Preamble
Nigeria is a federation of 36 states, 774 local government areas and six geopolitical zones, namely; North Central, North East, North West, South East, South South and South West, respectively. By current estimates, the country’s population is put at about 218.5 million people (Population Reference Bureau, 2022). There are over 300 ethnic groups living across Nigeria. Four groups – Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Fulani peoples – make up around two thirds of the population (World Bank, 2018). Other large ethnic groups include the Ekoi, Edo, Ibibio, Idoma, Igala, Ijaw/Izon, Itsekiri, Gwari, Jukun, Kanuri/Beriberi, Nupe, Urhobo and Tiv (Izsák, 2014). It is also estimated that one in every six black persons in the world is a Nigerian.
A land of contrasts and a melting pot of ethnic nationalities, Nigeria ranks among the foremost of Africa’s political and economic power blocs. Touted as the giant of Africa, Nigeria was until recently, the largest oil producer on the continent and the sixth largest in the world. Furthermore, the country is blessed with a vibrant youth population in the age bracket of 15 – 35 years, put at 64 million.
Despite these great natural and human resources, Nigeria is poor. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS, 2019), 47 percent or 83 million Nigerians live on less than 381.75 dollars or 137, 430 Naira per year. This translates to $1.05 or N376.52, per day. This figure falls far short of the world average of $6,500, per year or $17.81, per day (Igwe, 2010). Nigeria is not only ranked 152 out of 188 on the Human Development Index (HDI), it is also the poverty capital of the world, according to a report by the Brookings Institution, knocking off India from that unenviable position (This Day, 2021). The country’s negative poverty profile has remained the same even as I speak to you.
With such profound human, natural, social and economic endowments, the questions to ask are: how did Nigeria miss the train and how did we get here? To say that Nigeria is bruised and battered is to put it very mildly. Some analysts have likened Nigeria to a knocked engine. Fixing a knocked engine, requires a clear and critical diagnosis of the faults that led to the eventual packing up of the car engine. In the case of Nigeria, to adequately answer the questions regarding how we missed the train or how we got to our present sorry state demands a holistic evaluation of our past. This is because as it is often said, those who do not remember the past are bound to repeat it. This, therefore, is the fulcrum of my presentation. In doing this, the interrogation centres on how well or badly, Nigeria has fared in managing or mismanaging the following critical national issues in her 62 years of political independence:
- Leadership
- Economy
- Human Capital Development (HCD)
- Corruption
- Democracy and Politics of Exclusion, and
- Insecurity
Leadership
Like all other social and management science concepts, several volumes abound in the literature on the concept of leadership. Very often, we hear of Leadership Summits and Workshops being organized by individuals, government and corporate organizations to hone the skills of participants about leadership and what it entails. The reasons for investing in such efforts are not far to fetch. The fortunes of a nation, society or people, rise and fall with the type, nature and quality of leaders such a nation, society or people is blessed with. Similarly, the success or failure, collapse or survival, progress or retrogression of a business, an organization and even a state, depends largely on the type of its leadership.
For Pierce and Newstrom (2011), leaders are individuals who are capable of taking on ambiguous situations, interpreting these situations, and framing for the followers, an understanding of the situation and what needs to be done to move forward. This presupposes that a leader provides vision for the people he leads and communicates that vision to them in the best language they understand. His task is to help the people to succeed and he is successful if and only if the people are successful.
Apparent from the foregoing is that a good leader must exhibit the attributes of servant-leadership; he must be principled, visionary, and knowledge-driven.
Leadership: The Nigerian Situation
As noted in the introduction to this presentation, Nigeria is a land literally flowing with the proverbial milk and honey. Nigeria is the envy of many nations because of her enormous human and material resources. Sadly, however, despite Nigeria’s humongous endowments, the country is unarguably of one of the least developed in the world. A major problem associated with Nigeria is the nature of the leaders that have ruled the country, be they civilian or military. Chinua Achebe, one of Nigeria’s iconic and celebrated literary giants acknowledged this much in one of his delectable books aptly titled “The Trouble with Nigeria” (1983, p1), where he declared that:
The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely, a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.
