Andrew Efemini
Of late there are struggles of ideas on how to proceed with the Nigerian project. These struggles are normal because they throw up the contradictions in our country.
The consensus worldwide is that countries that manage to build constitutional democracies will reap the dividend of democracy which is sustainable development.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigerian people deserve:
1. Industrialization.
2. Decent housing.
3. Employment with decent wages.
4. Healthy feeding.
5. Decent and pollution free environments.
6. Access to quality education and healthcare.
7. Respect for their human rights, especially right to life.
8. Living in well governed societies at all levels.
9. Living in a country where modernity is the preferred culture.
10. Living in a country where there is shared commitment to our common good.
Unfortunately for Nigerians, the above ideals have eluded us because the kind of politics that will help us achieve them have never been in place since 1914.
Unfortunately, our military governments and pseudo democracies have shaped the consciousness of Nigerians. As at today, an average Nigerian youth is sceptical of the project Nigeria.
As a matter of fact, since the civil war, the Nigerian state has come under its worst attack. Today we have:
1. Unending killings and religious extremism in northern part of the country. Boko haram unfortunately has influenced politics in Nigeria for a decade now with no end in sight; they have been a bad influence on how resources are spent and citizens’ evaluation of government’s efficiency.
2. Herdsmen related killings in the various parts of the country have thrown up new challenges for our politics. Whatever we think, these killings represent the failure of economic and political policies in Nigeria.
3. Secessionists now openly campaign for the dismemberment of the country. Incompatibilities are cited as evidence that Nigeria is a locomotive train destined to crash.
4. Nigeria certainly is deep in prescientific and premodern cultural practices.
Unfortunately, mob politics is growing in the country. Experts are now in millions insisting on how our problems will be resolved. Experts are never a crowd. They are a few intellectuals who must be listened to.
Today, politics has not been repositioned to free us from poverty, hatred, and underdevelopment. Politics has not been able to break the primordial sentiments ruining the country.
Rather than focus on identifying the substance of what needs to change, we are enmeshed in name calling and mudslinging of leaders and scholars we need to listen to.
As things stand today, the consensus way forward is comprehensive constitutional rebirth that will enthrone federalism and optimally functional political structure.
If we don’t agree on the fundamentals of the politics that can reposition Nigeria, we should be ready to suffer the consequences of our dogmatic insistence on our own narrow path to heaven.
Time to end abuses and name calling. If you cannot put across intellectual ideas, keep quiet. The consensus building project is an intellectual exercise and not an abusive one.
All our parties must be forced to embrace light and not darkness. I am in politics not for abuse but my firm belief that engagement rather than reticence is the most pragmatic option.
