Zik Gbemre,
Those who have been sincerely following the political developments in the country without any prejudice or bias will agree with the fact that the year 2014 will be a defining year for not only the political class, who are already desperately ‘positioning’ themselves in preparation for the election year in 2015, but also the Nigerian citizenry, who are getting tired of the failed promises and disappointment by the ruling class. Nigeria indeed has had more share of bad leaders than it has good leaders since independence. And as such, the country is today still in the woods of underdevelopment and backwardness, despite its vast human and natural resourcefulness.
The last few months leading to the end of the year 2013, has been rather a mind-boggling and secret-revealing one for most Nigerians. It was as if caution was thrown into air, as prominent past and present leaders exchange ‘blows’ in form of “Open Letters” on the pages of national tabloids and the electronic media; exposing themselves, blaming each other, cursing, abusing and ridiculing each other over the actions and inactions that have led to the present deplorable status of the Nigerian socio-economic and political existence. First it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s “Before It Is Too Late” eighteen-page open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, which content and vituperations have practically heated up the political landscape to a boiling point that is yet to cool down. Then came President Jonathan’s response to Obasanjo’s letter, and of course, the supposed open letter from Obasanjo’s daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo’s eleven-page letter that lambasted her dad. Even the Ijaw leader, E. K. Clark and former Senate President, Ameh Ebute, were among those that equally responded to the said open letters, expressing their own varying opinions in support of one side against the other. Typical of the Nigerian crop of political leaders, nobody was taking any sort of blame or responsible for being part of the contributing factor that had led to Nigeria’s laughable status. What we find are ‘pots calling kettles black’ and everyone blaming the other for being the problem. And from what is evident, we are quite certain that the reactions and counter-reactions will not end soon.
While we seriously would not want to bother ourselves to analyze and deliberate on the contents of the various open letters and the commentaries and reactions that followed, the fact of the matter is that The Truth, no matter how hard one tries to hide it, manipulate it, cover it, distort it or ignore/disregard it, one day it will surely reveal itself. And even if it is believed or not, The Truth will always remain The Truth.
And one of the truths about the present state called Nigeria is that cracks,disunity, confusions and serious misunderstandings are beginning to takeroots in the midst of those political élites that have for countless years now, held the Nigerian nation to ransom with their self-centered political ambitions’ that have often worked to the detriment of the citizenry. And like a social critic recently noted; a revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough: compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough – but a revolution which is coming whether we will accept it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability. The revolution is here now and it is politically inclined. It is a silent one that is devoid of all alternatives.
The deep rottenness of Nigeria’s political system threatens all the political and economic gains this giant country has ever made. In its position as the largest black African nation on earth and of course the most populous in the African continent, Nigeria also ranks high among the comity of nations in terms of both human and natural resources, which, if put to maximum use and well harnessed and processed, the country would have by now, assert its rightful positionamong the super nations on earth.
A lot of stakeholders in the country are, at the moment, looking forward to theNational Conference, which many, especially the present administration, are counting on to address the ‘so many’ things wrong with the country. There is so much rivalry and antagonism in the land. There is so many agitations and bitterness. When one ethnic or regional group is not pitted against the other, one religious or cultural body will be up in arms against the other. The most deadly manifestation of this unsettled state is the rising insecurity situation in the country attributed to the Boko Haram sect, and of course the divergent quest for political power and sensitive government positions by various interests in the country. The insecurity concerns for instance, especially that which is attributed to the Boko Haram sect, has subverted all rules and regulations governing Nigeria as an entity. The impression many get from all this is that Nigeria is on a cliff hanger. It is daily becoming obvious that majority of Nigerians no longer believe in the present structural arrangement and therefore the need to come together to fashion out a way of living with one another. Though, the said National Conference has been slated by the government to take place early 2014, however, many like us, are still skeptical and unsure of how this ‘all-important’ conference will play out. Perhaps, only time will tell.
Nigeria, we are meant to believe, is a democratic country. Obviously, the reasons for such an assertion include the existence of political parties, elected representatives of the people in a National Assembly; elected national president, governors, and local government chairmen and councilors, periodic elections etc. Added to all these would be the rule of law. The law of the land in a democratic setting is grounded in a Constitution, whether written or unwritten. The constitution spells out, among other things, some fundamental rights and privileges of citizens. In the case of Nigeria, her 1999 Constitution (which has been subjected to all manner of amendments to address its inherited defects), has sections on the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy, as well as a section on fundamental rights, amongst others.