While other nations have been blessed with charismatic and visionary leaders, Nigeria is bedeviled with what Victor Dike (2013) calls ‘instrumental leaders’ as against ‘societal leaders’. According to Dike, the instrumental leader uses power and influence, primarily in the pursuit of private (personal, close family, cohort) goals. Community objectives are secondary to an instrumental leader. The main concern of the instrumental leader is how he can use his office to achieve personal objectives. He may not be lacking in social/community commitments but in practice, more considerations are given to the self over the interests of the society which he governs.
Unlike the instrumental leader, Dike noted that a societal leader is visionary, charismatic and altruistic. He resigns voluntarily if he thought of himself to have failed but an instrumental leader continues to hold on to power so long as his personal objectives are achieved. It is surprising that no President or Head of state has ever resigned voluntarily because he has failed to serve the people right in Nigeria. Nelson Mandela, former President of post-Apartheid South Africa was a shining example of a societal leader, who refused to run for a second term, even when he was prodded by the people and even as the constitution permitted it. With the exception of a few set of First Republic leaders, almost all other Nigerian past and present leaders are instrumental leaders.
Given that Nigeria has had the misfortune of being ruled by instrumental leaders, it is therefore not surprising that a majority of them have failed the people on several fronts. One area that many Nigerian leaders have faltered is in their ability to give or adequately communicate their visions to the people and to carry the citizenry along with them. A leader that is unable to make his followers to ‘see’ his vision and key into it is as good as a visionless leader.
For instance, while past and present Nigerian leaders introduced a number of ‘development plans’ under such bogus names as “Structural Adjustment Programme” (SAP), “Vision 2010”, “Vision 2020”, “Seven-Point Agenda”, “Three-Point Agenda”, etc., such interventions have hardly made any discernable difference in the lives of the average Nigerian because of the lack of vision and sincerity of purpose of the promoters of such programmes.
Many Nigerian leaders have also failed to inspire the masses to good and noble deeds. They have failed to inculcate morality into the people. In fact, they have failed to lay good examples, both in words and in deeds. It is unfortunate that there is no leader in the country’s body polity that the youths are looking up to for mentorship. The implication of this is that there is trust deficit in the leadership of the country. Even some of those who rose to power on the back of their acclaimed past integrity have disappointed the people.
Gone were the days when many Nigerians were eager to hear the ‘New Year message’ of Mr. President because they were expecting good news. Since the messages these days do not inspire confidence in the people and are often times, reminders of broken promises, the leaders have lost the respect and trust of the majority of the people. During campaigns, many Nigerian politicians promise among others, to eradicate corruption, deal with insecurity and revitalize the economy. Sadly, however, upon assuming office, they observe such promises often in the breach, thereby eroding public confidence in governance.
Economy
It was Karl Marx, the cerebral German-Jewish scholar, economist, lawyer and philosopher, who once described the economy as the critical infrastructure on which the political, social and other superstructures of society are built. In other words, the economy of any nation not only signposts the direction to, but also provides the much needed oxygen for driving its overall human, political, social and industrial development. Without a sound economic base, the foundation of a society may be imperiled.
The developed industrialized nations of America and Europe, notably England, Germany and Spain as well as the Asian Tigers: China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, etc. owe their global visibility and recognition to their formidable economic might. America for instance, is today described as the world’s policeman, not necessarily because of the size of its military but because its economy is topnotch. As it is often said, America is so powerful globally, that once America sneezes, the world catches cold!
Historically, Nigeria is a mono-product economy. In other words, the Nigerian economy is largely oil-based. Nigeria is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Its membership of the organization dates back to 1971. Nigeria is the most populous country within the OPEC but in terms of daily oil production, it is ranked sixth within the organization with a daily average oil production of 1.830 million barrels per day (mb/d). In terms of oil reserves, Nigeria’s OPEC ranking is eight, with a reserve of 37.046 billion barrels, as at the beginning of this year. However, being a mono-product economy, Nigeria has been exposed to the shocks associated with fluctuations in the international oil market.
