There is a clear and present danger that if standards of governance don’t improve Nigerians will lose faith in democracy. The majority of the electorate has already lost faith in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as evidenced by both the poor turnout in national and state elections, and the routine overturning of their declared results by the courts.
Democracy is not the only form of government available and several nations doing much better than Nigeria are governed by other forms of government. What really matters to the populace isn’t how leaders acquire power, but what they do with it once they are there. What is really important is whether or not their leader’s actions increase or decrease human welfare, and promote happiness or unhappiness.
The monstrous crimes committed by Nigeria’s democratically elected leaders are astounding and routinely promote unhappiness. The lavish spending on government bureaucracy, massive salaries and unjustifiable over-bloated allowances have ruined the economy and widened the gap between the rich and poor. As hopelessness replaces hope it has caused the scramble to leave the country and live in a properly governed nation to become a stampede.
The main drawback with democratic governance in Nigeria is that it’s overly expensive, corruption-prone and unable to improve the welfare of the majority. So deeply entrenched is corruption and sense of entitlement amongst political officeholders that they cannot be expected to put the nation back on the path to prosperity for all.
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The number of needless agencies duplicating government functions while not serving to improve citizen welfare is disgraceful. Long ago the Oronsaye Report detailed ministries which should be merged and agencies which should be scrapped, yet despite this our bankrupt government borrows with no ability to repay and creates even more unnecessary government agencies!
Unfortunately, for the National Security Adviser, nobody is impressed by his lamentations of paucity of funds when the government refuses to cut its coat according to its cloth. A nation that borrows relentlessly should not squander money on luxuries and gallivanting on unnecessary travels. There is no justification for expecting increased Internally Generated Revenue, demanding more taxes and encouraging more sacrifices when political officeholders are not prepared to make any sacrifices on personal luxuries.
It’s evident that those holding executive office lack ideas on how to provide life-improving services to the people which they would gladly and willingly pay for. Instead, they approve half-baked, hare-brained, illogical, and unethical schemes to forcibly extort money from citizens. For example, both the requirement to annually renew “Proof of Ownership of Vehicles, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) fees for “renewing” Certificates of Occupancy are outrageously illogical, unjust, unethical and immoral ways of forcibly obtaining money for doing nothing.
What is even worse is what they actually do with the money. Impunity, duplicity and deceit are the trademarks of government expenditure. It’s a conscienceless abomination for the Senate President and other former governors to receive totally immoral self-granted pensions as a result of laws they implemented, while being paid their salaries as serving senators.
Former Minister of Education Obiageli Ezekwesili quite correctly called the National Assembly members an “incorrigible bunch of lawbreakers” who feel entitled to an indulgent life funded by the depleted treasury of a country they misgoverned. Their only vision is their selfish agenda. Their failure to lead by example encourages state governments to imitate their irresponsible behaviour.
In Lagos State, the government squandered N44.8 million for clearing weeds, N18.5 million to distribute 2,000 chickens, N7.5million for “liquid fragrance for offices”, N3 billion on “re-chargeable fans”, and N73.1 million on official portraits of the president and the governor! In Ogun State, the government blew N2 billion on refreshments and entertainment.
The Ebonyi State Government bought bulletproof vehicles for the Governor, House of Assembly Speaker and State Chief Judge. The Governor quite ridiculously said that they did so because “all tiers of government should be equal” and should operate with the same official paraphernalia to achieve “overall peace, harmony, growth and development”.
The truth is that if the public continues suffering deprivations and seeing political appointees wallowing in luxury at their expense it will not achieve peace, harmony and growth, but will more likely ignite flames of insurrection which all well-meaning Nigerians are trying to forestall.
In Edo State, the House of Assembly is at loggerheads with Governor Obaseki. The state’s filthy and unhygienic environment, disgraceful roads, dilapidated hospitals and primary schools are not deemed worthy of impeachment, they are annoyed simply because he bought them second-hand Mitsubishi SUVs rather than “befitting” brand new Toyota Jeeps! There is ample evidence abounding nationwide confirming that Nigerian political office holders have neither conscience nor compassion and certainly no moral restraint.
Those holding the nation by the jugular pretending to be leaders with our best interests at heart feel they are entitled to live lives of luxury at public expense. Although this is immoral and unethical it could be seen to be justifiable if they were doing a good honest job, but they are not. The end result of Nigeria’s serial poor leadership is that there is rot everywhere in our society. The country is in a complete environmental, economic and social shambles because regrettably the 1999 Constitution contains no reference to compassion, shame or conscience and legitimizes debauchery!
