Nigeria’s sustained practice of democracy has not really translated to economic development because of its wrong application and the citizen’s misunderstanding of its tenets.
Prof. Jideofor Adibe, a Professor of Political Science at the Nasarawa State University, gave the view when he appeared on AIT’s ‘Moneyline with Nancy’, to discuss Nigeria’s Political and Economic Evolution with respect to Nigeria’s Democracy.
Nigeria returned to democracy on May 29, 1999, after years of military rule, and over 24 years after, it appears the nation is worse off than when the military junta held sway.
Speaking on the program, Prof Adibe revealed that a series of research done on the issue of democracy has found that there is no conclusive evidence that democracy leads to economic development.
According to him, there have been arguments as to why people believe in democracy, and this is because of the freedoms they enjoy, which they believe is an aspect of self-fulfillment on its own.
“There is also the reason for the huge distrust in the government, which makes the people believe that if they don’t have the freedom to criticize the government and say their minds, the government runs the risk of becoming tyrannical.
“Another point why people want free speech is because of how critical it is in discovering the truth.
“And the most common reason for their belief in democracy is because of elections, which gives them the impression that they have the right to elect leaders of their choice,” he said.
Concurring that Nigeria needs to domesticate its democracy to align with prevailing circumstances in the country, Adibe however, expressed worry that if not properly managed, it may have adverse effects, especially in view of the diverse ethnic and socio-political views of people of the country.
In his words; “The danger of democracy is that in societies that are diverse, where the basis of statehood remains contested, democracy has the possibility of unraveling itself, as we saw in the Soviet Union.
“This is because the freedom of speech that is embedded in the liberal democracy, means that the bottled-up feelings from the period of autocracy, will aggravate the structures of conflict in the short to medium term and we saw it in the Soviety Union.
“We can also see it now that the so-much bottled-up feelings from the period of autocracy are widening the social distance among Nigerians.
“And if we do not do anything to curtail it, the nation-building process will be in abeyance.
“And if we do not get the nation-building process right, whatever solution you throw to any problem in the country will become part of the problem.
“So for me, the question should be how far have we evolved in wielding together the constituent elements that make up the country? How have we been able to use state instruments to make them think like one?
“When we now talk about the rotational presidency and principal federal character, people don’t understand it because a big fraction of the component of the Nigerian population feels alienated from the state structure.
“And as long as this happens, it doesn’t matter the grammar you speak. Democracy for them will be how they can get their own people in power because they believe that whoever wins the state power will use it to privilege their own in-group and disadvantage the others.”
On how easily Nigerian politicians jump ship from one political party to the other, the political scientist noted that in Nigeria, political parties lack ideology and are seen as mere platforms to ascend positions of authority.
He said, “Political parties ideally in other climes, perform a lot of functions like aggregating interests of the people across various sectors of the economy, based on their respective philosophies.
“But in Nigeria, every politician believes political parties are Special Purpose Vehicles, SPVs and that is why it is easy for them to cross-carpet any how.
“Some of the political gladiators that ginger the political structures are just like the philosophy of the goat following the man with the palm frond.
“So, in Nigeria, our political parties have not evolved, to the extent that there is nothing that distinguishes one from another.”
Prof Adibe, who also spoke on the recent call for a uni-cameral parliamentary system in Nigeria, regretted that most people do not understand the concept of bi-cameralism.
“Parliament has a supervisory role over the two arms of government- the executive and the legislature but who supervises the parliament.
“The two houses were therefore created to supervise each other so that there will be a right of second thought to reconcile issues.
“Also, in a society like ours, which has diverse people with many regions more populous than others, bi-cameralism will also help.
“So in the Senate, for example, you have three representatives for each state. Then the House of Reps will also mirror the differentials in the people’ population.
“That is the whole idea behind having Upper and Lower Chambers.
“So, we shouldn’t just throw away the bi-cameral legislative system.
“And it doesn’t necessarily save the country money to have just one house of parliament because it is not the salaries of the parliamentarians that cause these huge expenses. It is their emoluments and allowances,” Adibe concluded.
