Nigeria: A Travesty of Democracy

The quiet of the night was punctuated by the deafening sound of my neighbour’s electricity generating set. Power cuts have become an expected part of our daily life; it’s no longer fashionable owning one of such devices as necessity has made it mandatory to own one.

With nationwide electricity generation down to a mere 3000 megawatts for a nation of over 150 million inhabitants, alternative energy sources have come to stay as a large chunk of the population have resorted to the acquisition of such properties to supplement the epileptic electricity supply from the incumbent national supplier.

The situation with electricity generation and distribution in Nigeria today is just one of the many ills that plague the land, a superannuated national grid that served the purpose of 50s Nigeria. Decrepit infrastructure cuts across all sectors of national life.
Nigeria’s road networks are in a horrible state, rail infrastructure has been comatose since the 70s, violent crime and kidnapping is on the rise as the national security agencies have no idea on how to curb the menace.

The nation seats on an ethnic and religious fault line that threatens to tear it apart. Nigeria continues to record impressive macro economic growth which never seems to reflect on the quality of life of its citizens at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

With over 70 percent of its citizen living on less than $1 a day, and faced with no form of social security, the brutal hardship has reduced life expectancy to a record low of less than 47yrs.
The summary of it all is that Nigeria as a nation seems to be in a funk, perpetually fumbling and wobbling from one crisis to another, like fraternity jerks on some cheap steroids.

With all of these failings of the Nigerian state, it becomes more startling when one realizes that in that last 11yrs of its 50yrs sovereign life; Nigeria has been run under a democratically elected government.
One wonders, especially as one looks back with nostalgia at Nigeria’s past years, we painfully note that Nigeria has been in a constant state of deterioration, one observes, though arguably that (based on certain indices) that things have actually gotten worse.

Corruption has reached all time highs; the political class with much impunity appropriates the nation’s wealth to themselves. They have developed the unfortunate habit of legislating self serving laws which endangers Nigeria’s nascent democracy, the last leadership vacuum that was created by the ill health and eventual demise of late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua presented them with an opportunity to display grandiose rascality and criminality on a scale that shocked global and local observers. Even the developed world’s intelligentsias were impressed by such conspiracy and opprobrium.

Ironically, Nigeria is endowed with immense human and material (natural) resources sufficient to make it a global industrial and economic power. Nigeria’s potentials have unfortunately refused to become anything more than potentials. Once gloriously referred to as the Giant of Africa, now such claims have been reduced to mere sarcasm.

Nigeria’s political elite, who have stirred the ship of state for the past 11yrs are far removed from the reality of the nation in which they live. They are Nigeria’s celebrities (not the Nollywood actors and actresses that ply the trade of entertainment), title hugging freaks who love the limelight and relish in the mediocrity in which they have left the nation.

They live a life of opulence comparable with what is obtainable in the oil rich “Emiraties” of the Middle East, Nigeria’s health care system isn’t even good enough for them as they routinely fly abroad for trivial medical check ups, their children attend the best schools abroad (this makes them feel unconcerned about the state of Nigeria’s educational system) and they own choice assets abroad.

And things got this bad in the last 11yrs of democracy in Nigeria!
Democracy is generally acknowledged to be a political form of government carried out by the people either directly or by means of elected representatives of the people; simply put: a government of the people, for the people and by the people.
The question that begs for answer in the Nigerian case is: is Nigeria actually practicing democracy?

The question, if subjected to rigorous academic scrutiny comes up with interesting answers, yet the reality the stares us rudely in the face is the failure of Nigeria’s political economy to deliver on the promises of democratic governance.

Ironically, Nigeria’s last presidential election was a sham characterized by massive electoral fraud. This partly explains why the politicians of our land don’t see any reason why they should be accountable to the electoral; after all our votes didn’t count in bringing them into office.

As societies evolve, different forces intertwine among different civilizations and ideologies which lead to the dynamics and metamorphosis of societies that eventually lead to the transformation of humanity. Democracy is one of such transformational forces. Even though there is no universally imposable definition of democracy, equality and freedom non-rivalrous and non-excludable from the generally accepted principles of democracy.

These principles are reflected in all citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to power. In democracies, the freedom of citizens is generally secured by legitimized rights and liberties which are protected by the constitution.
Nigeria’s democracy in its current state is a travesty of democracy. The basic constituents of a democracy are missing from the Nigerian reality.

Nigeria’s case can be partly explained; considering that democratic governance is a system not traditionally rooted within the larger cultural heritage of the Nigerian. It is more or less alien.
Nigeria, a nation with over 250 ethnic groups dating back to 100s of years past, with their own unique complexities and ancient systems of governance which still run parallel to its modern institutions of governance (most of them were monarchial and authoritarian in nature). Quite regrettable is the fact that these parallel institutions and systems are still very much active and hold sway over the modern institution, in many cases trumping their powers and thus rendering them impotent.

Nigeria finds itself in dire straits, and if this situation remains unchecked, Nigeria’s democratic experiment might be truncated by other contending forces as has been the case in the past. One of such potent forces capable of scuttling Nigeria’s democracy has always remained the threat posed by the military establishment. In the past there have been numerous military interventions, such incidence led to the unfortunate militarization of the Nigerian polity which consequences still remains in present day Nigeria.

The line between religious and tribal interests as against the common good of the Nigerian state is blurred. There is an urgent need for the separation of such parallel interests from the functions and duties of governance at all levels in Nigeria.