By Brown Chimezie
The country’s multiple problems can be tackled head-on and pragmatically solved if the elite class could, like the Founding Fathers of America or United Arab Emirates, form a political consensus.
This advice which came as a hypothesis was formulated by the chairman, steering committee, Centre for Transparency Advocacy, Dr Chima Amadi, during the presentation of the book, ‘Politics X and Power’ in Abuja, recently.
Delivering a paper entitied: Nigeria’s Political Trajectory: A Tale of Hope or Ineptitude”, Amadi, quite succinctly albeit graphically, traced the genesis of the country’s hydra – headed problems right from the onset, insisting that the colonial masters completely destroyed what he called the colonial economic model.
Amadi, the Doctoral Fellow, University of Warwick, highlighted the different levels of Nigeria’s political metamorphosis. According to him, “The character of the Nigerian state derives from the various experiences of the past, such as the colonial experience, the coercive amalgamation of southern and northern protectorates in 1914, the various attempted and successful coups détat (eleven as at the last count in 1997), ethnic politics, the civil war (1967-1970) as well as deep-rooted distrust among some of the ethnic nationalities, and settler/indigene crises across the country (Moru, 2004)”.
He added, “Colonial policies significantly altered Nigerian societies in several ways. The colonial economic model in Nigeria aimed to grow the import-export markets by boosting cash crop and mineral output, leading to an extractive economy centred on exporting raw materials and importing finished goods and luxury items
“The British introduced a cash economy using the British Pound and compelled Nigerians to engage in wage labour, rapidly altering the traditional agricultural production and capital accumulation methods that had evolved in Nigerian communities over the years. This system is predominantly the same today with minimal variations, exchange the British Pound for the US Dollar and agricultural produce for oil. “
Amadi noted that from the very beginning, the concept of a Nigeria that delivered on the hope of the Nigerian people appeared to be misplaced. He fundamentally asked: “This begs the question, why do people have hope in a structure designed to work just for a few people, not optimally for the many? We must ponder whether it is wise to have hope in a defective and damaged vehicle to take us to the place we hope for. “
Amadi attempted to give a thorough articulation to the Nigerian malady, its continued stand on hope, and why it still remains an illusion as well as a mere dream.
“Do not get me wrongly. The Nigerian tale has been one of great hope. So many instances typify this hope and tell its tale in a manner that even the wildest writers cannot script. For instance, Nigerians had hope for a better system of governance on May 29, 1999, when the military era ended, and we ushered in a democratic system of governance designed to allow the people to choose their leaders.
“I recall how, as President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar took their oaths of office, there was a great deal of hope that the pain, suffering, and torment of the military era had finally come to an end and that our country would be firmly placed on the path to socio-political and economic growth and development.
It was a great time to be alive! “, he enthused.
Not totally writing off the leaders of the country, particularly between 1999 and 2015, Amadi argued that there had been several instances Nigerians had reason to have faith in the country. That was, in his opinion, when several economic reforms opened the country to the outside world and stimulated growth in many critical sectors. It was a time, he pointed out, when there was a system of government where the arms of government were ready to checkmate one another and curb the other’s excesses.
He employed examples to justify his claims. He said, “We saw the legislature fight to maintain its independence while fighting to curb the executive’s excesses. Many examples exist in the early days of the 4th Republic. But a particularly poignant example lies in how the legislature at the national level vehemently fought for its independence and opposed any attempts to impose leadership on it.
“Another example is the vehement opposition that the legislatures across the country gave to attempts to amend the constitution to grant a third term to the head of the executive arm of government at the federal and state levels.
“In all these, the Nigerian people witnessed robust debate anchored in the intellectual contributions of the elected representatives of the people.”
