Those who believe that democracy means the freedom to speak your mind without fear of being thrown in jail must be gratified at the cacophony of voices occupying the public space in Nigeria today:
Leave things exactly as they are
Revise 1999 Constitution but don’t touch “no go areas” that might change the fundamental status quo
Throw away 1999 Constitution and write entirely new one
Create more states to total 37 or 42 or 92 or 256
Shrink to 6 states identical with the 6 geo-political zones
Abandon state structure, return to 3 or 4 Regions
Abolish local government system which merely shares out revenue with no commensurate infrastructural development
Return to pre-independence provincial administrative system
Decentralize the police, transfer control to the states
Reduce number of federal ministers to 12 or 18
Increase number of federal ministers to 72 or 144
Reduce National Assembly to single chamber of 36 (6 per geo-political zone)
Abolish the Senate
Abolish House of Reps
Abolish National Assembly
Revamp the schools
Wipe out armed robbery and kidnapping
Invest in infrastructure
Assist private investors to set up industries and employ millions
Return to parliamentary system. It’s cheaper to operate, doesn’t permit power struggle between executive and legislature since they are co-extensive. It subjects the executive to periodic scathing sessions of “Question Time”; and if executive’s answers are less than satisfactory it may face a “vote of no confidence” and the government may fall
Convene a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to re-negotiate Nigeria, possibly partition it in style of India (1947), Soviet Union (1991), Ethiopia (1991), Czechoslovakia (1993), Sudan (2011)
The volume and diversity of these discordant voices is gratifying indeed. In a post-military, post-Abacha world, this is progress. Seeing what we saw under Abacha and the military, we are right to celebrate the cacophony.
But alas, it is not enough. Freedom of speech is not the end but only an early step in the democratic process. Freedom of speech produces public opinion. But those who have the upper hand in governance often try to confuse the public, and sometimes succeed. They make a fetish of freedom of speech, and do their best to conceal the cynical, Machiavellian version of that freedom with which they operate—namely that the people have their say but the rulers have their way.
In a true democracy the people’s say actually means something. The people’s voices carry weight. And any politician or public official, whether elected or appointed (prime minister, president, chancellor, judge, governor, cabinet minister, legislator, mayor, city councilor) would be a fool to ignore public opinion—otherwise he/she may be kicked out of office even before the next election. The public (electorate) are a force to be reckoned with: every public official knows that his/her survival in office depends on the continued satisfaction of his/her constituents.
But public opinion can be double-edged. Ordinarily, public opinion is benign in intent and results. However, a devious, cunning, undemocratic leadership (ruling class), rather than being guided by public opinion in making laws and implementing policies, can habitually ignore public opinion and get away with it. Even worse, such a leadership can so manipulate public opinion that the people are tricked into supporting anti-people policies without knowing it. In certain countries that pride themselves on their “democracy,” public opinion is often manipulated by sinister special interests to produce the most negative results, results that militate against the enlightened and humane self-interest of the majority.
In Nigeria, public opinion counts for nothing—unless it is backed by a “warning strike” or something comparably dramatic and intimidating. Once the election is over the leaders ignore their constituents (electorate)—until the next election when all is forgiven and forgotten, perhaps with the aid of monetary inducements here and there. The vibrant variety of voices proffering solutions to the nation’s many problems, which a leadership committed to the development of the nation and the welfare of the people would garner, sift, refine and apply, are ignored and relegated to mere noise. That the “noise” is tolerated is “proof” to the leadership that they are doing right. Isn’t the Nigerian media the freest (or one of the freest) in a continent notorious for trampling on basic freedoms? The people have their say, we the rulers have our way.
Nigeria is a fake democracy. If it were not so, if the leadership, the policy makers (the executive and legislature) meant the people any good, they would long have responded to the volume, intensity and prolonged duration of public opinion on the following issues:
The 1999 Constitution is not amendable because it is based on sharing of national cake (wrong premise); throw it away and write a new one premised on industrious productivity
This automatically means wholesale restructuring of our governance
Don’t incur any more debt—federal or state, internal or external
Reduce cost of governance by drastically reducing (a) “recurrent expenditure” (luxuries) of senior public officials and (b) number/size of executive, legislature, states if they still exist
Arrange a national dialogue to renegotiate Nigeria, without “no go areas”.
By: Onwuchekwa Jamie
