July 2, 2010
One of the institutions of the democracy is a popular constitution. A popular constitution guarantee independence to nations as well as freedom, happiness and dignity to its citizen. One of the tenets of democratic principles is that it is possible for a nation as a corporate entity to be free and independent while its citizen are held down in a state of abject servitude and degradation by an autocrat or handful of callous oppressors at the top.
One of the institutions of the democracy is a popular constitution. A popular constitution guarantee independence to nations as well as freedom, happiness and dignity to its citizen. One of the tenets of democratic principles is that it is possible for a nation as a corporate entity to be free and independent while its citizen are held down in a state of abject servitude and degradation by an autocrat or handful of callous oppressors at the top.
Furthermore, democratic society guaranteed freedom of expression, freedom to form political parties and free and fair elections . The current political situation in our country and the lack of basic amenities of life since we freed ourselves from the shackles of British enslavement since independence calls for sober reflection to actually appraise the problems militating against development in Nigeria and the leadership crisis engulfing the country since then . It concerns me more than ever before because my parents, grandparents were all citizens of Nigeria and I could appreciate that there is a wild gap between living in abject poverty and squalor and living in a welfare state .
The preamble to the 1999 constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria provides thus’ We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria having firmly and solemnly resolved to live in unity and harmony and to provide for a constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government do hereby make enact and give to ourselves the following constitution ‘’ It has been accepted by political writers on political scene that a nation worth its salt would operate within the confines of the constitution in the discharge of their constitutional duties. Prior to the emergence of the present civilian government , the military ran the affairs of the nation by force and it has been generally accepted that military intervention in whatever form has become so unfashionable to the extent that it has been relegated to the dustbin of history.
When the military were living the stage they forcibly inhabited for close to 31 years in 1999 they always offered explanations for their unjustifiable incursion and the flimsy excuse of the ineptitude of the politician to have things done appropriately and the incidence of corruption, tribalism, nepotism, anarchy and undue influence . The first coup spearheaded by late Nzeogwu was as a result of the inability of the civilian regime to put their house in order and subsequent lack of co-existence between the different communities making up the country . The khaki boys ruled the country for close to 31 years and the eventual transfer of power to the civilian regime was spearheaded by the military handing over the supposed constitution to enable us direct our affairs since then we had series of conferences to determine how the political structure of the country should be fashion in line with the dictates of their colonial master’s . When the British was setting up the political structure in Nigeria, it realised that there were three main ethnic nations , the Hausas, Ibos and the Yorubas and it is on these foundation that the country political structure was laid. Since then we had series of constitutions drafted by their colonial masters in line with these political structure . What baffles me since the inception of the civilian regime since 1999 is the imperfections of the constitution and the lack of desire on our part to resolve the major problems militating against the progress of this country. My assessment of the military boys was that they were never trained to be a leader or to occupy offices but rather to defend the territorial integrity of the nation and to guide the country against external attacks. But the unfortunate incident in January 1966 was to me the genesis of our problems and the inability by us all to resolve this identity matter. Rtd. David Jemibewon in his book Combatants in Government said ‘’The inability of most African government to govern effectively has been one of the main sources of military intervention in Africa . Once a civilian government fails either by sheer ineptitude or un wisdom to maintain law and order and is incapable of coping with the social and economic problems of the society ,then the government is asking to be overthrown’’. The reasons adduced by erstwhile military warlords for forcibly taking over the governments in Nigeria was centred on the issue of corruption, nepotism, maladministration, selfish interest, tribalism and lack of provision of basic amenities.
After the unceremonious incursion of the military incursion in politics and the eventual transfer of power from the khaki boys to their civilian counterparts , the country and its people since independence have suffered both psychological torture, mental derangement as a result of underdevelopment, lack of basic infrastructure , corruption , nepotism , tribal sentiments and over concentration of powers in the hands of the military for close to decades in our body politics. I am an avid reader of military books on the intervention of the military in Nigeria and I reasonably concluded that an objective analysis of the reasons and motives for the military interventions is similar when we do a dissection of the previous military regimes and compare to others after them, one would reasonably observed certain similarities and the obvious similarities are corruption of leaders, ambition on the part of military guys to emulate their colleagues and the lack of peaceable change of government.
