By:
Farouk Ozigi Onimisi
(In a Pre-Inaugural Online Lecture by Headlamp Movement for Sustainable Democracy, Kogi State Chapter)
Introduction
The prevalent rate of underdevelopment in 21st century Nigeria seems unabated. The level of her national development is still below expectation. Suffice to say, ‘poverty of leadership’ in most of her 60 years, 11 months and 18 days of her existence following her independence in 1960 has not only hindered the nation’s development, but continued to threaten its peace and stability. While it is widely believed that bad governance is prevalent in autocratic and oligarchic systems, it is evident now that bad governance does exist much more in democracies.
Concept of Good Governance
Governance is the way in which governments exercised power for the management and distribution of a country’s social and economic resources (Ogundiya, 2010). It is the process by which a state’s affairs are managed effectively in the areas of public accountability, fiscal responsibility, administrative and the political responsibility, responsiveness, and transparency, all of which must show the interest of the governed and the leaders. The basic features of good governance include the conduct of a comprehensive management wherein all the critical stakeholders are allowed to have a say in the decision-making process (Odo, 2015).
The issue of good governance is a problem that has crippled the growth of many countries in the world particularly, Nigeria. Good governance is, among other things, about being participatory, transparent and accountable. Good governance is described as the government of the society. Good governance is the rightly exercising of authority, the ability to problem-solving and conflict resolution, the capacity to manage resources efficiently for development, and high level of responsiveness to the needs and the interest of the citizens (Otoghile et al., 2014).
Nigeria’s Experience in Transparency and Accountability: Public Office Holders in Focus
Transparency and accountability are ‘two interrelated and complementary concepts’ (Ajayi, 2003) that are indispensable to any governance system that will be termed ‘good’. Transparency and accountability remain requisite for the nation’s development. This is because they provide the basis for ‘good’ policies formulation and implementation; emphasise the strategies for economic growth and development; and enhance efficient management of resources for the nation’s sustenance and general development.
Transparency in public offices means openness in governance, where the ruled can trust the rulers and be able to predict the rulers to some extent. Transparent governance could be said to be existing when the ruled have a very clear idea of what their government is doing. Transparent governance allows for transparent decisions and implementation; as well as enhances decisions made to be understood by those whom the decisions are binding on.
Accountability, on the other hand, means ‘responsibility’ and ‘answerability’, where public officers are expected to perform their constitutional duties for the benefit of all the citizenry freely without discrimination. Accountability is about holding public officers accountable for their actions and inactions either while in the office or after leaving the office. Accountability enforces on public officers to give accounts of their stewardship and being held responsible for mistake(s) committed while performing their duties as public officers. Objectively, accountability has to do with maintaining honesty and probity in governmental businesses. Accountability reflects the need for government and its representatives to serve the public effectively and diligently.
In spite of the importance of transparency and accountability to good governance and nation’s development, it has not been given a serious attention it deserves in our country, Nigeria. This is because most of the political leaders that have emerged and even some of the present ones are greedy and self-centred, as a result, they have continued to cost the nation’s its development. For that reason, Ake (1996) described them as ‘the wealthiest people in Nigeria’. Their wealth is acquired through the use of state power. Many of these leaders perpetrated corruption with impunity vis-à-vis award inflated contracts to themselves and cliques, as well as converting the nation’s resources to their own. It was as a result of the foregoing that Annan, the then Secretary-General of United Nations (UN), declares that political leaders contributed to the underdevelopment nature of their various states by the pattern of governance they offered for their countries. According to him, “power gets personalised in the winner-takes-all kind of politics…there are insufficient accountability of leaders, lack of transparency in regimes, inadequate checks and balances, non-adherence to the rule of law…and excessive political control” (Annan, 2012 cited in Mbah, 2013).
