A professor of International Relations at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, William Alade Fawole, speaks to DARE ADEKANMBI on the 24th anniversary of civilian administration in Nigeria, the essence of democratic system of government and how to deepen it, among others.
By May 29, it will be 24 unbroken years of civil rule in Nigeria. The verdict on the lips of many Nigerians is that they have not fared better or felt the impacts of the various administrations we have had since then and that the Eldorado they were promised when the military officers were going back to the barracks in 1999 has become elusive. Are the Nigerians who hold this view right?
First off, let me start by saying that I am not opposed to whatever views that people hold and they are entitled to their views, right or wrong. But for me, I am an analyst. I am not running a commentary or just giving my view. I will rather put the matter in a critical analysis. Sometimes analysis may not necessarily be the most interesting thing, but it is better that way so that is it not just a view or an opinion or a feeling.
When people say they have not felt the impact of government, for me, that is an emotional reaction. We have felt the impact of government in the last 24 years whether positively or negatively. Some people say that government has not done anything, yet government has done many things. It is a question of whether people like what they see or not. But let me say fundamentally that the kind of liberal democratic system we are running in Nigeria is not a system that promises the Eldorado that people are imagining. Let me break it down this way. The liberal democratic system only offers people access to political and civic rights, not economic and social rights. Yes, we have multiparty system, adult suffrage, a written constitution that forms the basis of governance, we have the separation of power of government into the executive, legislative and judicial branches, people have the right to vote, something about prescribing the rule of law that everybody should have equal access to law and nobody should be above the law. There is also some guarantee of certain prescribed fundamental human rights, freedom of assembly and association, freedom to hold opinions, freedom of the press and so on. Those are the kinds of fundamental tenets of liberal democracy. Democracy does not in way promise economic prosperity or good life to anybody. That is what we have adopted and that is the way it is. Having adopted that, we also have a constitution, a working document where government derives its powers and its ability to function. That constitution states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. So, we then expect that because that is already in our written constitution, the government should ensure the people’s welfare, ensure that people have access to security so that they can maximise their own potential and go about their life, endeavours without the risks to life and properties and so on. That is when a country can develop and have peace and prosperity.
But liberal democracy as a system does not necessarily promise that. So, instead of blaming democratic system per se, let us look at governmental performance based on the constitution. How have the various so-called democratic administrations since 1999 performed on the basis of the grundnorm, the document that is called the 1999 Constitution? For me, that will be a basis to look at the issue. That constitution also speaks of certain rights to which Nigerians are entitled. But some of the rights are not even justiciable enough. We can’t take government to court for not implementing them. For example on education which I am quite familiar with, the constitution talks about people getting free education at all levels, when it is practicable. That is what the constitution says. So, it is not as if it is a right that I can exercise because it says when government is able to do so. Since 1999, we have not seen any government that has said it is able to do so.
As to the welfare and well-being of the people, yes there is a whole lot to talk about. In the last decade or more, there has been the burgeoning insecurity in the land, not only with the Boko Haram now Islamic State of West Africa Province, there is the wholesale banditry all over the place in the North. We have kidnapping for ransom, extortion, massacres and things like that. People are no longer safe even in their homes. They invade people’s homes, palaces and just simply abduct people for ransom. On the road, we see prominent people, politicians, military officer and not so prominent people like us being kidnapped. So, nowhere is safe anymore. We have mass abduction of school children. This bothers Nigerians a lot and I empathise with that because I am also a part of it. So, people have a right to feel disillusioned if they believe that the civilian governance system has not functioned optimally for their security and welfare in the last 24 years. It will be a good judgment for them to make.
Can we call what we have in Nigeria today a democracy?
I will say yes because there is no perfect democracy, no one-size-fits-all democracy. The kind of democratic system has to be adapted to the circumstances of each environment, of each country. Take for example, in our own country, there is multiplicity of ethnic groups, regions and religions. All these play active roles in governance system. Maybe in some other democracies this may not necessarily be issues, that is where ethnicity, religion are not really issues that have been elevated to a national discourse or things like that. What we have is democracy to the extent that certain prescriptions or tenets or liberal democracy are being fulfilled. We have multiple political parties, adult suffrage, competition for power, a written constitution, elections periodically hold every four years to change or re-appoint leaders. No matter how bad it is, we still have access to the rule of law, unlike in the military days when laws are suspended and the jurisdiction of the courts are ousted even on certain matters and things like that. It does not mean that things are perfect, but we have a democratic system that we can nurture into maturity, perfection and consolidation over time.
Specifically, in what areas would you say we should focus on for us to deepen democracy in the country?
