A Peep Into APC’S Proposed Institute Amid Concerns By Opposition Parties
ISSUES around the need to instill the ethos of probity and accountability in the polity reverberated during the validation exercise of the handbook for the proposed Progressives Institute held recently in Abuja.
This is coming against the backdrop of the rating of Nigeria as the 145 least corrupt nations out of 180 countries of the world. According to the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index released by Transparency International, Corruption Rank in Nigeria averaged 126.36 from 1996 until 2023, reaching an all time high of 154.00 in 2021 and a record low of 52.00 in 1997.
Initiated by the Dr. Abdullahi Umar Gandujeled National Working Committee ( NWC) of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), the institute is aimed at enlightening the vast supporters of the party on what is expected of them as members of the progressive family. Billed to be a policy think tank as well as the intellectual resource centre of the party among other goals, the institute would undertake research and capacity training on leadership, good governance, development, public policy, democratisation and rule of law as well as other emerging national and international issues.
The quest to put in place a Progressives Institute is understandable. Almost nine years after producing former President Muhammadu Buhari and his successor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and no fewer than 22 of the 36 governors of the federation, to oversee the affairs of the country, many Nigerians see the APC as either operating like a military regime or actually not different from leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) that they unseated in the 2015 poll.
The immediate past National Vice Chairman North West of the APC, Malam Salihu Lukman in a recent piece titled, ‘ Heartbreaking Reflections’ claimed that with President Tinubu, it is difficult to predict the direction Nigeria is going as almost every action of his government is reduced to political convenience, often with hardly any clear logic other than exercising the power to make decisions, which cannot be substantiated with reference to reasons.
Lukman wrote: “As a result, conditions of life are crashing daily. Being a loyal member of the APC and supporter of President Tinubu, it is very difficult to reconcile today’s reality with all the campaign promises made. “Since 2015, as a party, we raised the expectations of Nigerians. We promised to change Nigerian politics but since winning the 2015 elections, we have only succeeded in changing all our promises to the disappointment of Nigerians. Many of our elected and appointed representatives in government have acted exactly, if not worse than, the PDP leaders we defeated in 2015.
“Many of our leaders who were in the frontline of the struggles against military rule and against the PDP are today very comfortable and are behaving like emperors and tyrants. They impose their decisions on citizens and when citizens criticise them, they hurl insults and abuses in the same way old military regimes responded. The only difference is that cases of arrests and detention are no longer the case.”
During the validation exercise of the curriculum of the proposed institute chaired by Prof. Nuhu Yaqub, which brought together APC NWC members, scholars and party stalwarts, the issue of situating what is expected of a true progressive was part of the discourse
of the day.
The National Legal Adviser of the party, Prof. Abdulkarim Abubakar Kana, who bared his mind on the matter, stressed the need for an entire curriculum to incorporate integrity and anticorruption studies.
“Any leader that must pass through the party needs an ethics and integrity test. The issues bedevilling the country today are issues of ethics and absence of integrity and values,” he said. Another party stalwart at the event said it was unfortunate that once politicians are elected and sworn in, they begin the business- as- usualattitude in governance.
“There should be a deliberate effort to introduce them into the serious business of governance. Currently, what is done in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is not enough.
“We have observed that a month after, we find people committing various forms of infractions ignorantly or deliberately. The institute’s curriculum should help those in governance to do very well and they must go through processes that should expose them to governance,” he stressed.
For Ahmad Wamba Suleiman, emphasis must be placed on how to address moral decadence in society, adding:
“Politics should not be about making money. It’s all about service and improvement of yesteryears of decadence. We can see that in China; if a prime minister is found wanting for stealing public funds, they will kill him outright.
“The punishment is not the same with ordinary persons. Until we have a rethink whereby people look at politics as a means of acquiring illicit wealth, we won’t go anywhere. The failure in our system is about corruption. There must be punishment for offenders. The party has to be thorough so that adherents would follow through. As long as up and down are rotten, nothing can be progressive.”
The National Vice Chairman South East, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu, identified the near absence of patriotism among Nigerians as the bane of Nigeria’s progress.