The crux of this article is for us to see why the military incursion and the corrupt tendencies on the part of the so called political have resulted in lack of good government in our country Nigeria despite having attained independence since 50 years. One would expected that by now a country who have gone through civil war and was under foreign powers for closed to a decade should have been able to put in place an enviable democratic structure in place, and should have been able to emulate other countries of the world who are role models and making impact in the lives of their citizenry. One of the major problems plaguing our country is her identity problems which the British Colonial powers were aware of but rather decided to play the ostrich and which had left Nigeria worse than ever before. ‘’ The Biafra Warlord Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu opined in his book Because I am involved and said ‘’The true problem with Nigeria is that she is fully embroiled in an identity crisis.The Nigeria of today is a social path in search of a society . Our leaders have been and still are politicians in search of a national programme. We live in a country in search of common character . The source of our problem is rooted in our fear of unity or our lack of will to transform our primordial instincts and create a modern polity’’ If the issue of identity and the unending leadership crisis that have plagued the country like pests is still relevant in our body politic, what should we do to ensure that despite all these shortcomings that have resulted in underdevelopment in our land since independence , the people of Nigeria deserves a better deal from the leaders and the time is now. The pertinent questions to ask ourselves is that irrespective of our inability to resolve the genesis of our problem, Nigerians citizen deserves a more better life from its leaders irrespective of political affiliations of such leaders . Why IS GOOD GOVERNANCE ELUSIVE IN NIGERIA CONTEXT ? Is there an alternative to good governance as it is practised in other countries of the world. My answer is Good Governance is part and parcel of democratic practices and government could not sacrifice this at the alter of political expediency and political commitments . The people of this country deserves the best as there are available both human resources and material resources to go round and the problem have always been bad leaders.
The constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria enjoins the three arms of government to adhere strictly to the provisions of the constitution . The preamble to the 1999 constitution alluded to the facts that the citizens of the country expects more responsibilities from their government more than ever before. Furthermore, it behoves on all elected representatives to provide good governance , accountability , responsive government but since independence the reverse has been the case.
Good governance describe the objective of a nations political development. It involves accountability, efficient, effective, equitable equality and medium of exercising power and decision making for group of people.
Furthermore, the essence of good governance is for its citizen to participate in meaningful ways in decision making processes . Since the independence in1960 the key elements of governance have continued to elude or rather not in the dictionary of the so called rulers. Government in Nigeria has tended to be pre-occupied with powers and its material acquisition and the desire of the leaders to cling to powers as it is the only avenue for them to rise above the general poverty and squalor that pervades the entire society . Governance in Nigeria have always been an opportunity to acquire wealth and prestige and to be able to distribute benefits in the form of jobs, contracts, scholarships and gifts of money to one’s relatives and political allies. The above scenario have been the trend since independence and I am not here to exonerate regime since we became independent . The constitution of Nigeria is partly to be blame for lack of measures to curtail these inadequacies in our system. The 1999 constitution and the previous constitutions have never imposed on the elected leaders constitutional duties on the part of leaders. Our leaders have taken the citizen for a ride for so long and we have been a victim of political manipulation and bickering and as a result of these shortcomings , it has been difficult to have developmental progress in our country. For the past 50 years of our existence as a nation, the basic amenities are not within the reach of average Nigerians.
