One fundamental point that emerges from our discourse on criticism and the growth of democracy in Nigeria is that the ruling class does not really care about the wellbeing of ordinary Nigerians who have been enduring manmade hardships occasioned by mediocre leadership especially since the reestablishment of civilian rule in 1999.
This claim follows from the fact that our so-called democracy is actually a government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Now, given that human beings are necessarily social, that every society at any point in time has a set of people empowered to administer the community for the good of all, it is imperative that political power must be exercised in a highly disciplined and responsible manner. If we evaluate the quality of leadership in Nigeria since 1999 with the utilitarian standard of the greatest happiness for the greatest number, it is clear that the outcome must be negative.
An overwhelming proportion of the policies and programmes of the federal, state and local governments are geared towards the enrichment of the rich and powerful. Consider the quantum of public resources President Goodluck Jonathan, despite half-hearted denials by the presidency, is allegedly spending to actualise his second term ambition, in addition to the huge amount the three tiers of government waste annually to maintain the appurtenances of office nationwide.
Meanwhile the vast majority of our people (the 99%) are struggling everyday to eke out a living in an increasingly inhuman environment. Government is alienated and disconnected from ordinary Nigerians, which implies that our democracy is really a caricature of what democratic governance ought to be. In many states of the federation, for instance, commercial motorcycle transport popularly called okada has been banned without a thought about human beings adversely affected by such a measure. Of course, some of the accidents on the highways are due to reckless driving by okada riders. Moreover, robbers often use motorcycles to rob. Nevertheless, there is nothing in this world that cannot be misused or abused.
Car accidents occur daily, and armed robbers regularly rob with vehicles. Yet, no reasonable person would stop taxi or kabukabu drivers from doing their work. If the governors that banned okada in their respective states were compassionate, they would have, in concert with accredited representatives of okada riders, worked out an achievable plan to provide alternative means of livelihood for okada operators before the ban. But our governors are not bothered about the sufferings of human beings who depend on okada for survival, simply because okada riders are mostly uneducated and do not have the financial wherewithal and political connections to challenge government. In Lagos state, an ultra modern market is almost completed on the very ground where the old Tejuoso market stood.
Many victims of the fire which burnt down the market allege that agents of the state government destroyed it so that governor Babatunde Fashola and his cohorts would build a better one for the rich. Now, most times when a popular market is destroyed in Nigeria the state government concerned, in conjunction with banks and private investors, rebuilds the market. However, instead of preferential allocation of stalls and shops to those who were operating in the market before the incident, wives and cronies of top government officials, business tycoons and privileged members of the society who do not really need the shops buy them up and sell at exorbitant rates to the public. In this way, most of the struggling Nigerians that previously owned stalls in the market lose out eventually. Usually, victims of disasters in the markets are breadwinners in their families.
Some are so frustrated, so disillusioned and devastated, that they commit suicide, whereas the younger ones become armed robbers, kidnappers and prostitutes. In the provision of affordable housing, the same disappointing story of the rich taking care of the rich obtains as well. At both the federal and state levels, low income housing schemes by government are deliberately implemented in a way that excludes the poor who really need the houses.
Hence there is nothing connected to low income earners in those projects aside from nomenclature, because wealthy and highly connected people buy the houses and resell at cutthroat prices to the well-to-do. The irony is that a significant percentage of top political office holders in our country right now were from poor homes. For instance, in 2011, President Jonathan narrated that as a pupil he trekked a long distance to school barefooted because his parents could not afford to buy him a pair of shoes. Governor Babatunde Fashola, in a recent newspaper interview, admitted his humble background: as a young boy, he usually woke up at 5 am to help prepare Tower Aluminium pots and pans, which his grandmother would sell in the market. Of course, there is nothing wrong if one was not born with a silver spoon, and the stories of Jonathan and Fashola are not unique in that regard.
As I stated earlier, some powerful members of the ruling cabal rose from grass to grace, so to speak. Yet it appears, judging from their anti-people and anti-poor policies and programmes, that our leaders easily forgot what life was like when they were poor. Perhaps after escaping the devastating gravitational pull of poverty, Nigerian leaders have deleted completely from their minds the evils of poverty and the imperative of using their privileged positions to help the masses. In my opinion, members of the ruling elite are not acting wisely and responsibly, otherwise they ought to know that their primary duty is to work tirelessly to alleviate poverty first before anything else.
Probably, there is a subconscious or sublimated psychology of poverty at work here, which makes rich people who had tasted poverty before to despise the poor. All the same, inasmuch as government is under obligation to cater for all members of the society irrespective of socio-economic status, we submit that the most important function of a democratic government is poverty alleviation, because majority of the population are poor. I am not sure that our leaders are thinking in this direction. Nigerian leaders at all levels are Christians and Muslims. However, it is very doubtful whether they really understand the spiritual significance of the scriptural injunction to help the poor and the needy. Certainly, religious observances by Nigerians, especially the ruling elite, are a caricature, which creates a false impression of attunement to spirituality. There is a world of difference between religiosity and spirituality – the latter is a vastly superior state of consciousness characterised by burning desire for knowledge, humility, contentment, self-control, tolerance, peace of mind, and kindness.
We conclude our discussion today with the following questions: if Nigerian politicians are genuinely spiritually cultivated, why are they so corrupt, materialistic, and indifferent to the sufferings of compatriots? Why are they desperate to win elections, and when they are in power employ all necessary means to cling to office? If Mr. President, governors and so on actually intended to serve the people, why are they prospering while most of the people they are supposed to serve are perspiring due to relentless suffering? What is in political power that intoxicates Nigerian politicians? Must our politicians lose sound commonsense whenever they get into office?
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