RESETTING GOVERNANCE FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND GREATNESS AND DEMYSTIFICATION OF INTRA-GROUP DIFFERENCES –
The Die is Cast
BY
ADEGBOLA AKINOLA
“The foregoing constitute sine qua non to speedily build a solid foundation for rapid growth, development of a peaceful, harmonious and better Nigeria. To avoid another four or eight wasted years in the life of a nation after so much hope and investment of goodwill that ushered in the immediate past administration, the new President need to re-orientate us away from corrupt life and crude nepotism and set the stage for good governance; make Ajaokuta and Ikot Abasi functional and deploy this as the springboard for creating base for industrial production and manufacturing and consequently grass roots massive job creation and entrepreneurial empowerment for teeming youths; restructure the country for peaceful coexistence, progress and organic development of the nation.”
BACKGROUND
The die is now cast. It is cast posthaste in terms of reinventing our security architecture. Cast for overhaul and reorientation of attitude of citizens beginning with the political leadership (Presidency, National Assembly and Judiciary), civil servants and the police. Cast in repositioning the economy for infrastructural development, industrial production, manufacturing and job creation. It is cast in respect of unbundling political logjam in which the country finds itself perennially enmeshed, and cast for emplacing functional, robust, effective, efficient constitutional framework for impactful governance.
This opportunity is coming after the previous missed ones, post-independence in 1960. In fact, the era of regionalism, the 50’s to the mid-60’s, had constituted the golden epoch in the annals of events in this country. Thereafter, the country relapsed into a struggling mode, from the mid-60’s. As if we were soon to subsequently find our bearings, the Babangida era set in. Gbam! All manners of externally and internally induced programmes, of destructive, distractive, diminishing or inconsequential values cascaded in. Notable amongst these were “SAP” (structural adjustment programme of 1986), World Bank Education Loan, HIV/AIDS, Better life for rural women, … . Even, 24 years down the line post return to democracy in 1999, we are still battling and figuring out what entrepreneurship should be. It is now a dominant/omnibus programme dictated condescendingly to us and our universities. This is in a country where as we speak there are no thriving manufacturing industries or industrial/manufacturing base, which should naturally ignite, provide stimulus and the motivation for, entrepreneurial activities. In the alluded golden era indicated above, when industries started to spring up, we had upcoming everywhere the Trade Centres and Technical Colleges to boot. Now, it would appear, we just can no longer think for and by ourselves.
A real opportunity now beckons to reset the governance template for the country to move from the potential illusion of greatness to the real realm of social order, rule of law and justice for all; to reposition it for meaningful industrial development, manufacturing and economic prosperity; reconstruct it for growth of municipal services; and to rebrand it for commanding respect in the comity of nations.
Really, Nigeria missed in 1999 the unique opportunity for recalibrating the governance style of the country. This was after the violent incursion and protracted recurring distortional military rules. Since then, things have never been the same again. Instead of democracy, Demofeudal (feudalism cocooned in the garb of democracy or just feudal democracy) has become our lot: almost anyone in the position of authority indulged in entitlement mentality. No boundary between public and personal resources; and this became the ethos. Rule of law, competence and integrity are routinely sacrificed with impunity on the altar of nepotism, mediocrity and masked grand and primitive corruption. So much so, that the governed have also been sucked-in in the dog-eating-dog scenario. The country is at its tethers, nadir, waiting to unravel. We gravitated into anomie and enmeshed in the state of “anyhowness” in public and private life.
But ask, what is the underbelly of this anomie? Or is it a big masquerade? Unveiling the Big Masquerade in the house, the main predisposing factors to this palpable malaise are sharp differences amongst constituent sub-national groups. This sharp divergence includes ethnic, religious, cultural, regional/territorial, socio-economic views and other beliefs culminating in deep mutual suspicion. But unfortunately, these are dangerously played down and or as such only murmured at best, for political correctness, pretense, mischief or for the fact of social psychology that those who benefit from chaos often wish it continues. To say the least, this body of challenges enshackles the country from development, growth and expected leadership role in Africa; and by extrapolation, exacerbates the efforts at emancipation of the black race in this perverse world, of survival of the fittest.
The potent and altruistic antidote to this is simply, RESTRUCTURING: to reenact Federalism, in some sense as negotiated by our founding fathers at independence. This is also as found world over in the spaces where heterogeneous population exist, both in the case of territories with aboriginal/indigenous populations as exist in Europe, the Scandinavia countries, India or regions with immigrating populations as in the USA, Canada and Australia.
Even natural science/mechanics principle supports this: in applying load on a structure avoid concentration of force/power, as it leads to initiation of structure-failure and destruction; rather, use distributed load or force/power. So, politically, decentralise power.
