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By Henry Uche
As 2023 general elections draw nearer, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has frankly cautioned Nigerians to be wary of Greek gifts, freebies and other mundane gratifications offered by politicians, saying that such offerings are intended to hoodwink electorate to do the unacceptable during elections.
The minister who made this warning in Lagos recently while delivering a keynote speech at the Niche 2022 Annual Lecture, with the theme: “2023 And The Future of Nigeria’s Democracy” tasked Nigerians to question: What really do electorate expects from those elected and what does elected officers promise to do before elections, and what they really do eventually.
According to him, collecting tricycles, sewing machines, generators etc. from politicians during electioneering campaigns may not augur well for the electorate in the long run.
“When the campaigns for election to executive office starts and we hear of free this and free that, do we engage in a conversation about how much it would cost and where the money will come from?
“If we did collect these things, can we legitimately expect that the budget from which these things were procured will also provide healthcare, drugs and diagnostic equipment in our health facilities?
“If they have sponsored weddings for our families, financed the burial of our dear departed ones or paid school fees for a whole community do we understand that these things or some of them are funded by the budget from which we also expect good schools, good roads and other public infrastructure and services upon which our prosperity depends collectively?”
“When those promises do not materialize, are we complicit in their stillbirth by the lack of engagement or the quality of engagement. These things require us to focus on the kind of people we will elect to states and federal constituencies because it is those people who will determine many things that will affect us,”
Fashola decried the level of ignorance among the electorate on political issues. He queried how many of Nigerians who vote truly understand how the process works, and how many electorate understand what the actual constitutional roles of our legislators, Local Government Chairman, Governors, and President are? He expressed surprise by how unfamiliar some people are with the constitution and our responsibilities.
“The kind of people we elect to the Senate for instance, will determine what kind of people they will confirm to become ministers, heads of parastatals and so on, which will determine the quality of service we get. The kind of people we elect, will determine the quality of policies, budgets, programmes and projects that are designed and delivered to us,”
On revenue and borrowing by government, he challenged the critics of APC administration to provide the alternative(s). “While we have not gotten alternative, the answer must lie somewhere between cutting waste, reducing the size of government, raising taxes, stopping some programmes, projects or policies.
“Democracy heralds freedoms including the freedom to speak. But what kind of speeches are we engaging in? Heckling, online trolling, hate and in person verbal abuse in some cases or talk about ethnicity or religion.
“To elect people to serve in the local governments, as state legislators and as governors are extremely important to our quality of life and deserve that we pay the utmost attention to them without losing sight of the federal elections.
“Issues like water supply, rent, land acquisition, building permits, refuse management, sanitation, traffic management, primary health and education, community development are local and not federal issues.
“As a small business operator, you need more support from your State governments than the Federal (save for fiscal and monetary issues) in order for your business to thrive,”
He urged the media to focus on conversations that affect the majority of potential voters instead of petty things. “The majority of potential voters will be more likely interested to know if there is any plan to improve their children’s education and access to healthcare.
“They certainly will be interested to know if something will be done to bring water to their taps at home and what the plans for more reliable electricity will be. You can bet that those who pay 2 to 3 years rent in advance will be interested to know if anything can be done about it and what that would be. These are conversations that I think the media can focus on and thereby shape the news,”
He added that Nigeria could win elections without exaggerating its problems and this could be done by offering credible service and well thought out solutions. “We can win elections without disrobing our country before the global community. We can do so by valorising Nigeria’s possibilities and not by widening her fault lines. Elections and democracy must represent for us a feast of ideas and choices that bring out the best of us and the best of our country,” he affirmed.
On his part, the chairman of the occasion, Tanko Yakasai, suggested that Nigeria should adopt the French Presidential system of government, saying that the American borrowed presidential system has not been favouring us.
Yakasai bemoaned the pains of Nigerians despite being blessed with abundant resources, noting that the dismal performance of the successive governments in harnessing the abundant natural resources and large population has been blamed for the increasing poverty, hunger, insurgency, militancy, youth restiveness, kidnapping, armed robbery, drug abuse, political thuggery, vandalization of national assets, and others.
He asserted that despite glaring economic hardship, there is no clear sign or political will to reverse this negative trend. He added that lack of empathy, patriotism and developmental orientation among the political leaders may not be unconnected with the massive powers and resources they control, especially at the Centre. “No wonder, the nation is hoping for positive change and clamoring for restructuring after 2023,”
The Human Right Activist revealed that it had been his long standing argument that the regional system of government worked better for Nigeria when compared to all other experimentations; however, in view of the changing local and international dynamics coupled with institutional limitations, reverting to the regional system may not be helpful and feasible under our current precarious situations.
“I advocate for people-oriented change and peaceful restructuring of the current federal system to devolve power and responsibilities to the sub-nationals which would, in turn, offer better opportunity for stability and unity.
“Also, instead of promoting zonal divisive politics, manifesting in the current geopolitical zones arrangements, I support conscious shift to regional competitiveness under a Geo-economic zones model to provide regions with unique opportunity to collaborate, under an agreed structure, to stimulate economic growth in their areas of comparative advantages which may include, industry, agriculture, services, infrastructure, knowledge economy, etc. Eventually, this would offer greater opportunities for states and zones to grow and develop faster than in the current system in the post 2023 etc.
“The decision to drop parliamentary system during the military is largely influenced by American trained elites in Nigeria rather than exhaustive debate and objective evaluation of the full potential of the parliamentary system in Nigeria. In my opinion that decision was not driven by proper rationale of the suitability of the American system in our own peculiar national situation,”
He asseverated that the decision has not done justice to the parliamentary system to Nigeria as a country and its developmental needs and economic circumstances because the parliamentary system is more democratic in its nature than American Presidential System. “It is for that reason that I have been advocating the adoption of French Presidential System of Government for Nigeria. In my opinion it is easier to replace non performing Government in that system than in the American Presidential System.
“It is also far cheaper to operate and therefore more suitable to our own reality as a developing Nation. The operation of American system made administering Nigeria which is a Federal State with diverse nature more expensive to run and extremely difficult to develop and prosper, unlike many of its sister developing Nations. We should do away with the present system which is prone to waste, corruption and discourages accountability,” he posited.