Economically, Nigeria’s single-product status is not entirely a bad thing. In fact, the discovery of the first Oil Well in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, in 1956 and its subsequent harnessing, marked the beginning of the country’s journey into stupendous oil wealth and the resultant initial socio-economic development witnessed in the early 1970s and 1980s.The period culminated in what later became known as the oil boom era when one of the country’s leaders was quoted as having said that Nigeria’s problem was not money but how to spend it! This was also described as the golden phase in our nation’s economic history.
Studies indicate that because of the huge foreign exchange earnings from the sale of crude oil, the country’s currency became globally competitive. At that time, our currency was very strong in the international market to the extent that one US Dollar exchanged for 70 Kobo – less than one Naira. That was way back in 1974, it was said that Nigeria was so rich that we could lend money to the International Monetary Fund, IMF.
Owing probably to a lack of foresight, the administration at the time, went on a spending spree instead of making judicious use of the economic windfall of the era. For example, the country embarked on a number of largely uneconomical jamboree projects like the Africa Festival of Arts and Culture, famously referred to as FESTAC 77. The then General Yakubu Gowon administration also introduced the Jerome Udoji Commission which effected an upward review of the salaries of both public and private sector workers. The Udoji Award pumped more money into the economy, resulting in a slight inflation that affected the exchange rate of the local currency.
There was also the uncontrolled importation of all manner of foreign goods into the country thus increasing Nigerians’ appetite for voluminous consumption. This trend sadly launched us into a society that loves to consume but lacks the patience and self-restraint that compels production.
Regrettably, despite the country’s enormous oil wealth, nothing much was done to diversify the economy and turn Nigeria into an Eldorado. Rather, we literally went to sleep. And while Nigeria was sleeping and dreaming, other serious-minded nations reasoned outside the box and over took us in our developmental efforts. For example, Malaysia came to Nigeria, took away our palm seedlings and built a factory of it. Today, Malaysia is the world’s largest exporter of palm oil. The Defense Industries Corporation (DICON) located in Kaduna, was established in 1964, the same year that Brazil set up a similar outfit. Today, while Brazil exports high caliber military equipment, Nigeria’s DICON, only produces furniture, bullet proof vests, helmets and uniforms!
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it may either interest or shock you to know that it was about this same period when Nigeria’s economy was so buoyant and we didn’t seem to know what to do with our fortunes that Dubai, which has now become a famous destination for Nigerian tourists, and luxury shopping, grew out of a desert.
Nigeria’s near total dependence on oil wealth characterized by profligacy and squander mania without regard for economic diversification has expectedly come with dire consequences. Our oil boom, literally became our doom. The country’s economic meltdown began towards the tail end of the Gowon administration and the Murtala/Obasanjo regime which initiated and implemented the Indigenization Decree, a policy that did not take into account, the strength of local entrepreneurs. The consequence of the indigenization policy was the departure of foreign companies like GB Olivant, AG. Leventis, J Allen, Lenard, Bata, Dunlop, BP, Esso and others from Nigeria (Braimah, 2021).
The last straw that literally broke the camel’s back was when the Babangida administration in 1986/87, introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, and other economic reforms such as the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market (IFEM) and the Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market (SFEM). Those reforms forced the economy to nose dive, resulting in the Naira losing its vitality and becoming weaker against other foreign currencies. Since then, the country’s exchange rate has remained on a free fall. Nigeria’s current exchange rate hovers around N700 to the Dollar.
While successive regimes in Nigeria deserve a share in the blame for Nigeria’s economic woes, the fact however, remains that from exchange rate to inflation rate, interest rate and the general well-being of the populace, it is clear that the economy had become progressively worse compared to when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015. Even though the President has recorded significant successes in the area of infrastructure, especially road construction and railway, such feats however, seem to have been dwarfed by the country’s current economic crises.