RESETTING GOVERNANCE
How do we get out of our current Anyhowness? Which way forward?
There is no rocket science in this. Models in leadership-by-example exist to emulate: Awolowo, Amadu Bello, Jakande, Akande; Lee kuan Yew of Singapore, Deng Xiaoping of China, in their combined governance theory of MPHS – an acronym for Meritocracy, Pragmatism, Honesty and Selflessness.
Having scaled all imaginable and unimaginable hurdles laced on the way to attain this great success to become the new President, it is time now to harken to the cry of masses and the needs of the country; and do all to begin to write his name in gold.
Mr. President is master of the game when it comes to political maneuvering, horse trading; realpolitik, locally and nationally. Who gets what positions or offices such that round peg is in round hole he knows better; better than any “teacher needing to teach nonsense”.
I also firmly believe such a skill is very relevant and handily available for the international arena where Mr. President is expected to be a key player. This, by virtue of the place of Nigeria in Africa where the black race and nations are permanently being treated as a toddler, with colonial and slave-holding mentality, to be constantly tutored even at times condescendingly through the instrumentality of the Bretton Woods or the equivalents. The continent is regularly held as a supposed permanent market place while our rulers are often seen as a placeholders or market superintendents. I do not have much to tell the new President on this. The Francophone countries will share their experience in respect of their foreign reserve and central bank administration by France!!!
But, I have a suggestion for the 16th President of Nigeria if he will choose to be any of these great leaders: Awolowo, Lee Kwan Yew (Singapore), Abraham Lincoln (who incidentally was the 16th President of the USA)/Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mao Tsetong/Deng Xiaoping (China) and the likes, for Nigeria.
The sure path to be any of those leaders with fecund mind and enormous will is to critically look at the following three key areas; that need a state of emergency-like attention: (i.) declaring post-haste state of emergency in the current kleptomaniac civil service and public service administration, (ii.) creating framework for industrial production and manufacturing, (iii.) restructuring of the country for true federalism, fiscal and political, so as to demystify the sharp differences diminishing and holding us down collectively.
Nigeria should be the “political capital” and industrial hub of the West Africa sub-region, if not for Africa as a whole. But for this to be attainable there is the need for requisite enabling environment and infrastructure to be in place. Foremost in this is Peace and operational framework with verifiable benchmark for good governance in the country.
1. Reorientation in our public life, with the President in the lead
An immediate declaration of state emergency for a quick reorientation to navigate us out of the current kleptomania in public life is inevitable. This will begin with the political leadership who are to lead by example with the president in front, walking-the-talk. Crucial and critical in this reorientation drive is the civil servants. No leader can be successfully corrupt or wayward without the tutelage and cooperation of some civil servants. Ex-President Obasanjo noted at his inauguration speech in 1999, in respect of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), that corruption in the civil service was so endemic that for one government agency to process and obtain its allocation from another agency required bribery. Unfortunately, he himself was implicated in “Ghana-must-go” debacle in the third-term agenda imbroglio with the then National Assembly. Things have even gone for the worse since then. For our Police, “bail is free”, and “road block” has become a syndrome. Other agencies are not better: immigration, customs, … . Scenes at our airports, seaports and other border posts are not only an eyesore to citizens, but such that will scare off visitors and genuine investors. What of the happenings in the judiciary, academics and other MDAs? It happens on us in different shades daily.
This must definitely stop. It requires deft and swift surgical operations and strategic deployment of technology. A veritable and potent strategy is by the way of carrot and stick, scapegoating deviants to rules, simultaneously from above and below. The first step in this reorientation effort is to terminate the current wicked regime of corruption-inducing-wage to workers and begin to pay a living wage immediately to the civil servants and police. Then follow with strict implementation of extant disciplinary and reward instruments in the General Order (GO) of the civil service and the books of various MDAs. By living wage, we mean a take home pay that will financially empower a messenger, a cleaner, an administrative officer, a permanent secretary, whoever to live a fairly decent life within the operating economic environment, without a need to steal or extort others in the course of service. The President should buy into this and lead by example.
The loud declaration here is this: If our police and the civil servants as institutions are not going to be corrupt, no other person, not even politician of any hue at any level would dare. Go to Singapore and ask.