The infrastructural dilapidation in our country is better imagined than seen. There have been a retrogression in infrastructures, the education sectors have been the worse for it with strikes and lack of basic educational facilities in schools, the health standards have fallen beyond human capitulation . The roads are in still in a state of disrepair despite huge sums of money voted for the rehabilitation of roads by governments . Should we call this country a failed state ? Should we ask our colonial masters to come back and put things right as it appears we have been unable to fix any tangible developments since they left the scene 50 years ago. Should we resort to the parliamentary system of government which the first republic practised and the citizen could feel a little bit of governance through the efforts of their regional governments at the time. In the first republic the leaders though partially corrupt they were still able to put some structures in place for their people. In the southwest the Late Papa Awolowo government singlehandedly built the Conglomerate known as ODUA investments today and the evidence are there for all to see. I am yet to see any meaningful development since the demise of the first republican leaders. The issue is not about personalities but the issue is on the quality and vision of successive leaders we have had in the past 20 years or more irrespective of military or civilian.
We need a change to our body politic and I believe is never too late to redress some of the mistakes we have made in the past. We could still install good governance in Nigeria so that generation yet unborn would be able to appreciate the efforts put in place to get a qualitative leadership in this country. Nigeria as the giant of Africa should be seen to be setting the pace in terms of development both in terms of human and physical resources . I have lived in the United Kingdom for 8 years now and I could compare the level of qualitative life I have lived here in the United Kingdom with my growing and adulthood life in Nigeria.. I am able to appreciate the wild gap between being deprived of basic amenities of life in Nigeria and enjoying the benefits of the same amenities in the United Kingdom. The UK government practices monarchical system of government but the essence of governance is being felt by the citizen of the country at all levels. One of the major characteristics of the developed countries of the world is their welfarism policies. The UK government particularly takes good care of his citizen to the extent that they do not joke with public opinion on any matter affecting their citizens. In the last election that was conducted in May 2010. The Labour had been in government for 13 years and the people enjoyed the policies of Labour government but alas the conservatives and the liberal democrats were voted in what is toady known in British Parliament as the’ Hung Parliament’. The Labour lost the election not because of lack of performance but because the people wanted a change of government in the United Kingdom.
It does not cost much to operate a welfare state if the resources are available and readily accessible by all. But in Nigeria, the citizens are do not have access to basic amenities of life despite having the funds to do it. Just recently Rtd. Danjuma went to the press to announce that he made $500.000 as profits from oil deals alone. if at 50 years we are groaning in abject poverty , squalor and lack of basic amenities then definitely something is wrong with the geographical expression called NIGERIA. Some of us in the diaspora especially professionals amongst wishes to return back home and contribute to the growth of the country. But there are militating factors precluding us from returning to our dear country. If the basic amenities are put in place and the government is willing to address all the perennial problems some of its citizen would leave their country of residence and return home. There are a lot of prejudices here and there when you live in a foreign land but if you are enjoying life and you have access to good qualitative education and good welfare system then irrespective of the prejudices you encounter on your way you’ll prefer a life of whereby there is security and good system than a country of uncertainty and hopelessness . All hope is not lost if our government are a willing horse and ready to do the bidding of its citizen then we will forget years of bad governance and willing move ahead.
The 2011 should be a year of decision in our country . I am one of the few political pundits who genuinely believe that after all if you have good leaders at the helm of affairs this country would be on the road map to greatness. The present government came into power through an imperfection in our electoral system and the there were hues and cries about the irregularities in the electoral system. I am still positive about the fact we can still get it right if certain procedure are put in place and good governance in Nigeria is the solution to this roadmap.We need a leader who is not partisan and not a tribal person. We need a leader who is genuinely concern with the welfare of Nigeria citizens, we need a visionary leader, we need a leader who will be accountable to the people and will do the bidding of the people and not the bidding of his party. We need qualitative leader at the centre so that the roadmap to greatness will be faster than we expected. We need a new Nigeria devoid of tribalism.,nepotism, maladministration, egoistic tendencies , corruption, godfatherism , blind leadership .retardation ,political jobbery and selfishness, acquistic tendencies and we need a Nigeria of our dream. The 2011 elections should be the hallmark and determinant factor whether we still want to be address as a nation.or stateless . The following should guide us in our desire to achieve the millennium goals in 2011
a. There should be clear separation of powers between the three arms of government and the independence of the judiciary should be guaranteed and all corrupt officers in the judiciary should be adequately dealt with by their Professional bodies.
