Democracy: Between political promises and genuine hope KAYODE KETEFE Across the 26 states of the Federation last Sunday, old and new governors were sworn-in as the chief executives of their respective states. The oath-taking represents a statutory rite of passage which formally invests the oath-takers with political authority to steer the affairs of the state for the next four years. The grand ceremony, of course, took place in Abuja amidst colourful fanfare where President Goodluck Jonathan took his oath in front of about 25 presidents and heads of states across the world. As millions of Nigeria watched these various ceremonies during which the floodgates of promises, couched in well-scripted and articulated speeches, were thrown open, a feelings of déjà vu descended on people- we have heard all these promises so many times before and have had nothing to show for it in terms of authentic advancement in the quality of our lives.-That seems to be the attitude that greeted most of the seemingly utopian promises. Nonetheless, there are some governors who, through their popularity and antecedents, managed to sound convincing that their utterances were more than empty political sophistry, their sincerity of purpose and genuine desire for progress were shared by their peoples and their projections were seen as potential realities. As for President Jonathan, he has this uncanny ability of eliciting people's confidence whenever he speaks. It may be because people are still enamoured by the process that threw him up into the political space- His emergence through some torturous enigmatic pathways is simply inscrutable, a fact which had fetched him an enviable sobriquet of "Signature of God!"Jonathan's speech on that May 29 brimmed with knowledge of someone who had correctly diagnosed the nation's problems in all its ramifications; his projections, which consist mainly of strategic agenda, will be nothing short of wholesome and apt panacea to most of our hitherto intractable problems, if well implemented. By and large, very few were elated by what politicians said last Sunday. The reason is obvious- Our democracy has, more often than not demonstrated power without responsibility. Political power is never meant to be an end in itself, but a means to an end which is invariably the actualisation of the collective wills and aspirations of the people. It is this truism that underpins the construct of social contract theory as a political formula for human civilised associations-a theory that says the basis of our coming together as a socio-political formation and why we submit our individual rights to the state is to attain enhanced rights and freedoms, protection and security etc on a more organised template than would have been procured through individual self-efforts. But in Nigeria, our democracy has, more often than not, demonstrated power without responsibility or accountability, ushering in a disconnect between exercise of powers and expected dividends of self-determination. Most political office holders see their occupation of various offices as personal good fortune which must be exploited maximally for own aggrandisement. It is this absence of correlation of power and responsibility that explains why trillions of petrodollars the nation has earned since independence has failed to lift us from the unenviable third world categorisation to a real developing economy; it explains why we perpetually grapple with inadequate social amenities and infrastructure decay; why industrial activities have been epileptic with hundreds of companies barely managing to maintain operational existence, while unemployment and hunger persist, while our poorly-funded general hospitals open and close at the caprices of the striking doctors; why none of our universities ranks among the best 500 in the world and why many people are disillusioned. This is the background against which the feelings of déjà vu and its concomitant indifference by the people to most of the sugar-coated promises (or cajoleries?) of the in-coming politicians could be understood. Back to President Jonathan's set agenda, he said he would fight corruption, improve medical care delivery for the benefit of all Nigerians, guarantee first class education, provide regular and adequate electricity to actualise industrial resuscitation, improve agriculture and provide efficient, affordable public transport system. The best attitude is for the people to take these highly ambitious visions in faith and collaborate with the government in their respective capacity to make the realisations of the pursuits a fait accompli. It is trite that if there is a strong political will, almost nothing is unattainable. Chief Obafemi Awolowo accomplished virtually all the above objectives with the money realised from cocoa-based agriculture during his tenure as Premier of the Western region. It is unfortunate that the late sage's exploits has been the only case we can cite in Nigeria on how to use power responsibly for peoples' progress. But President Jonathan has a case to prove, he must deploy all the talents and abilities he has towards making these obviously challenging objectives come true in order to prove that he is indeed, a true signature of God; after all God does not fail! |
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