For instance, Ayantoye (2022), quoting a report by the Financial Derivatives Company (FDC), noted that since 1999, the Buhari regime had performed the worst, across most economic indices. According to the report, during Obasanjo’s tenure, between 1999 and 2007, the average Gross Domestic Product growth was 7.7 per cent. It fell to 7.1 per cent during the three-year tenure of the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. While the GDP fell further to 5.5 per cent under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency between 2010 and May 2015, it dropped to an all-time low of 1.1 percent under the Buhari regime, the lowest since 1999.
For inflation, the average rate during Obasanjo’s tenure which stood at 12.19 per cent, rose to 13.18 per cent during the Yar’Adua era and fell to 9.70 per cent during Jonathan’s tenure. The inflationary rate rose sharply to between 14.07 and 18.6 per cent during the Buhari regime. It accelerated to 20.52 percent in September, 2022.
On the percentage change in exchange rate, the FDC’s report added that it was 26 per cent during Obasanjo’s tenure; 27.4 per cent during Yar’Adua’s regime, 63.5 per cent during Jonathan’s years and it is now 150.2 per cent. In respect of external reserves, it was $43.17bn when Obasanjo left office; $32.34bn when Yar’Adua died in May 2010; $28.57bn when Jonathan departed in 2015 and as of now, it’s about $39.18bn (Ayantoye, 2022). The reserves, however, nosedived to an old time low of $15bn as at August 2022 (Premium Times, 2022).
With regards to the country’s external debt, Nigeria’s debt stock when Obasanjo left office was $3bn. This rose to $10bn during Yar’Adua’s tenure and further stood at $15bn when Jonathan left. Nigeria’s current external debt profile is put at about $41bn and still counting! What is more intriguing is that Nigeria now borrows to service its external debt. So tragic.
The report of the FDC under reference, noted that in terms of what would be left of Nigeria’s external reserves when the external debt is subtracted, the balance under Obasanjo’s tenure stood at $40bn; $22.34bn country’s economic crises is that Nigeria, which is the sixth largest oil producer in the world, sadly exports refined petroleum products and subsidizes fuel importation to the tune of a monthly N500 billion. In fact, a report by the Vanguard (2022), noted that N4.194 trillion was paid as subsidy to oil marketers between January 2017 and June 2022. This is even as all the four refineries in the country have remained grounded and the workers have been drawing salaries for doing nothing.
From the foregoing negative economic indices, we do not need any clairvoyant to tell us that Nigerians are in for harder days ahead. In fact, the World Bank’s 2022 Nigeria Poverty Assessment report has projected the number of poor Nigerians to hit 95.1 million by the end of this year.
Human Capital Development (HCD)
Human capital and human capital development are two sides of the same coin. While human capital refers to the skills, experiences, knowledge and education that labour contributes to the economy, human capital development is the process of acquiring and increasing the number of people who have the skills, education and experience which are critical for the economic and political development of a country (Goetz and Hu, 1996). In other words, human capital development is the process of further developing the productive capacity of human beings through investments in education and other critical areas (Garavan, Morley, Gunningle and Collins, 2001).
Human Capital Development in Nigeria
An overview of Nigeria’s HCD indices in terms of performance and ranking done by leading global organizations such as the Institute for Health Metrical and Evaluation (IHME) (2016), the United Nations Human Capital Development Index (UNHCDI), (2017) and the World Bank Human Capital Index (WBHCI), (2018) shows that:
Nigeria ranked 171 among 195 countries studied by the IHME in terms of Expected Human Capital Index in 2016. The 2017 figures published by the UNHCDI, however, showed that Nigeria climbed to the 157th position among 189 countries surveyed within the period under review. In the 2018 figures put together by the WBHCI, Nigeria became the 152nd out of 157 countries in terms of performance in HCD. The HCD Index was done using three dimensions of Human Capital Development of health (life expectancy at birth), education (mean years of schooling for adults and expected years of schooling for children of school entering age) and standard of living (gross national income per capita) (National Economic Council: Human Capital Development Core Working Group, 2020).
