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The challenge of managing a drifting
polity
By
Ekeng A. Anam-Ndu
That
Nigeria is a collapsed state is no longer a contentious issue. Its
persistence for one and a half decades of progressive collapse in all its
vital sectors: economy, politics, security, energy, education, civil
service, major policies and sadly, the family, although a baffling
reality, does not explain away the �collapse thesis�. What the persistence
implies, however, is that a collapsed state does not necessarily need to
disintegrate before it is so termed. The important variable to examine is
its ability to provide the minimal functional prerequisites expected of a
state namely: security. This includes physical security, and the provision
of an enabling environment where a greater number of its citizens can
acquire for themselves, the basic needs of human existence: food, clothing
(not used ones), housing and a collective feeling of shared citizenship
and political efficacy.
Signs
of the collapse of the Nigerian state started to emerge in the 1980s. This
was when the corrective stance of military rule degenerated into the worst
form of dictatorship. Against a domestic debt of N1.2 trillion and
external debt of $30 billion, the decline of the economy accelerated at
such an unbelievable speed that by June 2003, over 70 per cent of
Nigerians were living below poverty level. Infrastructure had decayed.
Major social and economic arteries had collapsed; those that did not, were
in terminal crisis. With over N250 billion stolen between 1999 and 2003
through dubious contracts, the country had taken a second position as the
most corrupt nation in the world.
Its security function as a state had ebbed to a point where the
frightened Police Force perceived armed criminals as a countervailing
force to be fought even if with words: �Operation Fire for Fire.� Impelled
by satanic excitement characteristic of primitive wealth accumulation, the
ruling elite had lost confidence in themselves and had become murderous in
their selfish struggle for the false paradise of wealth and power. How
else would one interpret the killings of top government men without any
explanation from anybody? Among the citizenry, neither the past as
experienced, nor the future as expected can provide hope. Expectedly, they
are becoming either apathetic or hysterical as the nation increasingly
becomes a truthless void persisting on borrowed time. What has dramatized
the collapse in the past five years is the progressive deterioration of
national security, a phase that usually ushers in the final degenerative
hour.
In
1999, God not the Nigerian people provided the opportunity to relay the
foundation. Unguided by the past and, consequently, shortsighted about the
future, Gen. Obasanjo was masqueraded as the messiah of a repressed
people, the hope of a reborn and united nation. Relatively, few elite kept
their distance as they reflected on the fact that the patrons of power in
Abacha�s regime were the ones heralding the messiahship of Gen. Obasanjo.
Eventually and as usual, the project was forced down the nation�s throat.
For four expectant years, President Obasanjo used nature�s blessing on the
nation �oil- as a weapon against the Nigerian people with fierce precision
and absolute immunity reminiscent of ancient
despots.
The
final hour of degeneration arrived in May 2003 as Nigeria became a
one-party authoritarian state characterized by elimination of opposition;
co-optation of the military into the fascist political machine; control of
the judiciary; subjugation of the nation�s security system to foreign
mercenaries and total impoverishment of Nigerians in order to weaken their
capacity to revolt. Much as the leadership is the major cause of these
problems, it is the character of the followership that has provoked the
least attractive and primitive traits among the leadership. It is the
acquiescence of the ruled that has always created all known dictatorships
in the country. It was the same acquiescnce that allowed the imposition of
unpopular political officeholders even after four years of monstrous
dictatorship and abysmal failure. The deceit and large-scale fraud that
have characterized the second term in most states are logical outcome of a
situation where the electorate were never responsible for the emergence of
those who now govern them.
The
Nigerian people have never determined their political future; the nearest
to it was the annulled election of June 12, 1993. Whereas in other
cultures, it is the preponderant might of public opinion expressed
sometimes violently that usually dictate the trend in the conduct of
public affairs, in Nigeria, it is a cabal set up by whoever is at the head
that has always swindled the state, deceived the people and set a
fraudulent agenda of governance.
The
familiar argument that the country is learning and should be allowed to
learn misses the fact that once a solution to a problem, for instance, is
wrong, it remains wrong until you either start it all over again, or trace
from where you went wrong to redo it. One cannot get it right by muddling
through a process that is, ab initio, wrong. So it is with democratic
governance. The annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election abruptly
terminated eight years of careful laying of foundation for what would
perhaps have been an experience- driven democracy. We started to muddle
through hoping to get it right somewhere along the line. We got it all
wrong. We need not be reminded again and again that democracy thrives with
politically active, sincere and courageous civil society, while
authoritarianism succeeds with timid, survival- driven and gullible
people. What we have today in our country is what we deserve as a people,
full stop.
Some
fundamental questions stare us in the face begging for answers if we must
persist as one nation: Can the 1999 Constitution promote a viable
federalism and democracy given the over concentration of power in the
central government even on issues that are best handled by state and local
governments? What do ethnic militia and the increasing degeneration of the
nation into a limited liability company with relatively few shareholders
portend for the unity and democratic health of our Republic? Is viable democracy possible in
our multi-ethnic society with the present irresponsible multi-party system
craftily enthroned to promote one party dominance? Is 2007 a viable
expectation given what we helplessly witnessed in the so-called May 2003
elections? What degree of insecurity shall we have in 2007 given its
pervasiveness now and government�s moral incapacity to contain it? These are the sorts of issues on
which President Obasanjo should studiously reflect. Solution to these
problems will constitute the real achievement of his administration not
the manipulation of political and economic forces against the Nigerian
people.
Seemingly,
the option before Nigerians is one of two extremes: anarchy or apathy.
Both are unhealthy for the nation. A lot of useful suggestions so far
offered to upstage the imminent crisis have fallen on deaf ears.
Well-meaning Nigerians continue to talk angrily because the nation has
derailed from the path that could lead to actualization of the dreams of
its founding fathers. Among the masses, a collective anxiety for a better
life remains pervasive. They drift in need of a destination other than
poverty and insecurity. Meanwhile, the administration at all levels and
with very few exceptions continues as a failure both in style and in
essence. Time goes on and on and nothing that we expect comes about. An atmosphere of uncertainty and
crisis of unknown dimensions hangs on the lips of everyone, including the
governing elite.
But let there be no crisis. For if
there is, it will be a classic example of what can happen to a nation when
an intolerant power elite dig itself in through a complex and pervasive
network of corruption, co-optation of moral and defence institutions to
hallow greed as a virtue, recruit the unconscionable as patrons of power,
and reduce the state to a bizarre theatre where democracy is left with no
alternative than commit suicide.
� Dr Anam-Ndu, a political
scientist and former director of Operations of the Centre for Advanced
Social Sciences (CASS), and governorship candidate of the United Nigeria
Peoples Party (UNPP) in Akwa Ibom State.
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