Thus, in principle, Nigeria qualifies to be branded as a democratic. But is this really the case? Is the country’s 1999 Constitution truly the supreme law of the land? In practical terms and from daily public experience, is it not standing the truth on its head to suggest in the remotest sense that no Nigerian is above the law? But has that been the case? Public interest and the preferences of the majority attract scant attention from dictators, even of the benevolent slant. Despite the fact that Democracy, however, is said to be about people. But a democracy that is roughly 14 years of age that permits 85 percent of Nigerians to be seriously impoverished and poverty stricken; that seems unruffled by mass unemployment, that regales in the lack of qualitative education, health services, provision of the basic necessities of life and critical infrastructure, etc, are in dire need of self-interrogation and obvious redemption.
An uninformed and impoverished citizenry that shares everything in common with destitute can scarcely participate in matters of state. Ours is a country where well over 85 percent of the population is excluded from the ownership of the means of production and distribution of material wealth and services. Those who control the economy strive desperately to control what happens in the polity too; that is if they are not the major determinants of the nature of democracy currently in vogue in Nigeria.
It is in this light that we see the recent activities of some governors jostling to feather their political nests and courting the attention of former heads of state purportedly for the purpose of saving Nigeria’s democracy as nauseating and an insult to ones intellect and reasoning. Who brought the country to its present sorry pass in the first place? Is it not this same group of political elites that have been running the country strictly in their own personal and socio-economic interests and those of their collaborative foreign partners?
Sermons are given on daily basis of frantic efforts to attract foreign investors/investment, when in reality, what is achieved in the end is the attraction of complicit foreign ‘partners’ who act as fronts in cornering choice economic interests and dubiously funding elections. In truth, Nigeria is a preening democracy. Presently, politicians and their endorsers mobilize the gullible and heartlessly deprived populace to serve sectarian and individual interests, even at the risk of losing their lives in the process. When the political, social, economic and educational objectives in the 1999 Constitution take root in governance, we can justifiably be talking of a democratic Nigeria. For now, the various political parties, led by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have seized the nation’s sovereignty and democracy by the jugular. The stinking brand of Nigeria’s kind of democracy favours no other than them. The strife between the Presidency, select governors and economic magnates who collectively define the Nigerian state, is an internal ‘family affair’ among the ruling elites. The majority of Nigerians are not meant to benefit from this strife in any way whatsoever.
The unfortunate thing is that the ruling class has failed to realize that it is also in their own-best interest and that of those supporting them, to ensure that the interest of the majority is considered into the country’s political and economic calculations. “Power should speak the truth to itself to endure”. Failure to learn that mass disaffection could lead to a violent eruption (that even military repression may not always contain), which could squander the remnants of what many now term Nigeria’s ‘fragile democracy.’
All of this, goes to justify one fundamental truth and principle that practically explains where we are, what we are, and where we will be as a nation. And that truth is the fact that “the dominium usually assumes the (real) character of its ruler.” That is, every nation, state, society and entity usually assumes the character of its ruler/leader. For instance, Nigeria under Abacha is different from Nigeria under Obasanjo. Nigeria under Yar’Adua is different from Nigeria under Jonathan, and so on. And that is because the ‘character’ of these rulers/leaders is different from one another. There are things you can do now in the Nigerian polity and practically get away with it, which you cannot do and easily get away with it in the time of some past leaders like Obasanjo.
And as far as we are concerned, it is as if the situation in Nigeria is getting worst with a very successive ruler/leader since the inception of Democratic rule in 1999. With the present administration as a classical example, never have we witnessed such number of incidents and insecurity that has led to the loss of thousands of innocent lives in the country’s democratic history. Or is it the level of corruption and impunity that has practically rendered and made the Judiciary and anti-graft agencies as toothless bulldogs and laughing stock. Not to mention the witnessed broad day light robbery of electoral mandate and electoral fraud; perversion of justice; abuse and disregard for the rule of law; indiscipline and mediocrity of high proportions in public service delivery.
The one that bugs us most is the level of corruptions and impunity that has been evident at all levels of governance since the inception of the present administration. When public office holders are allowed to go scot free or merely given a slap on the wrist for stealing public funds meant for the general good of all, then the system is practically adding kerosene to the already burning fire. At least in time past, we have seen the prosecution and sentencing of an Inspector General of Police, a former State Governor and some other high profile cases. Even though some may argue that back then, such fight against corrupt public officials was ‘selective’, the fact still remains that “there was evident fight against corruption” to a considerable degree. This cannot be said of the present administration. That is why the EFCC of today cannot be compared to the EFCC of the past when Nuhu Ribadu was its Chairman. Why can’t our present political leaders fight corruption like the late Nelson Mandela of South-Africa and Jerry Rawlings of Ghana did when they were in government? At least the present government should locate the more than $49Billion (about N79Trillion), that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported ‘missing’. Or at least prosecute those behind the fuel-subsidy scam. It is only then that the international community will start taking this administration seriously, as not paying lip-service to the fight against corruption.
