DEMOCRACY AND THE NIGERIAN FACTORY
Temitope O. Stephen argues the need to ‘upgrade’ our democratic practice
Democracy has been simply and rightly defined as the government of the people by the people and for the people. The people are supposed to be the entire populace or the community or the country or the defined territory as the case may be. The universal concept of democracy is that of a social contract whereby the people submit or give their mandate or authority for leadership or ruler ship to elected representatives, who are expected in return for the mandate bestowed on them, to meet the social needs of the people by providing security, education, health needs, jobs and facilities for the social wellbeing of the people.
This essay is not in any way meant to castigate anyone but rather to give a review of the ideal and provoke reactions and suggestions about the way forward in our democratic practice in Nigeria.
Are we practising democracy the way it ought to be in the moment? The answer lies within us and we do not need a prophet to tell us what is happening in the country. We do know that the concept of democracy some people argue is adaptable to any locality based on their peculiar political arrangement and thereby give room for people to develop what can be referred to as home grown democratic governance or grass root democracy as the case may be.
Part of the ingenuity for which our dear country is renowned is the ability to import and reinvent any concept or product that is alien to us and refabricate it to meet our own standards which are not necessarily universal standard. I believe that is the same experiment we have attempted with democracy but unfortunately have ended up with a very defective product.
There are products which are easily adaptable or rather very easy to pirate or copy without any problems of their acceptance in the market they have been produced for because, you will hardly distinguish the original from the copy. Unfortunately, democracy is not one of such product that can be varied, reinvented or reproduced without a clear and apparent recognition of the deviation from the original product and its defects.
The way we have manufactured and practiced democracy in our Nigerian factory calls for a lot of questions because the end product is not only defective but a clear departure from the original in many respects for many obvious reasons. There is no need for example to argue that in our country today, most of us do not understand leadership concept nor understand that accountability goes with the concept of leadership. Common logic dictates that if I entrust you with my right or mandate as the case may be in democracy, you are expected to give accounts of your service.
We know the ideal situation and if we do pretend not to know, it is not too late to make a change and learn from the countries that have successfully institutionalised the practice of democracy to near perfection. It is time for us to change our present so that we can reap a better dividend in the future for our sake and the sake of our children and the unborn generation. It is a popular saying that Rome was not built in a single day and also that, the journey of a thousand year begins with a step in the right direction.
What went wrong with our leadership quality we used to possess in this country? Where is the missing link? We need to retrace our steps to find out where things veered in the wrong course or direction. A look at the vision of the fathers of the nation will tell us that things are not well with our nation at the moment unless we want to deceive our self. Certainly, this is not the vision of the Nigeria conceived by our pioneer political leaders like Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamidi Azikiwe and a host of others who were desirous of building an egalitarian society where peace, security, equality, and where the welfare of the people is paramount .
Our leadership model has continued to amaze me in the sense that nobody is accountable to anyone. People amass wealth in an unconstitutional and illegal means and yet no one ask questions. Even where questions are asked, no right of answer is enforceable. People embezzle and loot public funds only to be rewarded with honours. It is only in this country that constituency allowance ends up in the pocket of the representative with no project or any visible development recorded in the constituency. I recall in the United Kingdom some years ago where members of parliament voluntarily resigned or forced to resign from political office for mismanaging £200 or less from the votes meant for their constituency project.
When are we going to change our mindset in this country because the problem we have is that of our mindset. In a country where everyone aspires to a political office at all cost not because of the love of the people but for their personal greed and enhancement of their financial status, we have a long way to go unless we are determined to begin to make a change of our mindset. We may not achieve the desired change immediately but a step towards the right direction is needed to get the country out of the mess we have all put our self.
I ponder and wonder at times how people can feel comfortable or pretend that nothing is wrong when they live in affluence and ignore the reality of the abject poverty of the people they claim to serve around them when it takes very little effort to make the difference, given the resources God have blessed this country with.
Our roads are not motorable, our educational system is not up to standard in terms of what is obtainable elsewhere in the world; we do not have rail networks or develop enough waterways to facilitate a better productive economy and create access for the people to link anywhere in the country without necessarily having to embark on mass migration to the urban area.
We do not encourage our farmers nor do we encourage research and innovative ideas that can transform this country; we rather choose to tie ourselves to the apron strings of our colonial masters. One of the worst diseases our political class seems to suffer from today appears to be that of mental slavery of wanting to please the western world and conform to global standards of civilisation. There is nothing wrong in embracing good standards of the western civilisation if we are going to embrace everything all the way, but our problem is that of pick and choose, while we forget that everything is all-embracing and built on a system that is meant to harmonise every segment of the economy and society.
It is sad to know that people are not reaping the dividends of democracy in this country, people give away their mandate on the basis of buying and selling, then wait for another four years to make a change if they can really effect one. The level of poverty is so abject that it is easy for the highest bidder to get into a political office by mere offer of pittance to the populace or people who are not well informed of their right or the power they possess in terms of not casting their votes for the representative they do not trust.
Perhaps it is time we work out arithmetic of simple dividend on our investment on the political class to see if we have to adopt another system to ensure everyone benefits from the “money crazy” we practice in the name of democracy. May be the law of demand and supply should become applicable if we are not willing to make a change, maybe we should also determine the value of our mandate and make appropriate asking price if we do choose to sell.