There are several things to do. First and foremost, there must be a general consensus both at the elite level and the mass level that democracy is what we require. If there is that general acceptance, then we will now be able to start planning the way forward to deepen it. Having said that, it would appear that we have all accepted that democracy is what we want because we collectively fought to drive the military out of power. That means we have in a way voted that we want this kind of democratic system. If that be the case, that agreement now subsists and we should all now start working towards consolidating it. From the point of view of governments, they must operate on the basis on existing written constitution. It must not do anything to subvert it. They must implement the constitution to the letter. They must implement the laws that are made for the interest of the people. They must ensure good governance in a way that people will be able to see that government is working for them through provision of security and safety for people, infrastructure that can improve lives and so on. That will give people more confidence in the governance system and they will say the governance system is working and we should sustain it. Then, at the level of the civil populace, we also must make up our minds that we want this system and if we want it, then we are all duty-bound to ensure that it succeeds for our sake. We must not do anything to subvert it. Having said that, that means all of us—politicians and members of the elite and the civil populace—must accept certain fundamentals. Once elections are held, we know elections are lost and won, we must accept the realities. If people have disagreement with either the processes or the outcomes, there are constitutionally-prescribed methodologies for resolving issues. Take the matter to the election petition tribunal. If legally constituted court rules on the matter, we should simply just accept it. Refusal to do that will then bring chaos. Losing an election and going on the streets for mass protest and for violence will not deepen democracy. Going to the front of the Ministry of Defence to advocate that the military should come and take over because some people are aggrieved will not deepen democracy. We have to learn that.
Let me give you an example. In 2000, former US Vice President Al Gore contested and lost an election. He won the popular votes, but he did not win the Electoral College votes. The matter was challenged in court and the US Supreme Court ruled that George W. Bush won the election. What did Al Gore say? He said, ‘I disagree with the ruling of Supreme Court, but I accept it.” It is that kind of acceptance that makes democracy to thrive and to deepen. It becomes chaotic if politicians don’t accept what the tribunal or the court does in resolution of election disputes. We will be back in the State of Nature where everybody does whatever they want by force and life will become nasty, brutish and short for everybody. That will not help democracy.
Another issue is this: democracy will be difficult to deepen when people don’t accept their fate. If you lose an election and you continuously delegitimise the ruling government or party and you continuously de-market it in the eyes of the world, that will not deepen democracy because it will make people feel that democracy is not working in the country. These are basic things that we need to accept. These are fundamental things that will make democracy to survive and thrive in other locations. We need to adopt such habit too.
The way we organise our civics in Nigeria is such that there is not much engagement of the ruling class by the populace. A lot of people have even said even though democracy speaks of majority rule and popular wish, what we have in the country is a rule of the elite and those in power pander to the wishes of the tiny elite and not the common people. Is that right?
I agree with that substantially, but I will extend the argument further by saying that is the way liberal democracy works in every location. I am not saying it is the best or the right thing, but I am just saying that is the way it works. Take for example, the United States. Who do you think the US Congress answers to? It is not the people of the United States. On whose behalf do you think the US Congress makes all the laws and regulations? They don’t do so on behalf of the people of the country, but powerful corporations and interest groups. For example, why is armed violence so common in America? It is because the legislators answer to the National Rifle Association and not to the people. It is because they answer to the oil companies and corporations, the trillion-dollar tech firms. They answer to arms manufacturers, major armament manufacturers that count their money in trillions of dollars. These are the special interest groups that determine what goes on in politics. These are the special interest groups everywhere.
In Nigeria, it is the same thing. We vote for people that have been pre-selected for us by political parties. We really don’t choose the leaders. We just vote for whoever we think is popular among the candidates that have been pre-selected for us. Professor Adebayo Williams talks about the selectorate, that there is always the selectorate who determine those that will be put forward to contest elections. So, we have always been going out to vote for whoever the political parties put forward. And then within the political parties, it is not just a question of popularity. There are special interest and powerful groups, political entrepreneurs that bring forth all these people. That is the nature of liberal democracy. That is why I said in the beginning of this interview that democracy does not promise people an Eldorado. It is not even theoretically configured for it much less in practice. Albeit, that is not to say we should totally good governance that will bring goodies to the people.
If democracy and economic prosperity are not mutually exclusive, then of what essence is government which is supposed to look after the welfare of the people? Reference has been made to monarchial systems in Japan and Morocco which have made life abundant for the citizens of the countries and even Lee Kuan Yew Singapore’s unitary parliamentary system. The transformation in these countries did not happen under a democracy. Should we begin to question the goodness of democracy, although not to advocate the reverse which is a military rule?
You seem to have collapsed a few issues into your question. Let me see if I can deconstruct and answer some of them. The system of government does not promise the people Eldorado. I said that fundamentally. Does that mean that democracy is not really good? I am not going to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to that. People will have to decide what form of governance system they want. The opposite side of democracy is not necessarily military rule. You mentioned Singapore, Japan and some other locations. China, for example, is not a democracy. Singapore is not a democracy, but they are highly developed societies. Is it the form of governance system that determines this? In my view, ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and substantially so. But at the same time, I think development is a function of a focused leadership regardless of the system of government that we are running. Let me give you an example. We talk periodically about the development that we witnessed in the Western Region from the 1950s when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the Premier. We had a parliamentary system, but it was not the parliamentary system that aided the development we had then. It was a leadership that had a focus. They established a political party with a motto that says ‘freedom for all, life more abundant’ and they went about implementing this and policies of government were based on making people free. How do you liberate people and develop society? Free education was conceived as being important to achieving that. If people are not going to embrace it easily, give it to them for free, create cottage industries and provide infrastructure. Today, we still talk about the fact that there was a lot of development in the 50s and 60s in the Western Region. This had nothing to do with the system of government, but had to do with the elite that were in power; the elite that had development as a focus. Let’s go to Singapore, what happened there had nothing to do with democracy or not. They had a leader, Lee Kuan Yew who brought together a group of people with a mind that was focused on developing the country, taking it out of its third-world status and transforming into a first-world country within a generation. Look at China which was a large agrarian society until Deng Xiaoping decided to transform it. Between then and now, we have seen considerable improvement and China has become the second largest economy in the world, perhaps the most technologically advanced country today. It is a function of leadership and not so much the system of government. But that is also besides the fact that China also operates a meritocratic system.
In our own case, we can develop if we have a leadership that is focused on development. But fundamentally, democracy itself hardly allows for development. Why? You always have opposition parties in a democracy and it is the duty, so to say, of the opposition parties to ensure and make life difficult for the party that is in government. That is why you always have opposition in legislature and it is difficult to pass a budget.
The function of the opposition parties is to make life difficult for the ruling party so that at the next election cycle, they will be able to use that against the ruling party to win power. Political parties are fundamentally about gaining power. So, how do you develop when you are busy watching over your back not only in the executive or in the state, but even in the national legislature? So, you always have enemies at the gate that will ensure you don’t get it right. That is the way democracy works. Within it, countries can develop, but I don’t know any country that develops because it is a democracy. None. I stand to be corrected. People will mention all the other countries that developed on the backs of slavery or colonial exploitation and the rest of them, looting and plundering the resources of all other lands for their development. Is it their system of government that is responsible for such development? Look at the Great Britain, how many government has it had in the last eight years? Prime ministers have been coming and going like they are riding a revolving door. So, you see the kind of instability they are going through. Between the end of the second World War and today, Italy has had about 80 different governments, how stable is the country? But look at the Chinese, leaders are voted for 10 years, except the current one who is having an extension. But they don’t have the kind of acrimonious elections we have here and in other liberal democracies. So, we need to have a ruling elite that have a mindset for development and try to negotiate the labyrinth, the landmines or the banana peel that the opposition will put on their way to develop.
Democracy thrives on a structure of a citizenry that is largely educated as is the case in advanced democracies. But in our own environment, there is high illiteracy and poverty is also high such that the common people are pawns at the hands of the ruling elite. How do we get the ruling elite to better governmental performance and the people to renew their faith in the goodness of democracy?
I don’t necessarily subscribe to the view that democracy thrives only when you have educated citizenry. It thrived under Chief Awolowo and the society was largely illiterate then. They decided they were going to get people out of illiteracy, but it was not the only thing they focused on. They focused on infrastructure, rural industrialisation, employment, healthcare and things so on. Everybody enjoyed the government then. So, it is a function of those that are in power, not so much a function of the system. Nigeria did not become so-called poverty capital of the world because of democracy, but because we are not getting things right and we allow corruption which has thrived so much that it has collapsed the economy and the absorptive capacity of the economy has been compromised. That is why we churn out graduates in their hundreds of thousands every year and there is no sector that can absorb them. It is not because they are not well trained but because the absorptive capacity of the economy has collapsed on account of the mismanagement and corruption. So, all we need to do that we must make up our minds that we want democracy to work for us. We don’t have to necessarily advocate choosing another one. This idea of if this does not work, we drop it cannot help us. We can’t be changing forms of government whimsically at every time we think things are not going on very well. How is it that they are going on very well in other countries? Are there things we can learn from those countries? I think there are. Again, a society does not develop immediately. It takes time. Even democracy takes time to become ingrained and drilled into the sensibilities of the people.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
May Nigeria never witness another Buhari’s govt — Primate Ayodele
The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele has said President Muhammadu Buhari-led Government performed…
‘IDAN’: All you need to know about trending Nigerian street slang
The hashtag ‘Idan’ is the latest Nigerian street slang that has been trending on social media for…
Murphy Afolabi: 7 things you probably don’t know about late Nollywood actor
Nigerian sensational actor and filmmaker, Murphy Afolabi, reportedly died on Sunday, barely 24 hours after…
WEEK BRIEF: 10th NASS’ power tussle, Seun Kuti’s assault on police… other top news
THE ongoing tussle for the principal office positions of the 10th National Assembly by the top members All Progressives Congress (APC) has…
SPOTLIGHT: Dennis Bergkamp, ‘non-flying Dutchman’ blessed with unrivalled skill, technique
Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp, born on May 10, 1969, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is widely regarded as one of the…
Ph.D graduation of a Hausa-Yoruba Nigerian in America
Last Saturday, I attended the PhD graduation of a treasured mentee of mine by the name of Abdulbasit Kassim at Rice University in…