The position of Annan is not at variance with that of Adegbami and Uche (2016). They asserted thus:
Most of the political leaders in Nigeria could best be described as political merchants. This is because; they see politics as a business deal that brings forth huge profits. Nigeria’s political leaders do not believe in service to the people; instead they are self-serving as they serve themselves more than the governed, hence always play politics of wealth acquisition. Many of these so-called leaders came to power without “shoe” but after spending few years in the offices, they would not only have acquired many shoes, but would have garnered fleet of cars, private jets, and different mansions in choice areas of Nigeria and abroad. They equally would have owned fat bank accounts in Nigeria as well as foreign accounts across the world. This type of politics thus, becoming the bane of Nigeria’s efforts at developments.
Although, steps are being taken to curb corruption and foster transparency in governance, one of such steps is asset declaration by the political officeholders. For instance, the late President, Musa Yaradua publicly declared his assets along with the Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2007. Their successors- President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osibajo had also followed suit. However, office holders’ sincerity about the declaration of assets cannot be ascertained as many continue to face trials in the combined efforts of Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Arising from deficit and anomaly in governance is the erosion of internal security across the country. Security lapses have continued to manifest in the areas of grave activities of insurgents. The insurgents such as the dreadful Boko haram with its series of bombing, and violent attack, have succeeded in mass destruction of lives and properties especially in the North-eastern part of the country. There is also emergence of different insurgents in the Niger Delta areas which engage in kidnapping of people and destruction of oil installations. Besides are anti-insurgents’ activities of the Nigeria security agencies which have equally led to killings of people and destructions of properties. All these activities have continued to fuel the wave of crimes among the teeming youths of the nation. It is not surprising therefore that the vibrant youths’ populations have their energies misdirected to negativity because people managing the nation have no plan for them and their future. Thus, the youth are easily recruited into different insurgents group or into any other veritable crimes activities that will earn them incomes for their survival.
The gigantic debt in which the nation finds itself is connected with poor governance. Ordinarily the nation should not have had cause to go about borrowing, given the enormous wealth that is naturally endowed with the country, especially the crude oil. What the nation’s managers have done with the nation wealth could be better understood by the assertion made by Amundsen (2010) who avows that between 1960 and 1999, the sum of $380 billion had vanished into the pockets of the nation managers. Nigeria’s debt is currently 36 trillion naira paradoxically one trillion naira per state with the exclusion of the FCT.
The laxity in governance has also culminated into the declining industries. For instance, poor governance resulting in creating hostile business environment have been one of the reasons that led to relocation or folding up of businesses in the country. Gone are the days when companies and organisation such as Peugeot Automobile Nigeria; Volkswagen Nigeria; Dunlop Nigeria Limited; Michellin Nigeria; BATA; Lennards; Kingsway; A.G. Leventis; and Phillip Nigeria among others were flourishing in Nigeria, but now these companies and organisations are not in the country again. In a similar vein, industries such as Steel Rolling Mill, Osogbo; Steel Rolling Mill, Ajaokuta; Arewa Textile Mill; Nigeria Airways all are now moribund.
Another resultant effect of the system of governance on Nigerians is the perceptions of government by the people. Government are seen as an unreliable propagandist which cannot be trusted for its words. People have developed a kind of mistrust in government, as government promises are seen as rhetoric or utopian. People ‘in whom political power reside’ could no longer believe whatever government is saying. They are reneging to participate in political activities especially in voting during elections as there has not being anything to show for their political activities.
Government’s ineptitude and lack of concern for the people has culminated in a situation where the people are deprived of social infrastructures and amenities. Where there are claims of the provision of amenities by the government, most of these amenities are either substandard or has already collapsed. Poor governance equally reflects in the area of poor placement of priorities by the government; a situation where leaders prefer to spend public scarce resources on uneconomic projects. These-so-called leaders prefer to embark on such projects that will earn them immediate monetary gains, instead of investing on peoples’ dire-need infrastructures such as schools, hospitals, portable water, and accessible roads. Besides, basic infrastructure such as regular electricity supply is lacking, consequently many production industries are running at a loss. This has led to the closure of businesses in Nigeria, while others have relocated to other nations with relative regular supply of electricity.