The above figures explain the slow economic growth, progress and prosperity of Nigeria, as the differences in the level of socio-economic development across nations are attributed not so much to the size of natural endowments or their physical capital but to the quality and indeed, quantity of human capital or resources.
Perhaps, aware of this negative ranking on HCD, Nigeria has since 2020, emplaced a Human Capital Development Core Working Group (HCDCWG) aimed at networking with other stakeholders to deliberately stimulate and accelerate human capital development in the country. This strategy targeted three (3) priority areas of HCD to include:
- Health care – To improve availability, accessibility, affordability and quality of health services;
- Education – To ensure quality universal education for Nigeria’s children and youth, especially girls;
- Labour Force Participation – To particularly double youth participation in labour force from 23% to 46% and to double female/women empowerment or inclusiveness from 21% to 41% by 2030 (Eugenia George-Genyi, 2022 p.12).
In this segment of the presentation, our focus is on education, which is one of the priority areas adopted by Nigeria to scale up its human capital development efforts. It is imperative to start by acknowledging that education is a vehicle for the liberation of the poor, the vulnerable, and the marginalised. Education facilitates the acquisition of knowledge, life skills, technical skills, and problem-solving skills for the development of society. It is the wheel on which value addition and technological breakthroughs revolve. Education is also needed to hold leadership to account for its stewardship.
It is against this critical background that education is always expected to be a priority in public sector budgets in consideration of the plan, policy, and budget continuum. Education plans and policies show the pathways, the agreed societal goals, and direction for the improvement of education, while the budget provides the resources to drive the achievement of the overall goals of plans and policies (Onyekpere, 2022).
Sadly, budgetary allocations to education by successive Nigerian governments have fallen far short of global expectations. Although the UNESCO recommended that developing nations should give up a minimum of 26% of their annual budget to public education, Nigeria’s allocation to that sector has been abysmally low. In fact, Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to education is still less than 10 percent. Consequently, of the N70.6 trillion budgeted by the federal government in the last seven years, only N4.42 trillion or a miserly 3.12 percent was allocated to the education sector. Unlike Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa have done far better by allocating a maximum of 23 and 16.7 percent, respectively to their education sector (The Guardian, 2021).
The consequences of the perennially declining budgetary allocations and slipshod attention to education on Nigeria’s human capital development are multifaceted and enormous. These range from persistent strike, brain drain, and the phenomenon of out-of-school children to stunted economic growth.
Studies have shown that teachers at all levels of the nation’s educational system – from primary, secondary, and tertiary – are not properly motivated to effectively perform their duties. Consequently, the teachers are often on strike to compel the government to properly fund education as well as meet their welfare needs. It is common knowledge that lecturers in public universities in Nigeria under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have been on strike for over seven months now. The strike revolves largely around the issue of poor funding of public universities which the government hinges on paucity of resources. The teachers frequent industrial actions have more often than not, disrupted the regular academic calendars of schools (NBS, 2009).
What is more, experienced and high-quality teachers who are disgusted with the system, migrate in droves to other neighbouring countries with better working conditions (Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2001), thus contributing to brain drain. The major fallout of that is the dwindling standard of education in Nigeria.
A related consequence of the poor funding of education, leading to strikes and the resultant disruption to academic calendars, is the phenomenon of out-of-school children. As the 2022/2023 academic year commences, the UNESCO has put the current number of out-of-school children and youths in Nigeria at 20 million. The figure which is the highest in the world also indicates that Nigeria produces one among every five out-of-school children globally.
The security implications of letting such huge population of young idle hands loose on the nation is very telling in deed. The north eastern and north western parts of the country house the highest percentage of such young kids, once described by Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, as standby generators of violence. Media reports indicate that bandits, kidnappers, insurgents and other terrorist elements, randomly recruit scores of such impressionable minds into their army of destruction, thereby further compounding the seemingly intractable level of insecurity in the northern region of Nigeria and elsewhere.