Speaking of the fight against corruption, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives,Alhaji Waziri Tambuwal had recently deployed President Jonathan’s failure to act promptly to prosecute fraudulent cases diligently exposed by the National Assembly, as the bane of the blossoming corruption in the country is shameful, ‘kleptocratic governance’. Worst still, Tambuwal said the anti-corruption agencies read the body language of the president and prosecute cases selectively. Otherwise, cases like the $6.8Billion fuel subsidy probe result, the Security and Exchange Commission probe, the clandestine and shady oil bloc deals in the Petroleum Sector and recently, the bullet-proof car purchase scandal and others should have been prosecuted by the executive arm of government with their agencies.
It is really sad to note that in all of this, all that the present administration has been known to do is to set up committees to either probe or look into them, but at the end of the day, nothing concrete comes out of such exercises. In fact, all that the Presidency could respond to the statements made by the Speaker, through President Jonathan’s Special Adviser, Dr, Rueben Abati, was that “the Jonathan administration is not going to fight corruption on the basis of mere speculations.” In other words, what the present administration is telling Nigerians is that everything we have heard and observe about the fuel subsidy scam, the pension scam etc, are ‘mere speculations’ as far as this administration is concerned. Abati also said that“the Presidency will not condone any act of proven corruption”. We are then forced to ask, what happened to all the high profile corrupt cases where compelling evidences were provided, like the video and tape recorded proofs provided on the $620,000 bribery allegation against Hon. Farouk Lawal and Otedola? Has all that been swept under the carpet? God help us in this nation.
In as much as the points raised by the Federal House of Representatives Speaker is very much valid, however, we would like to remind him that Nigerians find it appalling that the Nigerian National Assembly members are still the highest paid lawmakers in the world. When the Minimum Wage in the country is merely N18,000.
The argument about the jumbo pay of Nigerian lawmakers at both the state and national levels has a way of degenerating into a farce, with the beneficiaries, the legislators, often adding insult to injury: Not only do they often fail to disclose the exact figure, they even justify their sumptuous pay with the so-called ‘enormous national duty’; the non-performance of which is their signature. That conversation was recently elevated to an absurd level by the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal at the Fifth Christopher Kolade Symposium Series organized by the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI). The Speaker, who was represented by the Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, said he and his colleagues were being wrongly accused of earning outrageous salaries. Tambuwal went further to differentiate between their basic salaries and allowances and stressed that both were justified on the ground of their enormous responsibility.
This barefaced defence of legislators’ jumbo pay by a high-ranking member of the National Assembly is, to say the least, the height of insensitivity. It does not only run against the grain of public opinion, it demonstrates in absolute terms “the disconnect between leaders and the led”. The Speaker and his colleagues must reside in another planet not to appreciate the well-known fact that Nigerian legislators are the highest paid in the world. Unjustifiably so. One wonders what duty or responsibility the honourable members are discharging to warrant an annual appropriation of about N150 billion! The reality of their performance is even a greater embarrassment: empty seats during sessions, merry-go-round on non-conclusive inquiries which are often turned into rent-seeking exercises. It is even more scandalous that they are paid sumptuously for the sinecure they call responsibility. They are the recipient of unimaginable allowances outside basic salaries, including foreign and local travel, recess, utilities, furniture, constituency allowances, and vehicle loan as well as vehicle maintenance, and even a ‘hardship allowance’ among others. Also, it is the practice that under the pretext of statutory transfer the National Assembly are allocated huge sums which details are not made public.
They enjoy these privileges for doing nothing and against the backdrop of a minimum wage of N18000 for an average worker, unpaid public servants, millions of jobless graduates who roam the streets and increasing social crises. The unimpressive recurrent expenditure pegged at 81.6 per cent in the 2012 budget is overweighed by the salacious outlay on the legislators. The end result is that nothing is left for capital expenditure. It should be said with all emphasis that such thoughtlessness as Tambuwal’s unguarded submission is the very basis for the call for reform of the national legislature. There is indeed a compelling need to rethink the form and content of the legislature. And it is to be noted that Nigeria national income cannot sustain the gluttony of its lawmakers. A step towards its reform must be backed by the need to reduce legislative reward to merely sitting allowance without a basic salary component and it should be structured to be part-time. As it has been advocated times without number, the country does not need a bicameral legislature. It is a waste of public funds and it should be reorganized or streamlined into just one chamber. The Senegalese example is there for all to emulate. That country went back to aunicameral legislature to save resources for other compelling development goals. Nigeria can do the same here and the people will be the better for it.
