Nigeria may have celebrated twenty-five years of unbroken democracy, but how have its citizens fared? It is no longer news that Nigeria and Nigerians are passing through one of the worst times in the history of the country, with high cost of living, abject poverty staring them in the face.
No wonder pundits and well-meaning Nigerians, especially the youths defied threats of harassment and possible arrest by. security operatives in Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo States, among others to protest against hardship induced by bad leadership that has impoverished the entire nation since 1999.
It is important to mention that Nigeria gained independence from the British colonial masters on October, 1 1960 and has since been ruled by Nigerians. The first, second and third republics are testimonials to that claim. So celebrating just twenty-five years of democracy could amount to half truth.
But what has changed? The economic indices of the 1960s are still very much with us today. Epileptic power supply, unemployment, inflation, insecurity, among several others that are still staring us on the face.
So what are we really celebrating? Yes, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has catalogued the sacrifices made by Nigerians, some even paid supreme price with their lives to preserve democracy, but what have we, the immediate beneficiaries of the struggle done to protect it?
Everybody craves the preservation of democracy, often referred to as nascent in Nigeria, but a sixty-three-year old man cannot be said to be underraged. Let us therefore stop hiding under nascence to defend our inadequacy or outright failure.
We strongly disagree that at sixty-three, Nigeria should remain underdeveloped to the extent that electricity supply is nothing remarkable, unemployment holding sway, road networks deplorable, insecurity a perpetual challenge, and worse still, high cost of living at its peak.
What has happened to the resumption of production by our refineries, especially Port Harcourt Refinery? Dangote Refinery is on everyone’s lips. If an individual can build a refinery within a reasonable time frame, why can’t a nation do better? It amounts to absolute failure on the part of the leaders.
What has happened to the textile industry that employed a whole chunk of the population? What about manufacturing companies such as Michelin, Dunlop, Nigerian Engineering Works (NEW), CFAO, SCOA Motors etc?
If we cannot provide an enabling environment for business to thrive, which forces most of these foreign companies to relocate to other countries, let us establish our own local companies that can run without electricity. It is disturbing that some fundamental projects that can serve as catalyst to Nigeria’s industrialisation, such as the Ajaokuta Steel Industry, Kogi State, Aluminium, Smelting Company, Ikot-Abasi in Akwa Ibom State have remained perpetually uncompleted and we are comfortable importing fuel and other petroleum products after throwing away our crude oil, in the name of exportation.
Nigeria is now battling with high cost of living, induced by the so-called removal of fuel subsidy. A custard rubber of garri now sells for N5,000, rubber of rice costs N7,500 to N850,000, a bottle of poorly refined kerosene sells at N2,000 and still salaries of workers remain static. How do we reconcile that?
We cannot talk of democracy without free and fair elections. That is the reason why well-meaning Nigerians are clamouring for free and fair elections. But the greatest resistance is coming from corrupt politicians, who do not have anything to offer in terms of leadership. It is important we enthrone true democracy, where election results will count and not one or two men sitting behind the bench to determine the fate of millions of Nigerians in the name of the judiciary. To achieve that faster, public offices should be made less attractive, so that anybody eyeing any elective office should know that he is going to render service and not planning to plunder public funds.
There must be stringent measures against corrupt officials serving or retired. Most successful countries of the world have adopted such an approach and the citizens are better for it. That is the reason corruption in Asia has become less common. Few public officers in the Asian Continent will dare to meddle into fraud, otherwise the hangman awaits such an officer.
Reverse is the case in Nigeria, or Africa at large. No wonder a politician seeking election will boldly tell us to go to court, provided he wins the election first. And true to it, this has been working out for them. The cases often last till the end of their tenure. If the court were to be the hope of the common man, such a thing wouldn’t happen.
It is also in Nigeria where perpetual injunction exists for public officers. This sounds strange, isn’t it? But it happens in Nigeria! A former president in Nigeria had identified the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as his greatest headache in the war against corruption in the country and the duo lived up to expectations by frustrating every move he made to tackle corruption while his tenure lasted.
In other words, democracy is good, but Nigerian democracy has not lived up to its billing. It could rightly be described as a suffering and smiling kind of democracy, that makes it difficult for the people to experience the dividends of democracy. And democracy without dividends is worse than military dictatorship. At this juncture, it is important that we look at the way forward.
First and foremost, free and fair elections are sacrosanct in any given democracy globally. Results or votes of such transparent elections must be allowed to count. The judiciary is not meant to determine the outcome of elections in an ideal democratic setting, no wonder some credible winners of the nation’s elections have suffered a lot from law officers in the name of technicalities.
The judges now tend to play up technicalities far above evidence. No other thing to do other than ensuring that INEC conducts a credible, free and fair election, devoid of controversy that will not warrant the matter ending up at the court. We equally suggest that election riggers should be severely punished according to the law of the land. Where such laws are too light for possible electoral offenders, it should be amended to suit the purpose.
The current over-bloated bills on cost of governance should be cut down, the only attraction to public office should be knack for service. Again, power supply must be stable and constant to encourage investors, who will in turn create employment through their investments. Critical projects such as the Ajaokuta Steel Industry, Aluminium Smelting Company and the likes that are geared towards industrialisation of the country must be completed and allowed to run optimally.
If the above stated measures are taken, Nigeria will vacate its third world country status, and this is when celebration of democracy will make meaning for majority of the populace.