b. We need to address the problem of the Niger-Delta region and the implementation of the amnesty programme.
c. The resource control agitation needs to be revisited than ever before. I am a strong supporter of the position any area that generate revenue should determine how its resources should be explored and distributed.
d. There should be less concentration of power at the centre and the state should be given more powers to develop at the own pace.
e. Any candidates aspiring to any elective posts should do it on part time basis and politics should henceforth be a past time and not major profession.
f. There should be public scrutiny of all our aspiring candidates so that people will be able to access their representatives before the election . The era of god-fatherism should leave our system and naira politics which debar credible persons from contesting . In the Uk if you want to contest any elective posts , you will pay £500.00 to contest as an MP and if you do not have the required number of votes as an MP your money will be refunded back to you. You do not need to kill your opponents before winning election.
g. There should be a specified funds earmarked by the government restore dignity and professionalism both in the police force and the army .
h. All aspiring candidates should declare their assets before the CODE OF CONDUCT BUREAU and such declaration should be view by members of the constituents of such candidates.
i. The people should be able to determine how they could have access to their representatives as when they feel like.
j. Accountability and transparency in all the sectors of the country and periodic publications of such for public scrutiny .Involving people directly in the affairs of governance through plebiscites and referenda.
k. There should be information on how public funds is utilised by the government and all its agencies.
l. All anti-corruption agencies should be well align to their responsibilities so that prosecution of public officers found wanting are pursue vigorously and no sacred cows.
m. The electives offices should genuinely be monitor by the people and not the party.
n. The need to have a new constitution to reflect the aspirations and needs of the geo-political culture Nigeria.
o. The era of tribal sentiments has institutionalised by our forefathers should be jettisoned and no particular region should dominate the political scene.
p. Self discipline on the part of every Nigeria and the need to inculcate in our daily lives good value system.
I look forward to a new Nigeria of our dream where the people will be able to conduct their affairs in accordance with standards acceptable in the world. Long Live my Country. God Save my country.
Olutoyin Adeyinka –Eweje
[email protected]
Furthermore, democratic society guaranteed freedom of expression, freedom to form political parties and free and fair elections . The current political situation in our country and the lack of basic amenities of life since we freed ourselves from the shackles of British enslavement since independence calls for sober reflection to actually appraise the problems militating against development in Nigeria and the leadership crisis engulfing the country since then . It concerns me more than ever before because my parents, grandparents were all citizens of Nigeria and I could appreciate that there is a wild gap between living in abject poverty and squalor and living in a welfare state .
The preamble to the 1999 constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria provides thus’ We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria having firmly and solemnly resolved to live in unity and harmony and to provide for a constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government do hereby make enact and give to ourselves the following constitution ‘’ It has been accepted by political writers on political scene that a nation worth its salt would operate within the confines of the constitution in the discharge of their constitutional duties. Prior to the emergence of the present civilian government , the military ran the affairs of the nation by force and it has been generally accepted that military intervention in whatever form has become so unfashionable to the extent that it has been relegated to the dustbin of history.
