitudes of Nigerians, it appears that the Buhari administration forced the genie out of the bottle by his skewed pattern of appointments, which led to vocal agitations for re structuring and, even threats of secession by some sections of the Nigerians community .
The benefits of democracy
Although, the deficits of democracy in Nigeria are many, profound and persistent, nonetheless, there are positives to celebrate in the nation’s return to democratic governance in 1999. They include:
Freedom from military rule and arbitrary laws and policies; freedom to elect leaders through the electoral process, however imperfect it may be; freedom of speech and Association; the rule of law and greater observance of Human Rights.
Conclusion
Democracy was intended to rescue us from the arbitrariness, lawlessness, insensitivity, and corruption of military rule. It is difficult to say, after 23 years of democratic governance, that these objectives have been achieved. We are still plagued by many shortcomings, some with greater intensity.
Given the gross insecurity of the Buhari years and the current harsh economic conditions, occasioned by the reform programmes of the Tinubu Administration, it would be difficult to find anyone with a kind word for our current political leaders, nor the system that produced them.
Still, it would not be valid to come to the conclusion that democracy has failed in Nigeria. To say so, would be to commit the common mistake of seeing democracy as a finished tool for resolving political and socio- economic challenges.
It is not; rather, it is an organic process which is expected to continue to evolve and improve. Democratisation is an evolutionary, not a revolutionary process of governance. It must be constantly reformed, reworked and adapted to specific circumstances and environments.
There is always hope that relentless democratisation will lead to the perfection that we all desire. There is no perfect democracy anywhere in the world; even more significant is the fact that there is no better alternative to democracy.
Therefore, the task before us is to continue to work on refining the democracy that we have. Sogolo is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the National Open University of Nigeria, and was a Member of the Guardian Editorial Board ( 1986- 91) He made this presentation at the First Virtual Seminar of the Nigerian Academy of Letters ( NAL) recently.