Politics and Governance - More Than A Conversation

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Checkmating
Government
Excesses
BY JOSEPH AGUNBIADE
As Nigeria prepares for another general election, it is important to
note that by the end of the tenure of the next president, we would
have spent 24 years under democratic rule. While some may want
to dismiss any argument on the basis that we are a young nation, we must
not forget that unlike in other centuries when we had a limited number
of examples to follow, today, we have a plethora of governance models to
copy. Countries such as Singapore rose from extreme poverty with hardly
any natural resources to rank among the most significant economies in
the world.
One major challenge we had was the British Colonization of Nigeria. And
although some of our heroes past fought for our freedom, we had barely
started to get our footing when the military coup strike which aborted our
numerous opportunities to build a powerful institution and infrastructure
needed to grow both our political and economic institutions.
Then came the second wave of ‘heroes of democracy’ that themselves are
the products of the same extractive political and economic institutions
that although they succeeded in “Saving us” have created an extractive
channel for their prosperity at the expense of the people. And the society
is built by learning from leadership, we have succeeded in producing a
“generation of men with brains, men with stomachs, men without chests
and no heart.” - C.S. Lewis
Today it has become challenging to hold public office holders accountable
because of the nature of our weak institutions shrouded in secrecy and
lack of transparency.
And just like most global examples we know, our natural resources which
were supposed to be the seed funding for our new startup nation, is now
gradually plundered by the same men who once fought to liberate us.
The dream of democracy is to create inclusive economic and political
institutions which include free and fair elections, an independent judiciary,
uncorrupt legislative and executive branches. And just as the evolution of
democratic structures set the stage for the growth of inclusive economic
and political institutions in England. We must decide as active citizens to
use the forthcoming election as bait to demand that whoever is going to
lead us must sign an explicit contract only to do what will bring us the
prosperity we deserve, and, not just what they want to do for us.
Now is the time to get the potential political leaders to agree to beneficial
schemes like OPEN CONTRACTING that makes all procurement and
contracts transparent, make the BUDGET OPEN and every bit of the public
finance transparent and be accountable. And should they fail to keep their
promises, be prepared to resign?
“
We must decide, as active citizens, to use the
forthcoming election as a bait to demand
that whoever is going to lead us must sign
a clear contract to only do what will bring
us the prosperity we deserve, and not what
satisfies their selfish desires.
“
Every Citizen must understand what governance is, and, what it is not. That
a political leader, either elected or appointed, is selected to represent the
people and not become an untouchable King.
We must become Active Citizens that demands what is rightly ours. Ask
questions, write petitions and if possible sue a political leader for lying to
us.
The process of demanding accountability is not a passive one. No politician
does anything for the people. No! They are a part of us and if they fail
should be recalled.
Town hall meetings must be a regular practice and demanded by the
citizens at least every quarter. The citizens must have a benchmark against
both our political and economic expectations. And only then and then
will the fight to get our political leaders to become more accountable get
started.
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