“HOW e take concern me?” is one of the popular sayings of the typical Nigerian. Another prominent one, a selfish prayer, is “however much they sell it, May God just provide me with the means.” These are signs of loss of hope in social processes and tendencies towards self-help in pursuit of “happiness” largely to the detriment of others. We forget that no man is an island in the society and the consequences of individual dispositions and actions, even at the family level, inevitably reverberate all around the community and the nation at large.
Arriving at this negative, self-centred temperament did not happen in a day. In summary, government not based on taxation but almost entirely on oil money is basically the cause. Government ought to be based on taxation on the productive efforts of its empowered citizens at the local government level, which is supposed to be the foundation of state and national government. Two factors, the discovery and exploration of crude oil and military rule that centralised the federation into a unitary state, did devastating damages to democracy and productivity. The civilian elite, dominated and redesigned by the military juntas, became reliant and self-satisfied to centrally collect the oil rent money and simply distribute to selves and spend as they wish at the federal, state, and local government levels.
Whatever projects they deem fit to throw around in their “magnanimity” are seen as “government” projects: government schools, government roads, government stadia, government transformers, government houses, government this and government that; there is neither sense of ownership by the citizens (as individuals or as community). Oil money was used to execute them and not taxes from people’s productive engagement. The oil money is not seen as proceeds from the exploration of our common patrimony, oil money belongs to government and not the people; and the elite sustained that false narrative.
After military rule, their civilian twins – along with fellow military brass now in flowing robes – instituted a democracy based on a constitution that retains all the elements of unitary and dictatorial rule in which THE PEOPLE (mentioned three times in the popular definition of democracy) are removed from having a voice in determining government policies but reduced to mere voters in pre-manipulated election processes. The end result remains the same as under military rule, with only the grace of absence of naked brutality.
THE MAJORITY can be substituted for THE PEOPLE in defining democracy. However, the import remains the same. The majority in any society remains the workers, students, women, children, artisans, farmers, traders, etc – the masses in general. The elite who are the most connected, exposed, successful, educated and rich constitute a minority whose interests also matter BUT WHOSE INTERESTS HAVE NOW BEEN TURNED TO THE DOMINANT INTEREST against the spirit and letters of democracy. The clear outcome is underdevelopment and nationwide distress.
Democracy, however disfigured, still offers the best opportunity for THE PEOPLE to redress the social contract of Democracy. Of course, widespread poverty and ignorance make the goal challenging indeed. Nevertheless, organisations of the masses need to wake up from their slumber and take on the challenges of redefining democracy – in form and content. The wages of alienation are increasing poverty and ignorance with consequent escalation in crime and violence to the proportion of insecurity challenges worse than even what is being witnessed today.
Only a return to true federation (in which every federating state is autonomous with what it owns); citizen productivity on a massive scale; and taxation for governance by a government elected truly by the majority; can restore prosperity and guarantee law and order. Only then can we say bygone to the days of ethnicity, religious bigotry and all forms of extremism and, as a genuine FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, finally realise the goal of our national motto: unity and faith, peace and progress.