Around early December 2013, the British Members of Parliament (MPs) and Cabinet rejected an 11% Pay rise authorized by the British Independent Parliament Commission, saying the pay rise was “unnecessary” since there is ‘cost of living crises’ in the UK. The British MPs also disagreed with the BBC Authority for “huge Pay-offs” of senior staff. According to the MPs, BBC top Executive staff could be held for “contempt of Parliament”. And the penalty for contempt of parliament includes prison sentence, but such cases are rare since the 19th century. They said some of the justifications for the huge pay offs had been extraordinary and this was blamed on the culture of cronyism that allowed for the liberal use of public’s money. The MPs described the huge pay offs (severance package) of senior staff of the BBC as “sweeteners”.The question now is, when will Nigerian Legislatures play a ‘genuine role’ of checks and balance within the various arms of government? When will Nigerian law makers see the need to cut down on their outrageous pay and allowances that are draining the nation’s purse?
We find it out of place to observe our public leaders in government circles earning millions and hundreds of millions of naira annually, when millions of Nigerians are living below one dollar (about N160) per day; when 60 percent of Nigerians do not have access to regular power supply. Even Nigerians that are privileged to earn a six digits salary figure are still ‘struggling’ to keep their heads afloat from sinking with the ‘high cost of living’. But if our economy is buoyant, and there is availability and affordability of food and basic social amenities, the issue of minimum wage will not arise in the first place. For everybody will be ‘comfortable enough’ with the much or little they earn.
Sometimes we are forced to ask; is it in the name of their so called “enormous national responsibilities” that our law makers are often enacting outrageous bills, which of cause are mostly meant to serve more of their own selfish purpose.Like the Section 13 (3) of the proposed Bill on electronic fraud, which seeks a Seven Years jail term for Social Media critics found to be guilty of inciting the public against the government. The said proposed bill by one Senator Gbenga Kaka (APC Ogun), which had scaled second reading in the Senate, can best be described as “the joke of the year”. Just because Nigerians are talking about the ‘anomalies’ in their country, for instance on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc, they are now ‘criminals’. Nigeria is our country, we have no other country we can call our own. People are not satisfied with the way things are going. And somebody says we should not talk! We are not surprised that the said Section of the Bill was reversed by the Senate following public pressure and condemnation. It obviously shows that Nigerians are no longer afraid to air their minds and disaffection on how the country is being ruled.
Talking about the said bill against Internet fraud, our political leaders and public office holders are not sent to prison for stealing billions of Naira and dollars. But if it is our young graduates who engage in internet fraud (aka ‘Yahoo’), once they are caught, they will be quickly arrested, prosecuted and sent to prison. In as much as we believe internet fraud is wrong, but why can’t the government rehabilitate and recruit these young men and women who engage in internet fraud to build good online platforms for government; to build good websites for government parastatals/ministries. They can be employed to computerize all the Official Documents and Data so that our civil service for instance, can finally move from paper folder/file folder era to computerized data era. In other words, the government can tap into the brains of these youths instead of sending them to prison. Developed countries like USA, France and others are known to do this and as such, they have geniuses and computer gurus working behind the scene for the USA CIA and FBI for instance.
No one best captures the problems with Nigeria than our late literary icon, Chinua Achebe, in his book: An Image of Africa And The Trouble With Nigeria. Tribalism, false image of ourselves, Nigeria style of leadership, disunity, unpatriotic, social injustice and the cult of mediocrity, indiscipline, corruption, amongst others were listed in the stated book by Chinua Achebe, as troubles with Nigeria. In the words of Achebe while explaining where the problem lies: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.
“I believe that Nigeria is a nation favoured by Providence. I believe there are individuals as well as nations who, on account of peculiar gifts and circumstances, are commandeered by history to facilitate mankind’s advancement. Nigeria is such a nation. The vast human and material wealth with which she is endowed bestows on her a role in Africa and the world which no one else can assume or fulfill. The fear that should nightly haunt our leaders (but does not) is that they may already have betrayed irretrievably Nigeria’s high destiny. The countless billions that a generous Providence poured into our national coffers in the last ten years (1972-1982) would have been enough to launch this nation into the middlerank of developed nations and transformed the lives of our poor and needy. But what have we done with it? Stolen and salted away by people in tower and their accomplices. Squandered in uncontrolled importation of all kinds of useless consumer merchandise from every corner of the globe. Embezzled through inflated contracts to an increasing army party loyalists who have neither the desire nor the competence to execute their contracts. Consumer in the escalating salaries of a grossly overstaffed and unproductive public service. And so on and infinitum. Does it ever worry us that history which neither personal wealth nor power can pre-empt will pass terrible judgment on us, pronounce anathema on our names when we have accomplished our betrayal and passed on? We have lost the twentieth century; are we bent on seeing that our children also lose the twenty-first? God forbid!”