2. Economic redesign and resurgence: Ajaokuta and Ikot Abasi as spring board
Creating industrial and manufacturing base, using Ajaokuta and Aluminium smelting company Ikot Abasi as the spring board require emergency actions. Without industrial base there cannot be any meaningful economy. It required the era of Chairman Mao Tse Tung that created the requisite industrial base and manufacturing platform for Deng Xiaoping to turn around into economic revolution in China. The Wall Street financial maneuvering in the Manhattan of today was borne out of the long term era of industrial manufacturing in America before it began to firm out its basic manufacturing concerns to Asia and other countries, retaining mainly the High Tech, AI, ICT and service industries.
So, having tab on the exchange rate of currency, creating meaningful job, stemming the on-going vigorous and nationally embarrassing “japa” syndrome, alleviating ballooning abject poverty, containing nagging and menacingly spreading insecurity condition require urgent industrial and manufacturing interventions in low, medium and large scales for a huge population as Nigeria. For whatever we know, to various degrees and shades, japa, yahoo-yahoo, area boys, insurgency, bokoharam, bandits are expression of frustration mired in poverty, often initiated by joblessness.
This is the essence of an urgent resuscitation of Ajaokuta and Ikot Abasi which have the geometric and hierarchical capabilities for creating industrial and infrastructural development horizontally and vertically. In fact, the ability to create, run and maintain a functional iron and steel and aluminium plants and industries readily translate to capability for effective power generation, supply and maintenance; potential to run and maintain functional refineries; impact fabrication and manufacturing of agricultural plants, parts, machinery and maintenance.
All these combine and translate to massive job creation, elevation of technical literacy of local artisans; empowerment of indigenous engineering firms in equipment fabrication and manufacturing directly and indirectly due interactive activities at and with Ajaokuta/Ikot Abasi and derivative companies – such as the steel rolling mills, foundry mills, machine tools factories, etc.; bringing down crime and crime rate; improving health of the populace; rise of manufacturing industries; multiplicative effect on our tertiary institutions (especially the science and technical ones) becoming more active in research, industrial training for students, and entrepreneurial activities.
To put in context the dimension and economic ramification of these projects, we first salute the great entrepreneurial skill and courage of Alhaji Aliko Dangote and hail the arrival of his integrated petrochemical refinery, which is bound to have a high impact value for job creation, forex conservation and other national economic benefits, if properly harnessed and guided with a clement government policy. But, the Ajaokuta/Ikot Abasi projects have far greater growth and long lasting multiplicative effects than the Refineries. In fact, it expands acquisition of skills, beneficiation of local raw materials and true local content in technical knowhow required to contribute in manufacturing/fabricating parts for maintaining and sustaining structures like the refineries, power generation, transmission and distribution. What of our railway lines and coaches? Road, bridges, factories and civil building constructions? What of in agricultural equipment and parts fabrication for mechanised agriculture and extension services tools? Is anyone discounting ramifying impact on automobile industries? All this for a population of more than two hundred million people!
Simultaneously, the President would prime the State Governments to revive, build and liter their Senatorial Districts and Local Government Areas with Trade Centres and Technical Colleges and link them with constructions and other developmental activities in respective States.
The beauty in urgency and needs required in respect of these projects is to make them functional in a year and half time. This is doable by immediately “relocating” for the first six months the presidency to these locations: the President’s office to Ajaokuta/Itakpe and the Vice-President’s office to Ikot Abasi. These twin projects constitute the elixir for creating economic base of huge population society like Nigeria. Ask India, Iran, Brasil, China, Ukraine and others. The G7 and Russia know this too well.
It is only after having a functional base like this that a bargaining power exists and efforts for external investors and foreign partnerships or foreign direct investment make profitable meaning and yields better fruits.
3. Restructuring of political space/Constitutional recalibration.
The sine qua non for a successful recalibration of the political setting is Restructuring of the country. People of similar world view and belief must co-habit each Zone/State. In this, one or two more States would need to be created in the Middle Belt, with the Southern Kaduna nagging crisis in mind.
Restructuring will demystify our differences. It will harness and channel this to making us ready for development and growth in diverse ways, and so make us great. Doing otherwise will continue to hobble and constitute albatross on the country. We may mumble rumble on for another four or eight years and then back to square one. Really, a huge knee on our neck, to imagine!
Conclusion
The foregoing constitute sine qua non to speedily build a solid foundation for rapid growth, development of a peaceful, harmonious and better Nigeria. To avoid another four or eight wasted years in the life of a nation after so much hope and investment of goodwill that ushered in the immediate past administration, the new President need to re-orientate us away from corrupt life and crude nepotism and set the stage for good governance; make Ajaokuta and Ikot Abasi functional and deploy this as the springboard for creating base for industrial production and manufacturing and consequently grass roots massive job creation and entrepreneurial empowerment for teeming youths; restructure the country for peaceful coexistence, progress and organic development of the nation.
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