.Counsel youth on way forward
AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
Some Christian leaders, academics and other stakeholders in the land have expressed worries about the Nigerian democratic style, noting that rather than make progress, the wasteful system has continued to hinder the development of the country.
They gave their views during the year 2023 edition of the Pastor Femi Emmanuel lecture series held at the Cathedral of the Livingspring Chapel International, Dominion City, Iwo Road, Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Saturday.
Before other dignitaries took turns to evaluate the nation’s democratic structure vis-a-vis the attendant problems, former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Dr Supo Ayokunle, stressed the need to identify the problems that are embedded in the system of government being run in the country with the aim of recommending way forward.
Dr Ayokunle, in his opening remarks at the event which commemorated Pastor Femi Emmanuel’s birth anniversary and annual celebration of grace of the church, said that “A good analysis of our democracy would help us to discover where we missed it. It would further help us in correcting the anomalies in our democratic processes and in the future, we will be able to elect task and people oriented leaders who would move our nation forward in the path of democratic and pragmatic development.
“Beloved, it is when we get the process right that we can get the right leader. If we continue to compromise the process, getting the right leaders that will move our nation forward would continue to be an issue. I pray that will not be our situation.”
Leke Alder, a lawyer, a polymath and a philanthropist, in his paper titled, ‘Democracy and good governance: Moving Nigeria forward’ compared the Nigerian situation to the Biblical Balam’s donkey which got stranded along the way to accomplishing its mission, saying that “it refused to budge despite lashes.”
Alder explained, “The biggest challenge we have in Nigeria is evolution of nationhood. It’s why we struggle with something as basic as democracy. Democracy should ordinarily work in Nigeria, but the nation tends towards the lowest common denominator. A flawed democracy can ironically produce a democratic dictatorship or breed insensate representative of the people who think of nothing but themselves.”
According to him, the country should make a very substantial and sustained investment in education. He said that without this, “Chances are we will keep on electing people who themselves do not value education. This creates a cyclical problem. Poor investment in education creates unenlightened voters who then vote in unenlightened opportunists who do not value education. There is moral justification; after all they got into power without education. A classic case in point is the late Governor of Kano State, Barkin Zuwo.
“When he was asked to list the mineral resources in his state, he reeled out Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite. He was known to stash money in the state house. When challenged about it, he responded that it was perfectly logical to put state money in statehouse.”
He added that for Nigeria to balance divergent interests in the federation, the definition of Nigeria has to be an intellectual exercise. He added, “Without these chances, we will keep on electing people who themselves do not value education. This creates a cyclical problem. Poor investment in education creates unenlightened voters who then vote in unenlightened opportunists who do not value education
“Great nations are not created by accident, they are products of intentionality. We have to be very deliberate in the recreation of our nation. Unfortunately, when it comes to the challenges of nationhood, we tend to believe the problems will fix themselves and that is irresponsible. Nigeria has been governed by the same college of rulers from 1975 on.
“We may have been running on the same genre of ideas. But quality of ideas apart, what is interesting to note is that the people who generated those ideas were young people. They were in their prime when they took the reins of power.
“Names and ages: Tafawa Balewa-45 years’ old, Nnamdi Azikwe-59 years’ old, Aguinyi Ironsi-42 years’ old, Olusegun Obasanjo (Season 1)-39 years’ old, Yakubu Gowon-31 years’ old, Murtala Muhammed-37 years’ old, Shehu Shagari-53 years’ old, Muhammudu Buhari (Season 1)-41 years’ old, Ibrahim Babaginda-44 years’ old.
Pastor Femi Emmanuel, the presiding pastor of Livingspring Chapel International, who convened the meeting, urged credible and God-fearing people, especially the youth, to participate actively in politics from the ward level.
Dwelling on the topic, ‘The critical mass to change Nigeria, Pastor Femi Emmanuel stated that it would be impossible to change a system without participating actively in such system. He canvassed for the active participation of Christains in politics by joining major political parties at the grassroots.
Pastor Femi Emmanuel said that neither agitation nor protest could address the problem of bad leadership, adding, “It is unfortunate that good Nigerians are not available where critical decisions that affect this nation are made. There will be no credible candidate to vote for with the way we are doing it, and if you don’t have credible candidate, you will not have competent leadership.
“There are four monsters that will not allow Nigeria to function like other nations. Ethnicity, religion, illiteracy and poverty and we have the four in abundance here. You get to the grassroots politics, these are the people you find there. People will be fighting over a thousand naira that was sent from above. They will fight over food. People, who after the ward meeting trekked back home will do anything they were asked to do.
“Nigeria’s democracy is different from all democracies in the world. What we call democracy in Nigeria is totally different from democracy you have in other countries. Nigeria’s democracy is that of godfatherism. In Nigeria, nobody can emerge to be anything except through the godfathers. In Nigeria, voters are treated like tissue papers. They were being thrown away after elections.
“Nigeria is not like other countries like United State, United Kingdom, Canada, Europe or France. Over there, their system has been so open in such a way that the system will only produce credible people to vote for but in Nigeria, everything goes.”
During question and answer session with Dr Ayokunle, Apostle Joshua Akinyemiju, the CAN Chairman in Oyo State; and Pastor Femi Emmanuel, the latter advised that the youth should come in and learn from the leaders. If you are a delegate and they are sharing dollars, tell them no, that is not why I come here.”
On the issue of secession, he said that the various federating units were better together, adding that “Nigeria is one country with many nations. We are not one nation. Anybody that is saying we are one nation is just playing to the gallery. Nigeria will not make progress until we return to regionalism. But let’s organise from the top. Nigeria died in 1966. I don’t advocate that we should divide, there is beauty in number. But we are not thinking the same way. Let each region rule itself the way it desires.
“The Constitution we are running is fraud. Where did we sit down and say we are now 36 states? Almagamation expired in 2014. We should bring back referendum. We must go back there. Referendum is yes and no. It is not in our Constitution as we speak. My advice for anyone going into politics is get to the grassroots, then join the dominant party. In our own guideline, the people should join the dominant party. People don’t vote for individuals, they join the dominant party.
Among those at the event are the Director General of Operation Burst in Oyo State, Col. James Oladiipo (retd.); head of Anatomy Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Prof. Olatunde Owoeye; the Chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Oyo State, Rev. Jerry Odewole; Registrar, The Polytechnic Ibadan, Mrs. Modupe Fawole; Senior Special Assistant to Oyo State Governor on Broadcast Media, Mrs. Bosede Sodiq; and the Special Assistant to Oyo State Governor on Environment, Demola Aderinto, who anchored the programme.
