Imperative of improved security and welfare for Nigerians

 

Nigeria is on the march again to have its eighth general elections in this Fourth Republic. Party primaries are underway in the 22 registered political parties, with the All-Progressives Congress, the ruling party, leading the pack. The party held its House of Representatives and senatorial primaries on May 16 and 18, respectively. Today, May 20, the party will hold its State House of Assembly primaries. Lesson from the APC primaries conducted so far shows that we still have a long way to go in our democratic journey. The party obviously needs to improve its internal democratic process. Amid the preparations for the next elections is the growing insecurity and dearth of welfare for the citizens.

Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as altered, said the security and welfare of citizens shall be the primary purpose of government. Unfortunately, past and present governments have failed to deliver on these two desiderata for good governance. I hate to speak ill of my country, but our leaders haven’t done much to improve our lives despite our quadrennial election of fresh hands to pilot the affairs of the country. We have tasted the parliamentary system of government in the First Republic that was truncated by the military on January 15, 1966. For a total of 29 years, the military held the reins of power in my fatherland. While they may be credited with a modest achievement in terms of brick and mortar such as physical infrastructure, but, with the benefit of hindsight, our decades of military rule reeks of misgovernance and corrupt practices.

We turned to a presidential system of government in 1979 and have maintained it thus far. However, the system hasn’t fared any better than the parliamentary and the military junta we have previously experienced. Things have continued to move from bad to worse in terms of security and welfare. This is a pointer to the fact that the problem with Nigeria is not intrinsically with our system of government but with the operators.

Some analysts have said our problem is leadership, but I beg to disagree. For me, it is a combo of leadership and followership. Is it not from the fold of the followership that the leadership is recruited? In the Preface to the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania, written by Quaker founder William Penn in 1682, he said, “Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavour to warp and spoil to their turn.”  Very apt submission!

A renowned human rights activist in an African country was allegedly appointed to a juicy government position, and he suddenly turned 360 degrees. No more criticism. No more activism. In fact, he started explaining away government failures and gave a mountain of excuses why people should be patient with the leadership of his country. A journalist was reported to have cornered him at a public function and asked about his sudden change in behaviour from an activist. He was quoted as asking the journalist if he was an African, to which the latter said yes. He then reminded him that it’s bad table etiquette to be eating and talking. He quipped, “We are Africans, when you’re eating, you don’t talk!” Remember, Chief Sunday Afolabi, who served as Minister of Internal Affairs (Interior) under President Olusegun Obasanjo, chided his former boss, Chief Bola Ige, who was then the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, over his frustrations with the administration. Afolabi reportedly reminded Ige that he was invited to the government simply to “come and eat” rather than criticise or complain about its policies.

It is very concerning that in spite of a plethora of reforms, a raft of policies and trillions of annual budgets at the national and sub-national levels, our government is yet to move the needle in terms of better governance. Rather, we’re being treated to spectacles of arrests and the prosecution of government officials on corruption charges. Exactly a week ago, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court sentenced former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, to 75 years’ imprisonment in absentia over a N33.8bn money laundering and fraud case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The court convicted Mamman on all 12 counts filed against him by the anti-graft agency, holding that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Justice Omotosho ordered that the prison terms would run consecutively and not concurrently, bringing the total jail term to 75 years.

Last week, EFCC arrested the Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, Mustapha Abdullahi, over alleged money laundering and fraud involving about N500bn. How could one individual pull off this kind of heist without some enablers such as the accountants, auditors and bankers of the commission? One would have thought that with several technological innovations deployed in the anti-corruption war, it would be impossible for people to embezzle government funds to this magnitude.

Just imagine what these gargantuan stolen funds could do in terms of provision of social amenities such as electricity, pipe-borne water, good roads, schools and hospitals. Yet we have individuals in government diverting state funds into private purses. The irony of it all is that some of these scoundrels are highly religious people who give an outward appearance of piety. They do charity work with stolen funds, and people see them as role models in philanthropy.  Again, it is very disappointing that a former governor who claims to be a reverend was convicted of corruption, only to be granted a state pardon by a government that claims to be fighting corruption. Preposterous!

We are in the process of recruiting a new set of leaders next year.

I likened the ongoing party primaries to what obtains in the corporate world, where job vacancies are advertised, and people apply for the jobs. There is a long list and a shortlist before the interview, where successful candidates will be appointed. Let’s assume political parties are the ones that have advertised for jobs. Aspirants form the long list, while those who win the primaries are the shortlisted candidates. Interviews are elections when people select the candidates of their choice who will govern them for four years. The Independent National Electoral Commission is the recruitment agency that political parties have engaged to help organise the exercise, while the electorate or voters are the interview panels. How we all fare in the ongoing recruitment exercise will determine the barometer of governance largely for another four years. Therefore, I enjoin our recruiters to give us new leaders who will be able to deliver on improved security and welfare.

I.G: @jideojong