• Jonathan blames Nigeria’s woes on lack of national integration
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Occupy Nigeria, the socio-political protest which began on 2 January 2, 2012 in response to the fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government under then president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, reechoed, at a national dialogue organised to celebrate 60th birthday of the founding national secretary of defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD), and Fellow, Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Prof. Udenta Udenta in Abuja, yesterday.
According to the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the protests which took place across the country, including cities of Kano, Surulere, Ojota (Lagos ), Abuja, Minna, and at the Nigerian High Commission in London, was mere politics.
Jonathan had announced removal of fuel subsidy and hiked pump price of petrol from N65 per litre to N141. Following widespread protest, the price was dropped to N97 after more than a week of protests and later to N87 in 2015.
At the event where the tottering journey of Nigeria toward national unity and democratic sustainability, 63 years after independence, was the topic of focus by political leaders, including Jonathan which was also used to launch 21 book written by the erudite scholar, Fayemi called for proportional representation in government. He also canvassed alternative politics to the challenges bedevilling the country rather than political alternative.
“And my own notion of alternative politics that can lead us to building a better consensus around progress is that you cannot have 37 per cent of the votes and take 100 per cent of the spoils. It is not going to work. It is not going to help build consensus.
“It is time we, as a country, begin to look in the direction of what is generally known as proportional representation so that the party declared to have won 21 per cent of the votes also has 21 per cent of the government. That way, we will all see ourselves as critical stakeholders because we know what adversarial politics breeds. Adversarial politics always breed division and enmity,” Fayemi said.
Speaking on ‘How to Make Nigeria Work’, Jonathan said Nigeria has failed to work because of the failure to integrate Nigerians into a proper nation.
This, he said, was the problem his administration wanted to address when he set up the 2014 national conference.
Jonathan ruled Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. On March 17, 2014, he inaugurated the national conference chaired by the late Idris Legbo Kutigi, a former chief justice of Nigeria.
“When I set up the 2014 national dialogue, the key thing was how to make Nigeria work, though we did not emphasise that so that people will really discuss the country,” he said.
Jonathan recalled the comments made during the conference whereby a number of people agreed that Nigeria is a country because it is a defined geographical area, whereas others said the country, although a state, was not yet a nation.
Reflecting on the history of Nigeria’s lack of political cohesion since 1960 when it attained independence, Jonathan said the country was so polarised particularly at the beginning of early political party formations and the parties were regional parties.
He said: “There was no sense of commitment to integrate Nigeria into an entity that you can say yes, we have a nation with a common philosophy and people will be patriotic to that nation. Most of the parties belong to regions and there were some alliances for the purpose of ruling the country.”
He said when compared with Tanzania, Julius Nyerere is celebrated for his fatherly role in the country, the same way Kenneth Kaunda did in Zambia.
Jonathan, however, said even though Nigerians lost it at the formative years that could have been the easiest time, for those who participated in the national conference, it was believed that if the country had practiced and followed steps, over the period, Nigerians would not have only said they have a state or a country called Nigeria, but a nation called Nigeria.
In her keynote speech, former Education minister, Oby Ezekwisili, said democracy has not failed Africa, but very corrupt leaders.
Ezekwesili said: “We have resorted to practising pseudo democracy in our continent and we pay the price for it.
“Democracy has not failed Africa. What has failed Africa is very corrupted leaders, masquerading as democrats. That is what has failed Africa,” she said.
Ezekwisili also said democracy, as a principle of governance, has not been practiced in majority of countries, adding that the closest country to have practiced democracy, which she is praying every day that it doesn’t corrupt, is Botswana.
“Botswana has been consistent in the practise of the tenets of democracy. But in most of the African countries and as we see it unravelled, we pretend to be shocked that a situation like that is going. You cannot practice a process in a breach and expect anything less than what you see,” she said.
Commenting, former Aviation minister, Osita Chidoka, said no Nigerian should, in anyway, support any attempt by any military officer to return to power in Nigeria.
He recalled the atrocities committed by the military while they held sway in the country, particularly in delivering poverty and death and concluded that democracy has made progress in the country.