59 years and counting!

As the self-acclaimed “Giant of Africa” marks its 59th year of freedom from Colonial rule, the lofty dreams of the nation’s founding father still remain a mirage. Once again Independence Day activities will be “low-keyed” because in truth there is little or nothing to celebrate. The nation is more divided than ever, there is no widely accepted blueprint for national development, the political atmosphere is toxic, insecurity is spreading, freedom of speech and movement are being restricted, life has become worthless, and citizens are lining up to flee in search of a better life overseas.

After 59 years of self-governance Nigeria has become a war-torn, povertyriddled, environmentally degraded nation continuously begging for loans having serially failed to manage its sovereign wealth and harness its resources for the benefit of all citizens. To paraphrase legendary British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, the problem with Nigerian leadership is an insatiable lust for power only equaled by an incurable impotence in exercising it! The nation is failing because the narrative seems to always revolve around the personality of those currently in power rather than the inherent defects and failures entrenched within our method of governance.

Democracy isn’t supposed to be a system of coercion. It recognizes opposition and only survives and thrives with the consent of the losers. Such consent is only freely given when losers believe the processes to be free and fair. In Nigeria the electoral umpire continues to prove incapable of organizing anything remotely resembling free and fair elections. The unending overturning of election results by Election Tribunals provides little incentive for losers to consent to any result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Since independence Nigerian democracy has been defined by the conduct of substandard elections. Failure to abide by tenets of democracy such as human rights, equality, justice, the rule of law, and separation of powers continues to handicap the nation in the race for prosperity and progress.

Self-righteous Executive Arms of Government have habitually imposed themselves upon the other two arms and rubbished them to the extent that Nigerians hold Political Leaders and their appointees, Judges and Legislators in scorn. Under normal circumstances it’s the Judiciary’s job to ensure that the Executive abides by the law, but this isn’t the case in Nigeria where the Executive enjoys immunity from personal prosecution, and routinely disregards Court Orders. The Judiciary is blemished because they dispense what many lawyers refer to as “wuru-wuru” law, where the principles of jurisprudence are sacrificed for pedantic interpretation of laws to arrive at premeditated conclusions.

The current Legislature or National Assembly (NASS) created by the “1999 Military Decree for Civilian Administration” otherwise inappropriately referred to as the Constitution, is by design over-bloated, inefficient, ineffective, and absurdly expensive. Full-time overpaid and underworked legislators pass negligible legislation preferring to engage themselves in the lucrative business of “oversight” and Constituency Projects. The outrageous allowances and other paraphernalia they allocate themselves for oversight functions hasn’t stopped the proliferation of abandoned projects, hasn’t reduced over-inflated contract figures and hasn’t ended government procurement corruption.

After 59 years of poor governance Nigeria has failed to create a society where individuals compete on equal terms. Firmly stuck in the past as a hangover from events which happened in the 1960’s before the majority of living Nigerians were born, the North/South divide still breeds resentment because of inappropriate “affirmative actions” taken by government. Affirmative actions are applicable when people have been discriminated against, but this isn’t the case with the North which has been targeted for special treatment. Although Northerners have ruled Nigeria for many years Northern Nigeria is educationally backward. Rather than put more money into the educational system in the North, their leaders approved and institutionalized lower standards and lower cut-off marks for Northern students. It’s a reprehensible decision which implies that there is something wrong with the learning ability of Northern children which makes them incapable of excelling in education.

Yet no evidence exists to suggest that they would not excel in education if given the necessary support. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with their intellect rather it’s the intellect of their leaders which must be examined! Their policy of reducing educational standards for Northerners was predicated upon filling the regions “quota” in government employment. One detrimental result of this policy is that whereas Northerners abound in top government positions it’s difficult to find them holding top positions in the organized private sector where they are expected to compete with others on equal terms. Giving people things easily or free isn’t really a favor because it simply enslaves them within a system. The nation’s motto is Unity and Progress. There is no point of unity without progress.

Too many Nigerians feel discriminated against in their country and want out of this colonial arrangement. As Nigeria struggles to overcome internal pressures which threaten its very corporate existence, time is running out. The inappropriate system of governance and failure to invest in human capital and facilitate equality of opportunity are the biggest of all the nation’s failures over 59 years. Present and future leaders must learn to think ahead and invest in people and things that will unite the populace, end the downward spiral and cycle of failure and facilitate a rapidly growing economy and thriving society in the future.