When the military were living the stage they forcibly inhabited for close to 31 years in 1999 they always offered explanations for their unjustifiable incursion and the flimsy excuse of the ineptitude of the politician to have things done appropriately and the incidence of corruption, tribalism, nepotism, anarchy and undue influence . The first coup spearheaded by late Nzeogwu was as a result of the inability of the civilian regime to put their house in order and subsequent lack of co-existence between the different communities making up the country . The khaki boys ruled the country for close to 31 years and the eventual transfer of power to the civilian regime was spearheaded by the military handing over the supposed constitution to enable us direct our affairs since then we had series of conferences to determine how the political structure of the country should be fashion in line with the dictates of their colonial master’s . When the British was setting up the political structure in Nigeria, it realised that there were three main ethnic nations , the Hausas, Ibos and the Yorubas and it is on these foundation that the country political structure was laid. Since then we had series of constitutions drafted by their colonial masters in line with these political structure . What baffles me since the inception of the civilian regime since 1999 is the imperfections of the constitution and the lack of desire on our part to resolve the major problems militating against the progress of this country. My assessment of the military boys was that they were never trained to be a leader or to occupy offices but rather to defend the territorial integrity of the nation and to guide the country against external attacks. But the unfortunate incident in January 1966 was to me the genesis of our problems and the inability by us all to resolve this identity matter. Rtd. David Jemibewon in his book Combatants in Government said ‘’The inability of most African government to govern effectively has been one of the main sources of military intervention in Africa . Once a civilian government fails either by sheer ineptitude or un wisdom to maintain law and order and is incapable of coping with the social and economic problems of the society ,then the government is asking to be overthrown’’. The reasons adduced by erstwhile military warlords for forcibly taking over the governments in Nigeria was centred on the issue of corruption, nepotism, maladministration, selfish interest, tribalism and lack of provision of basic amenities.
After the unceremonious incursion of the military incursion in politics and the eventual transfer of power from the khaki boys to their civilian counterparts , the country and its people since independence have suffered both psychological torture, mental derangement as a result of underdevelopment, lack of basic infrastructure , corruption , nepotism , tribal sentiments and over concentration of powers in the hands of the military for close to decades in our body politics. I am an avid reader of military books on the intervention of the military in Nigeria and I reasonably concluded that an objective analysis of the reasons and motives for the military interventions is similar when we do a dissection of the previous military regimes and compare to others after them, one would reasonably observed certain similarities and the obvious similarities are corruption of leaders, ambition on the part of military guys to emulate their colleagues and the lack of peaceable change of government.
The crux of this article is for us to see why the military incursion and the corrupt tendencies on the part of the so called political have resulted in lack of good government in our country Nigeria despite having attained independence since 50 years. One would expected that by now a country who have gone through civil war and was under foreign powers for closed to a decade should have been able to put in place an enviable democratic structure in place, and should have been able to emulate other countries of the world who are role models and making impact in the lives of their citizenry. One of the major problems plaguing our country is her identity problems which the British Colonial powers were aware of but rather decided to play the ostrich and which had left Nigeria worse than ever before. ‘’ The Biafra Warlord Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu opined in his book Because I am involved and said ‘’The true problem with Nigeria is that she is fully embroiled in an identity crisis.The Nigeria of today is a social path in search of a society . Our leaders have been and still are politicians in search of a national programme. We live in a country in search of common character . The source of our problem is rooted in our fear of unity or our lack of will to transform our primordial instincts and create a modern polity’’ If the issue of identity and the unending leadership crisis that have plagued the country like pests is still relevant in our body politic, what should we do to ensure that despite all these shortcomings that have resulted in underdevelopment in our land since independence , the people of Nigeria deserves a better deal from the leaders and the time is now. The pertinent questions to ask ourselves is that irrespective of our inability to resolve the genesis of our problem, Nigerians citizen deserves a more better life from its leaders irrespective of political affiliations of such leaders . Why IS GOOD GOVERNANCE ELUSIVE IN NIGERIA CONTEXT ? Is there an alternative to good governance as it is practised in other countries of the world. My answer is Good Governance is part and parcel of democratic practices and government could not sacrifice this at the alter of political expediency and political commitments . The people of this country deserves the best as there are available both human resources and material resources to go round and the problem have always been bad leaders.
The constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria enjoins the three arms of government to adhere strictly to the provisions of the constitution . The preamble to the 1999 constitution alluded to the facts that the citizens of the country expects more responsibilities from their government more than ever before. Furthermore, it behoves on all elected representatives to provide good governance , accountability , responsive government but since independence the reverse has been the case.
