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In his ecological administrative model, renowned American professor of political science Fred Riggs’ work in the field of comparative administration helps to understand the nature of institutions in developing countries. Riggs argued that, though these countries inherited western institutions through colonialism and have always been under pressure to reform their institutions along the western model, their institutions are nonetheless a facade to western institutions.
Consequently, he classified developing countries as prismatic societies in that they combine western institutions’ models with their traditional values.
Nigeria’s political system, as I pointed out in the last article, is patterned along the presidential institutional model of the United States. However, one cannot say that our institutions effectively and efficiently operate like that of our counterparts. Why? This is because, as can be found in the Riggsian theory of prismatic society, our institutions, like that of many developing countries, clearly has its own inherent peculiarities. Indeed, though we have a presidential system, we have not fully practiced it the way it ought to be, neither have we modified it the way it suits our current political, economic and social realities. What we have done at best is our usual ‘copy and paste.’
The strength of any institution is known by how it prevents political crisis or swiftly resolves it without interference from political office holders. In the United States, for instance, regardless of how Donald Trump feels about the just-concluded presidential election, the existing institutions are capable of resolving any political crisis that could ensue, if any at all. As insinuated in some quarters that the incumbent President would challenge the outcome of the election in the Supreme Court, the truth is that he cannot change the outcome of the election without evidence of electoral fraud, as has been alleged.
Trump’s camp would have to show fraud evidence, which must be investigated by security agencies or an investigative panel before any litigation can properly commence. In any case, his claims cannot be properly litigated until the appropriate security and intelligence agencies investigate and confirm that indeed there was electoral fraud.
To put it in better perspective, beyond establishing that there was electoral fraud, his lawyers must also prove how much of the fraud impacted on the total votes of the litigant and by what margin.
What is rather more interesting here is that no plausible litigation is going to stop the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States, come January 20, 2021. And, of course, this is because of the fact that the allegiance of American institutions is to the people, not to any political office holder. As a matter of fact, immediately the number of Electoral College votes tilted in Biden’s favour, the Secret Service had to reinforce his security.
One of the reasons why the institutions in the United States have been able to sustain the country’s democracy is the fact that it is not built around strongmen but around the tenets and principles of democracy. The U.S. President may be the most powerful position in the world, but, internally, there are strong institutional mechanisms that checkmate his powers. In fact, not even the President has absolute control and influence over the institutions, neither are the institutions built around whims and caprices.
Independence of their institutions, no doubt, allows them to freely discharge their constitutionally responsibilities without any fear of intimidation or harassment.
Conversely, in Nigeria, our institutions are relatively dependent on political office holders. And this is so because of the processes involved in the appointment of those who man the institutions. For instance, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other commissioners are appointed by the President, instead of being elected; their feelings and sentiments of responsibility in office would be to the office that appointed them. This, of course, has played out in so many of our elections.
In 2015, if not for the unprecedented democratic ethos displayed by President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria would have been thrown into post-electoral crises. But thanks to the magnanimity of the former President in conceding defeat, we were saved from any kind of embarrassing war or battle for the office of the number one citizen of the country. Truly, our institutions need not be attached to any arm of government, neither do they need to commit their allegiance to political office holders but to the people. We must have electoral bodies, for instance, that are independent from the President and governors, able to call the shots without any compromise.
The hydra-headed monster called corruption has for so long permeated our system because of the weak institutions that are inefficient and incapable of blocking the loopholes. Thus, the absence of strong institutions in our system precipitates a weak economy, insecurity and poverty, among other crises of governance that we have in the country.
If we must tackle all these governance crises, then we need strong institutions, not strongmen. Once we have strong institutions to handle our prevalent societal issues, then we have nothing much to worry about.
Therefore, Nigeria must return to the drawing board, critically study the country we’re benchmarking their institutions on, to understand it fully, then develop institutional models that can best suit our everyday realities rather than this ‘cut-and-paste’ action we usually do, which, in the end, will not tackle our inherent problems and challenges.
The institutions should be strengthened in a way that anybody can come into governance and be guided based on the laws and institutions strongly built in conformity with the rule of law, while delivering good governance to the masses.
