We must strengthen unity by reinforcing our national identity and purpose. Nigeria is a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. It is, therefore, understandable that there would be recurrent debates on federalism, indigence, democratization, participation, social capital, culture, gender, ethnicity, and, ethnic and religious conflicts. They are perennial ingredients in our politics and national discourse on our development agenda. Prudent nations use their diversity and the inherent capacity for interactive value creation that each group brings to the table as bases for national progress. The most successful countries adopt some organising principles to promote national solidarity and cooperation and tame divisive competition. In a democracy, this is typically organised through the educational system, faith based groups, civil society organisations, and political parties offering distinct choices of ideologies or, a body of ideas and ideals that transcend the narrow cleavages of sub-national norms and interests.
Societal values are normally reflected in the values of the middle class. Some have argued that the middle class has expanded in Nigeria in recent years, but even if this were true, it did so without internalising the values that go with it. Our media which should be part of this class sometimes appear to be almost courting sedition given the way they sometimes inflame passions by setting up one religious group against the other, one ethnic group against another, and entire regions against each other. Another important segment of the middle class, our public functionaries, tend to be unable or unwilling to find the necessary balance between their personal or group interests, and the larger national interest. This has resulted in increasing arbitrariness and impunity by individuals and various rapacious cliques in privileged positions. Acts of impunity by one clique in power were repeated or surpassed by a succeeding clique knowing fully well that “their people” would cry foul if there was any call to account. We must break this vicious circle. We need a strategy for national consensus and cohesion beyond our personal or group proclivities. One of the corner stones of this strategy is a return to a law- based society.
For change to be meaningful and irresistible, it is not enough , to borrow Borno State’s Chief Judge, Kashim Zannah’s phrase, to practice the “law of rules or rule by law”. What we need is to enthrone the rule of law which finds ramifications in constitutionalism and where the law governs government conduct at all levels. The law must be consistently applied in an efficient and timely manner. Human rights must be protected. There should be no ambush of due process as often happens. Antiquated laws should be changed by established processes which are transparent and accessible to all. The rule of law will resonate with the citizens if there is affordable and easy access to the judicial process, efficient and impartial prosecutions, and sanctions for proven breaches.They want to have access to public sector information, including affairs of the legislature, especially their processes, agenda, costs and remunerations. The Police must be seen to deal with even hands and swiftly with all crimes, and show courtesy and respect to citizens in handling peaceful protests and other forms of social agitation. Government actions in handling domestic armed conflicts must be purposeful and aim not only at winning the war, but also hearts and minds to ensure citizen participation and cooperation. We should avoid our recent experience where law abiding citizens were as fearful of the legitimate forces of the State as they were of the militants in the creeks or the terrorists in the North- East, and where the security agencies and law enforcement agents did not distinguish friend from foe. These are some of the measures and attitudes which will encourage Nigerians to readily support any effort to bring about meaningful change and be committed to fight those who seek to thwart it.
For the change we seek to be more than a mere slogan, it must also temper official attitudes in the public service. It is necessary to reform all arms of government and their institutions. The simple truth is that despite the leadership and vision of the President, and regardless of the merits and commitment of every member of his team, without change in the capacity and attitude of the public service, good intentions will not produce change.
Bureaucracies instinctively try to resist change even when change is inevitable. The public service consists of institutions and persons that enjoy wide latitudes of constitutional protection, inter and intra-institutional bonding, as well as social power. Most, if not all, of the malfeasance by political office holders were facilitated by public servants. Even when the greed of the politicians and their associates in the corporate board rooms are tamed, critical accomplices remain embedded in the public service. Many of them appear unrepentant and most are still “doing business as usual”. Despite the reform efforts in the past, there has been little attitudinal change in public officials. There is an obvious need to re-examine the size and scope of state institutions and the competence of their personnel to position them for effective and transparent government service delivery. They must become fit for purpose, that is: “to formulate and carry out policies; to administrate efficiently and with minimum bureaucracy; to control graft, corruption, and bribery; to maintain a high level of transparency and accountability; and most importantly, to enforce laws.”
It is not only the Executive arms of government and their institutions that need to change, but so do the Legislatures with which there is a crisis of confidence nationwide. People are frustrated by their costs, their lack of productivity and their unaccountability. The State Houses of Assembly have long abdicated any meaningful function, save for the occasional threats or actual impeachment of errant State Governors who were not deft enough to suborn them. Under the watch of their Councils, the Local Government tier of administration is virtually comatose. Most of their functions and funds are often times unlawfully hijacked by the State executives without as much as a whimper of protest from the Councils. When we consider that over 42% of our national revenues are allocated to State and Local Governments, it is obvious that they constitute veritable financial black holes.
Legislative failures in these two tiers of government, if allowed to persist, will have dire consequences to our national progress. More importantly, the very idea of creating Local Governments in order to bring development to the grassroots will be defeated. In mitigation and as a first step, it is high time the so called “Joint Accounts” are abolished, thereby freeing local government resources from plunder by State Governments. Let the Local Governments be truly responsible for the management of their revenues and the execution of their projects. At least at that level, the reckoning for failure will be swift since the Council Chairmen cannot take cover from immunity even when in office since the Constitutional Immunity Clause does not cover them.
As for the National Assembly, it is considered by many as totally unproductive and the members largely engrossed with themselves and their welfare. Apart from what many consider as their occasional televised “show” public hearings, their operations remain opaque. The Constitutional guarantee of independence of the legislature cannot, and should not, provide a canopy to hide full disclosures about their inner workings, actual remunerations, and a number of other personal benefits which are in some cases fraudulently disguised under capital expenditure. There should be more transparency so that the public can objectively judge whether their output is commensurate with their cost.
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