Good governance describe the objective of a nations political development. It involves accountability, efficient, effective, equitable equality and medium of exercising power and decision making for group of people.
Furthermore, the essence of good governance is for its citizen to participate in meaningful ways in decision making processes . Since the independence in1960 the key elements of governance have continued to elude or rather not in the dictionary of the so called rulers. Government in Nigeria has tended to be pre-occupied with powers and its material acquisition and the desire of the leaders to cling to powers as it is the only avenue for them to rise above the general poverty and squalor that pervades the entire society . Governance in Nigeria have always been an opportunity to acquire wealth and prestige and to be able to distribute benefits in the form of jobs, contracts, scholarships and gifts of money to one’s relatives and political allies. The above scenario have been the trend since independence and I am not here to exonerate regime since we became independent . The constitution of Nigeria is partly to be blame for lack of measures to curtail these inadequacies in our system. The 1999 constitution and the previous constitutions have never imposed on the elected leaders constitutional duties on the part of leaders. Our leaders have taken the citizen for a ride for so long and we have been a victim of political manipulation and bickering and as a result of these shortcomings , it has been difficult to have developmental progress in our country. For the past 50 years of our existence as a nation, the basic amenities are not within the reach of average Nigerians.
The infrastructural dilapidation in our country is better imagined than seen. There have been a retrogression in infrastructures, the education sectors have been the worse for it with strikes and lack of basic educational facilities in schools, the health standards have fallen beyond human capitulation . The roads are in still in a state of disrepair despite huge sums of money voted for the rehabilitation of roads by governments . Should we call this country a failed state ? Should we ask our colonial masters to come back and put things right as it appears we have been unable to fix any tangible developments since they left the scene 50 years ago. Should we resort to the parliamentary system of government which the first republic practised and the citizen could feel a little bit of governance through the efforts of their regional governments at the time. In the first republic the leaders though partially corrupt they were still able to put some structures in place for their people. In the southwest the Late Papa Awolowo government singlehandedly built the Conglomerate known as ODUA investments today and the evidence are there for all to see. I am yet to see any meaningful development since the demise of the first republican leaders. The issue is not about personalities but the issue is on the quality and vision of successive leaders we have had in the past 20 years or more irrespective of military or civilian.
We need a change to our body politic and I believe is never too late to redress some of the mistakes we have made in the past. We could still install good governance in Nigeria so that generation yet unborn would be able to appreciate the efforts put in place to get a qualitative leadership in this country. Nigeria as the giant of Africa should be seen to be setting the pace in terms of development both in terms of human and physical resources . I have lived in the United Kingdom for 8 years now and I could compare the level of qualitative life I have lived here in the United Kingdom with my growing and adulthood life in Nigeria.. I am able to appreciate the wild gap between being deprived of basic amenities of life in Nigeria and enjoying the benefits of the same amenities in the United Kingdom. The UK government practices monarchical system of government but the essence of governance is being felt by the citizen of the country at all levels. One of the major characteristics of the developed countries of the world is their welfarism policies. The UK government particularly takes good care of his citizen to the extent that they do not joke with public opinion on any matter affecting their citizens. In the last election that was conducted in May 2010. The Labour had been in government for 13 years and the people enjoyed the policies of Labour government but alas the conservatives and the liberal democrats were voted in what is toady known in British Parliament as the’ Hung Parliament’. The Labour lost the election not because of lack of performance but because the people wanted a change of government in the United Kingdom.