A serious food for thought for all well-meaning Nigerians and our political leaders you would agree. Inept leadership has always been the bane of Nigeria’s development. The unfortunate, but yet well-embraced exit of South African icon leader, Nelson Mandela, and his memorial that practically held the whole world on stand still, reminds us of what political leaders are supposed to be like. One of the striking thing during Mandela’s Memorial in the jam-parked FMB Stadium inSouth Africa, which should remind our political leaders of the need to ensure‘good governance’, was when South African President, Jacob Zuma, was booed by South Africans at the mention of his name. During the recognition of some political leaders present at Mandela’s Memorial at the FMB Stadium in South Africa, the crowd of South Africans cheered USA President Barack Obama; they cheered former South African President Thembo Mbeki and others. But they “booed” the present South African President Jacob Zuma.
We need to start seeing such things in Nigeria where our corrupt leaders are booed and disgraced right in the presence of world leaders. South Africans, with that action, are simply they are ‘tired’ of the ANC-led government under President Jacob Zuma (just like majority of Nigerians are tied of the PDP-led government), because of corruption. Amongst other things, President Jacob Zuma had spent more than $20Million tax-payers money to ‘renovate’ his lavish estate in Nkanda, South Africa. Who renovates a house with 20 Million Dollars? Building a Heliport, medical clinic, football pitch, all in the name of renovating a house? Whereas, South Africans are still living in mud-houses right around the said lavish estate in Nkanda. That is the sort of things we see happen only in Africa.
Another unforgettable thing that happened during the Mandela’s Memorial was that our dear President Jonathan was not even recognized or called on the podium like others to make a speech. Presidents/Leaders of Brazil, India, Cuba, USA and even Namibia etc, were recognized and called on to the podium. But Nigeria was not mentioned. It was as if South Africa completely forgot the role Nigeria played in the fight against Apartheid in South Africa, especially when the world was not paying attention to the discriminatory regime then in South Africa. We remember how Nigeria gave scholarships to South Africans and many of them studied in Nigeria. Nigeria was also supplying materials and necessary support to the ANC then, even when Mandela was labeled a terrorist. But no special recognition was given to Nigeria or her President during Mandela’s Memorial.
Many might wonder why this was so. But we are not surprised at all at the development during Mandela’s Memorial. If South Africans are not impressed with their President, to the extent of ‘booing’ him in front of over 90 world leaders, why would they be impressed by Nigeria’s President? When one does things for himself alone, it is ‘inhumane’, but when you do things that impact positively in the lives of people; that is ‘humanity’. Mandela was indeed “the servant of the people”. That was what made him to be celebrated today and always. Our Nigerian Leaders lack this quality. If only we have such political leaders as Mandela in different countries of Africa, particularly in Nigeria, the African continent would be a better place for all of us. As a public servant, Mandela inspired people to believe that “there is a higher purpose in life” other than what most of our political leaders are portraying ‘public office’ to be-a place to amass, misappropriate/mismanage public funds and live in stupendous splendor to the detriment of the citizenry.
There is no amount of wealth acquired by anyone that can equal the life and legacy left by Mandela. Despite being the first black African President of South-Africa that led his country to democracy, after many years of oppressive-white dominated apartheid regime, Mandela “willingly” stepped down as South-Africa’s President having served only one term of 5years in Office. This is something not common with most African political leaders, especially in Nigeria (known as the supposed giant of Africa), where the quest for ‘second tenure’ and even ‘third tenure’, have become the order of the day.
For us, Mandela’s life, time and legacy left behind should be a worthy example and stand as role model for Nigerian Politicians and Leaders to reflect on and emulate. If Mandela rested peacefully and the entire world came to a standstill,can Nigerians and the rest of the world standstill for even one day to mourn the death of any of our present and past leaders and politicians?This should be food for thought for all of us. Let our leaders and politicians learn a great lesson from Nelson Mandela’s death: “what you do in the past and present will judge how your future will be and what you will remembered for”. We pray that year 2014 and years ahead, will be better than what Nigerians have been made to go through in recent years.
