An article written by Hon. Collins Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo, Senior Special Assistant to Edo State Governor- Politics and strategy
1.0. Abstract
This work seeks to unravel the misery behind Nigeria’s real and perceived political misdemeanors, which constitute fundamental clogs to our democratic-will of progress as a federation. Political science scholars, mainly of Nigeria’s extraction have identified two broad and divergent factors as responsible for Nigeria’s stunted political and economic development; these are:
a. Colonialism, with regards to the distortion of natural political evolution or development of the pre-colonial territories, empires and ethnic nationalities as it where. This school of thought believes, firstly, that, the people of pre-colonial Nigeria would had evolved a political system that is patterned after their cultural believes and reward system, where colonialism not foisted on the traditional administrations which were dominated by monarchy; and secondly, that Britain patterned Nigeria’s political system to suit their country’s long term economic and political interest. That the divide and rule tactics is a typical reference point.
b. National Bourgeoisie factor; those who hold this view believes that Nigeria’s problem can be traced to the emerging political elites who championed Nigeria’s independence struggle, because of their seeming selfish and chauvinistic disposition; and the lack of political will to dislodge all instruments of imperialism foisted on Nigeria by Britain. It argues that contrary to nationalist agitations expressed by advocates of Nigeria’s independence, most of the leaders who took over the reigns of power displayed a radical departure from their avowed commitments.
2.0: Introduction
The Webster’s encyclopedic dictionary defined democracy thus “a theory of government which in its purest form, holds that the state should be controlled by all the people, each sharing equally in privileges, duties, and responsibilities and each participating in person in the government, as in city-states of ancient Greece; in practice, control is vested in elective officers as representatives who may be upheld or removed by the people.” For me, democracy as a form of government or political administration is undoubtedly an enviable practice that ensures equity, fair play and social justice in any community, state or region where it is practice in its strict-sense. Its origin is unarguably traced to ancient Greek society; especially during the aristocratic era. If historicity is anything to go by, it is on record that the Greek aristocratic society was one in which, slave-owning was the pride of the ruling elites-who determined “who gets what, when and how” during the 4th and 5th centuries BC. Dialectically, there were two classes of people who later engaged in a class struggle; the aristocrats who owned slaves; and the class of the slaves and the serfs. The serfs were free slaves who have completed their punishments or have performed reasonably well to earn pardon for independence from their aristocratic-slave masters. The later class of people (the slaves and serfs) fought earnestly for the enthronement of a more decent social and political administration that appreciates their rights to freedom of independence and decent living conditions. Democracy as it later became known, was first coined from two Greek words i.e. demos and kratos. Demos refer to majority of people in the Greek state as it where, they were the slaves and the serfs; on the other hand, kratos referred to administration or rule. Put succinctly, it meant a system of administration that was propelled or determined by the will of the majority of people or inhabitants. The English historians exploited this sense of purpose coined it democracy. There are various definitions of democracy; although the most famous is that given by President Abraham Lincoln of the United States of America “Government of the people, by the people and for the people”.
Federalism or federation has been defined by many scholars mainly from political science background or “the humanities”; for the purpose of precision, Prof. K.C. Wheare defined it thus “a constitutional arrangement in which law making powers and functions are divided between central and state governments, in such a way that each, within its respective sphere or jurisdiction and competence is equal, independent and co-ordinate, to the extent of the federating states voluntarily surrendering some functions exigent on perceived capacity and desire to a central government for their collective good”
We can deduce from this definition that, federalism as a system of political administration implies the emergence of a union of independent nations, with certain commonalities, freely accepting to be governed by one central administration, herein and after referred to the ‘federal government’. There are basic characteristic of federations which endears it to most independent states for adoption. Nigeria’s adoption of federalism was colonially-inclined as most of its foundation was done during the colonial rule in Nigeria; it however became officially recognized as a federation on 1st October, 1963. It has been argued that, the system was suitable for the imperialist Britain to manage the grievances of some non-conforming ethnic nationalities, as the system naturally provides room for negotiations within the comity of nationalities or regions.
2.1. (Body)
Based on researches and informed dialogue, I am convinced that, there is no federation that is not faced with challenges ranging from origin (how the country adopted federation as a political system- was it a former colony or a non-colonized state?); fiscal federalism; power sharing; and crisis resolution. The challenges of democracy in Nigeria’s federalism are multi faceted with diverse manifestations of its consequences. From the organic meaning of democracy, it is clear that the “will of the majority” propels the will of political administration, I make bold as to say that, the will of majority of our people rarely influences the policies and programs of governments at any level in Nigeria. From the 1999 constitution, through resource control debate, and issues of Local Government or states creation, national security, onshore and offshore dichotomy, anti-corruption campaign in Nigeria, they are bedeviled with tribal, religious and political contradictions; so much that consensus building remains elusive. A classical example of these contradictions can be found in the ongoing debate over the zoning formula of the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential ticket, which has elicited all forms of commentaries from the very informed and least informed personalities of Nigeria. This is supposedly a party affair, which is supposed to be handled by party mechanisms or leadership, but what we find is that politicians of other political parties are making diversionary comments, instead of focusing on how to reposition their own respective parties to maximize the benefits of effective competition, in the count down to 2011 election.
2.2.
Historically and contemporarily speaking, Nigeria’s federation has been characterized by age-long ethnic agitation (cry of marginalization by minority tribal groups which co-exist with majority of the ethnic nationalities in most states of Nigeria); power sharing (rotational presidency); and the issue of resource distribution or control. The later as a burning national issue metamorphosed into armed struggle by militants of Niger Delta, with a consequential effect on the international price of oil, and the threat of peace in West Africa sub region.
The aptness of this august ceremony is such that, having realized that in our today’s Nigeria, no foreigner will come to help us out of our political problem, unless we resolutely confront them by ourselves. I make bold as to say that the under-listed ways will ideally provide a solution to our problems.
1. The convocation of conference of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities- For me, no amount of justification lampooned over the credibility of our National Assembly members (as representatives of ethnic groups) that can under-play the essence of a conference of ethnic groups. This is so because, most of the current holders of our public offices, are not apostles of their states or senatorial districts of origin. Some people may say that, this view is very parochial, but it remains a watershed in our aspiration for patriotism or nationalism. The conference should debate the issues of resource control and power-sharing. Until the “the amalgamation question” is revisited and intellectually addressed, Nigeria will continue to leave on an elusive foundation. The communiqués of the conference should be forwarded to the Senate and House of Representatives for consideration.
2. Making rule of law sacrosanct in Nigeria’s body polity. The Wikipedia, an online encyclopedic dictionary, defined rule of law as “a legal maxim, according to which, no one is immune to the law”. Most often, the attributes of Nigeria’s political class suggest that they are implying the reverse of the rule of law maxim. In our much touted war against corruption; rigging of election by entrepreneurs of violence; and the general allocation of scare resource of the state, we hardly see the manifestations of equity, justice and fair-play. It is high time that our elected or appointed public officers realized that subjecting the state apparatuses to their whims and caprices, undermines our collective aspiration as a people and as a nation. The symbol of Justice is a blind-folded human image, which implied that it knows no one brought before it for judicial examination and judgment; the reality of the Nigerian situation is largely of selectivity and class-vindictiveness. It is up to our political class to drive our democratic institutions towards and enduring society, else, they risk mass disenchantment, and a possible revolution.
3. Critical appraisal of political and civil reforms recommendations. As a child of history, I am authoritatively informed of various commissions or committees that have been put in place to examine contemporary or prevailing social maladies, with a view to recommending measures to manage, and prevent re-occurrence. Most often than not, far reaching recommendations are made; but the political class has showed very little courage to execute them. The 1963 Margan Commission, the 1971 Adebo Commission, the 1972-74 Philip Udoji Civil Service reforms commission, the 1985 Dotun Philips Panel; the 2009 Justice M. Uwais electoral reforms are classical examples of recommendations that are people-centered, which are currently hanging in the shelves of the federal government ministries and parastatals, with little or no concrete action, what an irony!
4. Democratic revolution. When 1 and 2 are undermined, I will suggest a democratic overthrow of the oppressive political elites of this country, after they have been ideologically x-rayed. It is a known fact that the masses of Nigeria, be they residing or hibernating in the North or south, they suffer the same deprivation, oppression and social injustice. And on the other hand, our political elites (godfathers), be they in the North or South, they have the same goal, and that is, to emasculate the resources of the nation for their selfish reasons. A practical way of achieving this is that Nigerian of like minds must flout a masses oriented political platform, devoid of godfathers and their cronies; embark on massive orientation of the electorates, carefully elect flag bearers are popular and purposeful; doggedly resist the rigging machineries, be they perpetuated by the state or its agencies.
Conclusion.
As a political scientist by training, I have unalloyed commitment to the propagation of strong ethical and political values for the good of Nigeria and Nigerians; for instance, it is partly responsible for my acceptance of this responsibility (to present this paper). I am of the candid opinion that healthy and constructive engagements of like-minds of this nature will provide a sustainable paradigm to move our polity to the next level of greatness. We must work towards strengthening out democratic institutions, rather than building a few powerful men (godfathers) who are interested in the emasculation of our collective aspirations, for their parochial goals.
I thank you for your attention; God bless you, amen.