It does not cost much to operate a welfare state if the resources are available and readily accessible by all. But in Nigeria, the citizens are do not have access to basic amenities of life despite having the funds to do it. Just recently Rtd. Danjuma went to the press to announce that he made $500.000 as profits from oil deals alone. if at 50 years we are groaning in abject poverty , squalor and lack of basic amenities then definitely something is wrong with the geographical expression called NIGERIA. Some of us in the diaspora especially professionals amongst wishes to return back home and contribute to the growth of the country. But there are militating factors precluding us from returning to our dear country. If the basic amenities are put in place and the government is willing to address all the perennial problems some of its citizen would leave their country of residence and return home. There are a lot of prejudices here and there when you live in a foreign land but if you are enjoying life and you have access to good qualitative education and good welfare system then irrespective of the prejudices you encounter on your way you’ll prefer a life of whereby there is security and good system than a country of uncertainty and hopelessness . All hope is not lost if our government are a willing horse and ready to do the bidding of its citizen then we will forget years of bad governance and willing move ahead.
The 2011 should be a year of decision in our country . I am one of the few political pundits who genuinely believe that after all if you have good leaders at the helm of affairs this country would be on the road map to greatness. The present government came into power through an imperfection in our electoral system and the there were hues and cries about the irregularities in the electoral system. I am still positive about the fact we can still get it right if certain procedure are put in place and good governance in Nigeria is the solution to this roadmap.We need a leader who is not partisan and not a tribal person. We need a leader who is genuinely concern with the welfare of Nigeria citizens, we need a visionary leader, we need a leader who will be accountable to the people and will do the bidding of the people and not the bidding of his party. We need qualitative leader at the centre so that the roadmap to greatness will be faster than we expected. We need a new Nigeria devoid of tribalism.,nepotism, maladministration, egoistic tendencies , corruption, godfatherism , blind leadership .retardation ,political jobbery and selfishness, acquistic tendencies and we need a Nigeria of our dream. The 2011 elections should be the hallmark and determinant factor whether we still want to be address as a nation.or stateless . The following should guide us in our desire to achieve the millennium goals in 2011
a. There should be clear separation of powers between the three arms of government and the independence of the judiciary should be guaranteed and all corrupt officers in the judiciary should be adequately dealt with by their Professional bodies.
b. We need to address the problem of the Niger-Delta region and the implementation of the amnesty programme.
c. The resource control agitation needs to be revisited than ever before. I am a strong supporter of the position any area that generate revenue should determine how its resources should be explored and distributed.
d. There should be less concentration of power at the centre and the state should be given more powers to develop at the own pace.
e. Any candidates aspiring to any elective posts should do it on part time basis and politics should henceforth be a past time and not major profession.
f. There should be public scrutiny of all our aspiring candidates so that people will be able to access their representatives before the election . The era of god-fatherism should leave our system and naira politics which debar credible persons from contesting . In the Uk if you want to contest any elective posts , you will pay £500.00 to contest as an MP and if you do not have the required number of votes as an MP your money will be refunded back to you. You do not need to kill your opponents before winning election.
g. There should be a specified funds earmarked by the government restore dignity and professionalism both in the police force and the army .
h. All aspiring candidates should declare their assets before the CODE OF CONDUCT BUREAU and such declaration should be view by members of the constituents of such candidates.
i. The people should be able to determine how they could have access to their representatives as when they feel like.
j. Accountability and transparency in all the sectors of the country and periodic publications of such for public scrutiny .Involving people directly in the affairs of governance through plebiscites and referenda.
k. There should be information on how public funds is utilised by the government and all its agencies.
l. All anti-corruption agencies should be well align to their responsibilities so that prosecution of public officers found wanting are pursue vigorously and no sacred cows.
m. The electives offices should genuinely be monitor by the people and not the party.
n. The need to have a new constitution to reflect the aspirations and needs of the geo-political culture Nigeria.
o. The era of tribal sentiments has institutionalised by our forefathers should be jettisoned and no particular region should dominate the political scene.
p. Self discipline on the part of every Nigeria and the need to inculcate in our daily lives good value system.
I look forward to a new Nigeria of our dream where the people will be able to conduct their affairs in accordance with standards acceptable in the world. Long Live my Country. God Save my country.
Olutoyin Adeyinka –Eweje
[email protected]
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });