Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has urged Nigerians to manage their expectations from the government, recognising its limitations in solving all their problems.
The assertion was made by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Barr Yakubu Dogara while speaking at The Platform Nigeria on “Democracy and the Free Market Economy” on 12th June 2024 in Lagos.
He emphasised the need to tame misdirected rage and understand that democracy is noisy, but citizens must work circumspectly to build a robust economy.
Dogara stressed the importance of a reward system that promotes creativity and entrepreneurship, rather than rent-seeking.
He also highlighted the significance of local government autonomy, commending President Tinubu’s efforts and urging the Supreme Court to grant autonomy to local governments, which would aid in true democracy and federation.
“The sooner we accept the fact that our government is limited and therefore limited in what it can do for us as individual citizens, the better. As difficult a message to sell, but it is the raw truth.
“If Nigeria keeps holding on to what is normal, it will keep letting go of what is possible. We must never lose sight of the fact that scientists built the Titanic while amateurs built the Ark, but the Titanic couldn’t survive a collision with an iceberg while the Ark defied the global floods.
“The fight to rebuild our faltering economy is our collective fight. We must at all costs reduce the present poverty level and Government must lead the way by being very aggressive in the pursuit, design, and implementation of appropriate policies that would give birth to a robust ecosystem of MSMEs all over the country.
“We must learn to work circumspectly in the midst of the noise in Nigeria as all healthy democracies are noisy. That must be the case when the culture of democracy takes root. The free press, democratic elections, parliamentary debates, civil society activities, Labour unions, conflict, compromise, consensus are all entranced parts of a vibrant democratic culture.
“We must understand the responsibility of freedom, which means that we are free not to be irresponsible. No democracy anywhere has ever licensed its citizens to be their worst selves; fascism does that. We must, therefore, deploy our democratic rights to build rather than to destroy.
“For progress to be made, we must creatively create a reward system that works only for citizens who are bakers, not those that are hunters – those rent-seekers masquerading as businessmen and women who now promiscuously litter our economic space,” he stated.
While defining democracy, he stated, “In the case of Nigeria, it won’t be out of place to posit that ours is a constitutional democracy. That Nigeria is a democracy is even stated in the Constitution itself. Indeed S.14 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the Constitution) provides that ’14. (1) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice.”
“I will not conclude this speech without mentioning the unfortunate demise or deliberate elimination of the third tier of government in Nigeria-The Local Government Areas.
“Theoretically, we have 774 of them but practically, all but the Six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory are non-existent since 2002 when the tenure of the last democratically elected Council elapsed and State Governors hijacked the system.
“Almost 30 percent or more of Nigeria’s revenue is accrued to the local governments but for more than two decades, their resources have been diverted and wasted through joint accounts by successive state governments thereby causing major economic dislocation of more than half of our population that live in the rural areas,” he added.
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