In an appearance on Channel’s TV’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, former Presidential aide and seasoned journalist, Laolu Akande, shed light on the motivations driving Nigerian politicians and the troubling level of disengagement within the nation’s political landscape.
As discussions unfolded on how to enhance Nigeria’s elections and challenge the entrenched narrative of politics as a zero-sum game, Akande shared insights into the prevailing state of political awareness in the country.
He lamented that Nigerians weren’t fully engaging their political leaders, which has led politicians to seek power to fulfill their own desires rather than work for the people.
“Let me take it from the first one, which is the motivation. Why do people go into politics? Why do people seek elective offices in our country? Is it because they want to serve, really, for the most part? And I’m not saying this; it’s not a blanket point, you know. There are people who seek politics to serve, but for the most part, if we ask ourselves, those who seek elective political offices, do they go there to want to serve or for the sake of power or for the sake of some other personal aggrandizement?
“Now I don’t think it’s difficult to answer this question because for the most part, we see, like you said, it’s a serious zero-sum game. The kind of demonstration and what public office has been used for, I mean, what people have turned it into shows us clearly that there’s something even wrong with the motivation people get into Political offices. And that’s why some people have suggested in the past that look, maybe we need to make political office, elected office less attractive, make it less attractive. For instance, you can start part-time engagement at certain levels, you know, and we’ve done it before in this country.”
The interviewer cuts in, “Who will pass the law well, so the people that have just got those Jeeps?”
Akande responded, “That’s why I made those three points that there are three things; you’re talking about reform. What are the reforms that have to take place, you know, because there’s a wide level of disengagement?”
Addressing the second point of wide disengagement, Akande expressed deep concern about the apathetic level of political participation in Nigeria. Despite the all-encompassing influence of politics on society, he noted a glaring lack of engagement. Akande argued that the existing political dysfunction impedes meaningful change and stressed that those benefiting from the status quo lack the incentive to initiate reforms, emphasizing the crucial role external pressure from the people plays in such situations.
He continued, “To my second point, people are not involved in this at all; there’s a dismal level of participation, you know, in our political life. And it’s a sorry case because politics controls everything; it controls the economy; it controls society; it controls essentially everything. But there is a dismal level of disengagement. People are not engaged.
“If you look at the numbers, come on, it’s uh, it’s just a joke; we haven’t really gotten ourselves together as a people to understand the significance of political power. And those who are benefiting from the political dysfunction that we operate today as a country will never make any change. There’s no incentive for them to make the change; it must come from outside; it must come from the people.”
Pressed further on the prospect of change, the interviewer floated the idea of a revolution, considering that politicians might be resistant to initiating reforms. Akande responded, “It’s a tough situation, so I don’t think there’s going to be one silver bullet. But I think, you know, we have to discuss more seriously and engage the people in the question of reform.”
He continued, “Like I was saying, it is possible in this country to have people in political offices, not full-time. There are also those who believe, and I’ve also had that discussion today, you know, had it in your previous segment that look, a parliamentary system might bring more representation, might be cheaper, and might improve on the issue of accountability because those are some of the major problems that we are dealing with.”
“Nigerians would rather sit out and have a very engaging discussion on Election Day than actually go out to vote. We have left the space to the kind of people even, you know, most of the people that vote; you find out that there are people that have been mobilized and paid money; where are the educated people? Why are they not involved?”
He added, “I made the point that the people, we the people, have to organize ourselves better, you know, and it has to start from, you know, people setting up wherever we are engaged, whether it’s in school, whether it’s in churches, whether it’s in mosques, whether it’s in our associations. People have to begin to speak out about what they want; you can’t just be complaining about the outcomes when we are not active enough to demand the changes that we need; that’s where it has to start because when we do that, let me tell you, I’ve been in government, you know, at least for 8 years.”
“If people in government understand that the people outside are insisting on a point and they don’t relent, I can guarantee you that if that attitude is maintained over a long period of time across the board fairly, there will be changes. The people in government; they are not gods; they are human beings. But if they see that oh well, we can get on with that, we can afford to ignore that because of the lack of people engagement, then they will do whatever is possible.”
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