In addition to the above are poor road networks. Roads construction and maintenance are always budgeted for on yearly basis, but the money budgeted always ends up in public officers’ personal pockets, while roads are only built and maintained on papers. Even, few of the roads being constructed across the nation are substandard, that collapse easily after few months of the completion. It is not news that most of the nation’s highways are death traps. Many of the accidents that have occurred on these roads that have led to loss of peoples’ lives and their properties could have been averted if the roads are well constructed and properly maintained.
Poor, irregular and inadequate water supply is also a result of poor governance. In addition, water supply is another project which the public officers are using to siphon the public money. Most of the politicians do embark on water projects as their communities or constituency projects. Many of them normally construct bore holes which would supply water for few days before the bore holes stop supplying water to the people.
Further to the foregoing are poor health services and health facilities. It is a known fact that most of the government hospitals can only be likened to mere consulting clinics. That is why public officeholders do fly abroad for medical attention. Although huge amount of money is always reflected in the nation’s annual budget for hospitals maintenance, but substantial part of the monies is always diverted and mismanaged, leaving paltry sum of money for the hospitals need. For instance, despite the money voted for Aso Rock clinics and other federal government hospitals, the reigning President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari still prefer seeking medical attention abroad. Suffice to say that, it is the masses of the nation that poorly funded hospitals are reserved for.
The nation’s education sectors are not excluded from the effect of poor governance. The educational sectors are suffering from underfunding and poor funding. Many primary and secondary schools in Nigeria are not in good shape due to neglect by successive governments. This has led to the proliferation of private schools that are mainly for profits and thus, run schools as business ventures. In the tertiary institutions, the story is not different. The academic and their non-academic counterparts in the higher institutions, from time to time embark on strike action for reasons related to funding of the institutions and salaries and allowances for the staff. The resultant effect is the continuous falling in the standards of higher education in Nigeria. This was why none of the nation’s universities was listed among the first one thousand universities in the world.
The governance pattern has impoverished the large number of the nation’s citizens. The poverty continues to deal ruthlessly with majority of Nigerians. The outstanding revelation from nation number two citizen, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that about 110 million Nigerians (61%) are still living below poverty line testifies to the fact that poverty is really ravaging the nation while the masses appears helpless (Osibanjo, 2015).
It should be noted, however, that there are some parts of the country where all necessary amenities are being put in place. These are reserved areas for the wealthy political class and their allies under different names, such as Government Reservation Areas (GRA’s), Banana Island, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki Beach areas, Maitama, Asokoro, Villa among others. Social amenities are concentrated in all these reserved areas to the detriment of other places populated by ordinary Nigerian citizens. Besides social amenities are the heavy presence of securities and security apparatuses to monitor and to make the environment secure appropriately.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The type of governance so far rendered to Nigeria is not ‘good’. This has continued to manifest in the areas of nation’s development viz – bad roads networks, epileptic electricity supply, lack of portable water, poor healthcare delivery, falling educational system among others. Poor governance is also manifesting in the areas of unemployment, poverty, hunger, diseases, violent, loss of dearly ones, loss of properties, and dislocation from one’s home as results of insurgents’ activities. The seeming inability to redeem the situation by the crop of leaders ascending the throne of governance in Nigeria poses danger for the future of the nation.
Only the practice of good governance, manifesting in the areas of rule of law, transparency, accountability, citizens’ participation among other can guarantee national peace, stability and development in Nigeria. Thus proactive steps should be taken for the enthronement of good governance. This could be achieved if people in whom power reside can unite irrespective of political parties, ethnicity and religion, thus design active methods of exposing corrupt public office-holders whether when they are in offices or after they have left. Forming and designing peoples’ oriented code of ethical behaviour which the people themselves will be able to enforce its provisions will be helpful.
Farouk Ozigi Onimisi is an Assistant Education Officer, FCT Universal Basic Education Board, Abuja. Equally the Kogi State Coordinator, Headlamp Movement for Sustainable Democracy, Farouk’s penchants for writing earned him “The White Orator.” He is a known novelist and playwright.