“Lack of it is what makes people commit all manner of vices. I believe we must borrow a leaf from other democracies. I have been to China; there they invite leaders from other parties across the world to share their experience with them,” Arodiogbu said.
The Executive Director, Adinya Arise Foundation, Mabel Adinya, called on the ruling elite to put in place systems that ensure transparency and accountability in the polity.
“To have an institute not only to train party members but also think of strategies and ways to ensure good governance, there are things we must think about. What makes us stand out as progressives? How does the institute address issues of mentoring young people to take up leadership positions?
“We need to look at issues of policies and their implementation. How do we ensure good policies are implemented? How do we address those gaps which have to do with issues of values and ethics? What are we doing about kidnapping and banditry and all manners of criminalities? What is happening to our security architecture? Why is it that the huge monies voted are not translating to actions?” Adinya queried.
The focus of progressivism of the APC as enunciated by the party comprises ending or drastically alleviating poverty, dealing with income inequalities, securing living wages for all people, protecting human rights and advancing equal justice under the law; while the goals entail strengthening national government especially to make it more responsive to popular economic, social and political demands.
The goals also include regulating extreme concentration of wealth among a tiny elite and enormous economic power of giant trust, which may be seen as irresponsible but uncontrollable; curtailing perceived growing power of corporate entities, which may threaten the freedom of individuals to earn decent living; checking excessive opulent economic conditions for the elite, which holds little promise for the industrial workers and local farmers and the capturing and corruption of men and methods of government for their own benefits by political and power elite; to promote new governance philosophy and to reconstruct politics dominated by any class of selfish interest.
However, the Inter Parliamentary Advisory Council ( IPAC) has expressed scepticism as to whether the initiative would extend the frontiers of democracy in the country.
IPAC Chairman, Yabagi Sani, wondered why the APC decided to go it alone instead of soliciting inputs from stakeholders drawn from various political parties in the country.
Sani, who is the National chairman of the opposition Action Democratic Party ( ADP), warned that the proposed institute might turn out to be a tool in the hands of the APC- led administration to perpetuate itself in power for a long period of time.
He said: “It’s a very good thing to have an institute because when people are trained, they are kept abreast of development since the society is dynamic. So, if we can have an institute that would train and keep on retraining people so that they are abreast with the latest developments on issues of party politics, I believe it’s a good idea.
“But the only snag there is that this is a move initiated by the APC alone. APC should have liaised with IPAC because we equally have the same programme, which we call the Africa Democratic Institute, which would not serve only Nigeria but the entire West Africa and Africa as a whole; just like we have the National Democratic Institute ( NDI), the International Republican Institute ( IRI) and the UK Democratic Institute.
“It was part of my manifesto to ensure that we have ADI to train and inculcate in our people how our culture and traditions are key elements of democratic rule. That’s our own initiative. But when an initiative like this is being led by one party, definitely other parties may not like to go there.
“That is why we believe IPAC is the right platform to initiate it. We would have loved the APC to come on board. That is why other parties would not want to be on that platform. How can we associate with that institute when they want to perpetuate themselves in power? No party would want to associate with that.”
For the Coalition of United Political Parties ( CUPP), the move to establish the institute would be an exercise in futility.
CUPP’S National Secretary, Chief Peter Ameh, said: “The Latin maxim “Nemo dat quod non habet” which simply means “Nobody can give what he does not have” is very apt in All Progressives Congress’ plan to set up their Progressives Institute.
“This idea is very laughable and a travesty of what democracy and democratic institutions stand for. What has the party done with the institutions they inherited from PDP like the National Assembly, which it has converted to a subservient arm of the Executive; the Judiciary it has cruelly cowed that it no longer has a mind of its own to render justice according to the law and conscience, to the extent that an average man on the street no longer has any modicum of respect and confidence in the courts.
“The APC should rather be scratching its head on how to alleviate and bring to an end the hunger and starvation that are crushing the majority of Nigerian citizens.”
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That is why we believe IPAC is the right platform to initiate it. We would have loved the APC to come on board. That is why other parties would not want to be on that platform. How can we associate with that institute when they want to perpetuate themselves in power? No party would want to associate with that.