Farm House Dialogue - Africa Leadership Forum

Participants agreed that a major factor responsible for this unsavory developmentis the inability, indeed the refusal, of the Nigerian power-elite to formulate andconsciously foster a consensus on fundamental national issues. While it may bedifficult to convert a central consensus into a ground norm considering thediversity and multiculturalism of the Nigerian society, it is nevertheless possiblefor the elite to provide leadership in articulating and realizing an irreducibleminimum standard that serves as the fulcrum of the social contract. Nigeria’spower-elite has failed the country in this important regard. What has been activelypromoted is not a clear and unified national agenda, but the personal andsubjective agenda of the power-elite which in its full effect merely reproduces thecontradictions among the elite, their greed for power and authority and theirdisconnection with the majority.Participants recognized that the problem with the elite class in Nigeria is itscommitment to certain kind of conspiracy. When it suits its own interest, it hasdemonstrated a capacity to activate that loyalty and present it with a consensus inthe national interest but in due course, a constellation of event almost alwaysinvariably exposes the lie beneath that pretense. Participants cited the examples ofthe near-unanimous opposition to dictatorship during the Abacha days. But theirony is that whereas the elite were opposed to autocracy, they seem to be findingit difficult at the moment to support democratic rule. Inconsistent elite createsproblems for its own ranks and for society.The Nigerian elite, including the power-elite and the broad range within the middleclass , owes itself the duty to undertake confidence building measures to reinforceits commitment to the Nigerian project: a project whose primary focus should bethe banishment from all forms of structural and social alienation, and mobilizationof the Nigerian people, their empowerment and the creation of a nationalmomentum that is commonly-designed and owned and enthusiastically promotedby both the elite and the non-elite.It was also observed that the elected officials appear not to understand the rolesand responsibilities attached to their respective offices. While this may beattributable to wrong and opportunistic expectations from the electorate, the truthis that elected officials themselves contribute to the problem by making unrealisticpromises and by creating the false impression that the effect of public service isautomatic self-enrichment.(d) Culture and Religion: these were further identified as a major factor in thepromotion of enlightened leadership and good governance. It would appear thatthere is an understanding and an acceptance of positive human values and ideas inevery culture and religion. The problem in Nigeria, according to participants, hasbeen the tendency of politicians and other constituencies to manipulate culture and