He went further: “Within the executive branch, there was an effort to hold people accountable and ensure that the government worked for the people, which had not happened in Nigeria for several years before 1999. Thus, we saw the executive arms at the federal level try to hold itself and the states accountable. Furthermore, many examples of this abound: impeachments and prosecution of governors who had continually dipped their hands in the till; the arrest and prosecution of the former Inspector General of Police, Mr Tafa Balogun; the arrest and prosecution of key ministers, some of whom were long term friends of the President at the time and so on.
“We also saw the judiciary give robust, landmark judgments that rebuked the excesses of the executive and legislature and extensively improved our jurisprudence.
“Finally, we saw solid intra-party opposition when heads of the executive acted outside the powers granted by our laws. This is where we saw a vice president file landmark cases that challenged his boss’s excesses and win. We saw governors being reinstated into office after improper impeachment processes. We saw the rights and liberties of the Nigerian people upheld in many cases.
“We saw members of political parties look at and challenge the people who controlled the levers of power in the country when those levers were improperly moved or moved in ways that were against the people’s interests”.
Amadi regretted that Nigeria’s case has been a case of one step forward, two backwards. On this, he submitted thus, “But the tale of Nigeria’s political trajectory has never been straightforward. Moreover, it does not appear like it will ever be. As democracy deepened, it seemed that there was the determination by a powerful few to destroy the very institutions capable of checkmating each other, upholding the rule of law, curbing the excesses of the nation’s elite, securing the nation, growing the economy, and protecting the lowly.
“This destruction did not happen overnight. It may have been accelerated over the last few years, but there has been a sustained effort to destroy the fabric of the nation for the protection and benefit of a few. Moreover, it has taken many shapes and many forms. It has happened in compelling prosecuting agencies to ignore the prosecution of people who break our laws as long as they are close to those in power. It has happened by bending institutional laws to allow people to make millions of dollars at the expense of the economy. It has happened in systematically weakening our security agencies by the theft of monies meant for equipment for and welfare of our men and women in uniform. “
For all these lingering problems to be solved, Amadi advocated and called on the elite to move for a consensus form of government as was adopted by American forebears.
“For too long, the Nigerian state has lacked the elite consensus as to what constitutes development and what may be termed as progress. Our elite have no consensus on what is good and bad behaviour. Our elite have no consensus of what is too much, what is too far, what should/can/must not be done.
“For our elite, anything goes. Anything is acceptable as long as it protects an interest, preserves a self-serving system, and keeps a steady flow of funds.
Our elite sees the nation in a way that no nation can survive as a carcass from which it can feed fat endlessly.
“And unless it changes that point of view, our country will not survive. It is not a curse. It is not a doomsday prophecy. It is an escapable conclusion derived from centuries of socio-economic principles and from the study of successful and failed nations around the world”, he said.
Amadi, without mincing words, blamed the Federal Government on the current deplorable state of the country. “The policy reforms introduced by the present administration, including the removal of fuel subsidies and exchange rate policies, have further plunged the Nigerian economy into an unprecedented economic crisis. The suffering in the country has so much escalated that the over 130 million multi-dimensionally poor Nigerians can no longer breathe because of its suffocating impact on the majority of Nigerians. “
“If we are to survive as a nation, our elites need to learn that it is in their enlightened self-interest to forge a common consensus that develops the country.
“That consensus will then lay the foundation for the rapid and sustained growth of our nation, in the manner in which the consensus of the founding fathers of the United States of America laid the foundation for it to become the number one superpower in the world today or the way similar consensus repositioned the United Arab Emirates and Singapore”.
“To remedy the ills, Nigeria must focus on building solid democratic institutions, including the judiciary, electoral commission, and legislature. Ensuring their independence, transparency, and accountability can help to uphold the rule of law and prevent abuses of power. Similarly, implementing electoral reforms to enhance the integrity of the electoral process is crucial. While I concede that there have been improvements and progress in our electoral system over the years, a lot still needs to be done in the area of prosecuting and punishing electoral offenders. The inability to accomplish this is the reason why some still dare to engage in electoral fraud. “