Formidable! Very much appreciated Sir!
Not abstract theory but enlightening insight into reality for some of us still living in the realm of doomsday terrorism and corrupt religious practices...
In the absence of the "effective and inclusive institutions" it's a dismal analysis of Brother Buhari's possibilities as an alternative to the good luck man. Except that for General Buhari it cannot be – one more time – "better luck next time", because at a time after this time he could be – a distinct possibility – past his prime. So, if he still wants the corruption-free presidency, it's now or never.
In the absence of an overriding national sense of all for one and one for all (in contrast with "collective responsibility". i.e. "We are in this looting together" we are back to square one.
Even with the current degree of pilfering and looting, it cannot be said that Nigeria is at the bottom of the development ladder ( in terms of spreading the wealth) but Nigeria is not anything near fulfilling her maximum potential either.
Moral insight into reality:
"Hence, when a new president is installed, the ethno-regional grouping that he or she hails from engages in all forms of celebration, expecting of course, to begin the process of "chopping" national resources. .. … a resource distribution structure that is regularly visited by individuals from the different groups that inhabit the country. Given the fact that Nigeria boasts of more than 250 ethnic groups and at least 10 or more ethno-regional groupings, imposing the rotational presidency on the country could mean that some groups would have to wait for many decades before they can get their turn to chop. " (JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.)
As I updated my blog, I thought of the non-starter (Biafra)
On Wednesday, 10 September 2014 21:26:09 UTC+2, szalanga7994 wrote:
Yes indeed, but I will offer some sociological caution. When I was in Nigeria recently, one of the profound things I learned was that former Nigerian military leader, General Buhari, can never be Nigeria's president. Why? As I have heard from many sources, the people who will make it impossible for him to rule is not necessarily the people in the South who maybe afraid of him being Hausa-Fulani.
Rather, the greatest opposition to Buhari is the great majority of traditional rulers in the North, the rich of the North, and high ranking government officials. Why? For one, many of the traditional rulers have grudges against him starting from the time when he was military ruler with Tunde Idiagbon and he disciplined them. The rich and high ranking civil servants in the North feel he would never allow them to embezzle public funds the way it is currently being done if he is power.
Buhari's support even in Northern Nigeria is among the masses but the masses hardly vote someone into office in Nigeria. People from his own ethnicity or even religion do not necessarily support him because he constitute a threat to their class interest. It seems in some respects, class interests trumps other interests.
The powers that be can change the result of electoral votes. When I was in college, I was assigned to be a presiding officer at a polling station. After the first election, we were invited for a meeting and scolded for not allowing rigging to take place. They even threatened us that they would cancel our scholarship and ask our universities to expel us for refusing to cooperate. In the next round of elections, we were forced to just allow the representatives of the ruling party to stuff the box with ballot papers before we brought it out on election day. I wish I can guarantee all in this forum that this is a thing of the past in Nigeria. But I cannot. It may be true that this might not happen in some parts of the country but it still happens in many parts. The election in many respects is just a ritual.
Where am I going with all this? We should not underestimate class interest, in spite of the significant role of religion and ethnicity. A major methodological issue here is how we can combine class analysis, ethnicity and religion to provide a more solid explanation. We need a way to decipher how class interest is sequestered in what on the surface is pure ethnic and religious identity and struggle. People practice religion in Nigeria but most of it is bourgeois religion. There is no way that if with the great number of Christians and Muslims in Nigeria everyone is fearing God, we will be having this kind of mess.
Where is the fear of God when the rich treat the poor like a pair of sandals. As a Christian, I will challenge anyone who care about this to mention when last a denomination make a big deal about using the book of Amos to interpret contemporary Nigerian or even American society. The book of Amos is about justice, but the most dynamic churches in Nigeria preach prosperity and getting your "portion" even if the ship of the nation is sinking.
Nigerian elites have learned to masquerade their class interest under religion and ethnicity. And the national confab seems to buy that by supporting the creation of more states and even local governments. If state creation per se or local government creation per se would be a panacea for development, Nigeria would have been an advanced nation by now. There is the naive assumption that if people come from the same religion or ethnic group, the powerful or rich will just be benevolent in using government resources and care for everyone. The historical evidence in Nigeria suggests the contrary.
In one sense, even if every human being in Nigeria will get his or her local government, going by Plato's tripartite division of the human self, if the appetites in a person predominate reason and the spirit or the soul, that human being cannot govern himself or herself effectively. He or she would not do justice to himself or herself, let alone someone else. So no matter how many local governments or states are created, if effective institutions are not created and allowed to operate effectively as Professor Mbaku made reference to in his last posting, nothing desirable would happen. Are there short cuts in this case? I do not think so.
African countries need to decide whether they want to be part of the modern world, if not, they have to sit down and come up with a viable alternative. But indecision will not be healthy for them. Otherwise, we are just wasting time. For a country to succeed today, even if it is in the Western world, the question of functioning institutions really matter.
My best choice as a person in Nigeria is not to have a man from Bauchi in power or someone who is a Christian because I am a Christian. But I want Nigeria and African countries to create effective and inclusive institutions in their countries that, one would not have to care about who is in power because the institutions can guarantee him or her inalienable space and freedom to pursue their legitimate goals and aspirations such that even if the person in power is an Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani, Kanuri, Birom or a Bini etc., a person's life chances will not be affected. We are never going to be able to have people from our religious or ethnic group in all positions of power. So the best we can do for ourselves and future generation is to create inclusive institutions that will allow for all to thrive. This may be difficult, I admit, but the more we delay focusing on this, the longer we will be wasting time and the lives of our people.
Samuel
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 07:11:36 -0700
From: cornelius...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The undecided voterIn Nigeria (Nigeria's always a good example) the problem of the undecided voter is, regionally very clear cut – depending on whether the front-runner is from the North or the South or the West. We don't know about the East yet, but time will tell.
Sure enough, slavery is over but Nigeria continues as a class society, evenly divided between the haves and the have-nots (the shuffering and shmiling masses.
But in the final analysis
it is ethnicity (blind tribal
or religious
hatred /
loyalty
that counts.
True or false? I hope that it does not challenge anyone's major belief!
In today's Nigeria it would seem that the APC is more of the anti-corruption party because it's easy for them scream "CORRUPTION !" from the benches of the opposition...
The last time I visited an art gallery in Stockholm it so happened that the gallery was owned by a Nigerian. In Nigeria immigration is not an issue
Over here in Sweden it's a little different because the Social Democrats have been in power most of the last one hundred years. Corruption is not an issue, but the budget, unemployment, Education, Health Care, immigration, the Environment, are issues :
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