Poor investment in human capital development (education and health), and, particularly, the neglect of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and science-based technology education has contributed in no small measure to a lack of highly skilled technical manpower and technological capabilities required to drive the economy and transform Nigeria into an industrialized society as well as improve the living conditions of her teeming population (Mohan, 2003). Without the needed growth and development in education (Krueger & Mikael, 2001), Nigeria’s economy may remain stunted.
Corruption
Corruption is a complex, omnipresent and multifaceted phenomenon with multiple causes and effects. The phenomenon of corruption has a long history in the development of human societies. A whole body of literature exists on the definition of the concept, which I do not intend to bore us with. However, it is important to underscore a few of such definitions, at least, for purposes of emphasis.
The concept, corruption, is originally from the Latin verb, rumpere, which means to break… into pieces. The conventional definition of corruption is that provided by the World Bank which conceptualizes it as the abuse of public office for private gains. What that means is that corruption sprouts and thrives in a situation where public office holders enjoy large discretionary powers in a monopolistic situation with no mechanism for accountability. It is in this regard that Robert Klitzgaard, reduced the dynamics of corruption to a mathematical formulaas: C = D + M – A, where Corruption = Discretion + Monopoly – Accountability (Akor, 2013, p.51).
Although corruption is a global scourge, Nigeria appears to suffer the most from it, because many of the country’s leaders and public office holders are believed to be pathologically corrupt. Corruption has continued to shape and blight the country. Everyone appears to believe that Nigeria has a “culture of corruption” (D. J. Smith, cited in Dike, 2014, p.5). In fact, no less a person than David Cameron, former British Prime Minister, on May 11, 2016, sarcastically labeled Nigeria as being “fantastically corrupt”.
According to Dike (2014), Nigeria appears to be a hotbed of corruption and the so-called war against corruption seems like trying to contain the wind. The majority of the elected officials, appointees, and top government representatives are corrupt. They often extract bribes from the citizens (business owners, those seeking to do business with the state, and others), while performing their official duties (Dike, 2014, p.5).
National dailies are awash with news reports of how public officials, including former presidents corruptly acquire multi-million dollar homes and choice properties within and outside Nigeria and stockpile stolen public money in coded Swiss accounts abroad. We are all familiar with the famous case of the Abacha loots, whose recovery in 24 years and remittance to the federal government coffers, has so far totaled $3.65billion.
There is also the case of Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, who is being charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for the alleged disappearance of $20billion from the petroleum agency during her tenure. She was reported to have forfeited jewelry worth N14.4bn and houses valued at $80m to the federal government following a forfeiture order secured by the EFCC. Commendable as these recoveries and forfeitures may be, the snag is the reported re-looting of such recovered monies and properties by some unscrupulous government officials.
Ladies and Gentlemen, beyond the above examples, permit me to cite further instances of how some kleptomaniac Nigerian public officials have also abused the privilege of their offices. One of such highly placed persons is Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina. He was the Chairman of the defunct Police Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) whose board was saddled with the responsibility of reforming the Police Pension Commission to purge it of all of infractions. But rather than carry out the assignment, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina decided to fleece the organization and literally ran it aground. Luck however, ran against Mr. Maina and he was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison on November 8, 2021, for money laundering and stealing of pension funds to the tune of N2billion.
Like Mr. Maina, Mr. Ahmed Idris, the former Accountant-General of the Federation is currently being prosecuted for money laundering. The Premium Times (2022, May 16) reported that Ahmed Idris was arrested on Monday May 16, 2022, by the EFCC over alleged money laundering and diversion of public funds totaling N170billion.
Just as I was putting this paper together, news broke out on September 5, 2022, that the Federal Government had filed fresh charges against a former Commander of the elite Police Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police. According to the Punch (2022), the Federal Government uncovered over N207m and 17,598 Euros, traceable to various bank accounts being allegedly operated by the former super cop in addition to 14 assets, including shopping malls, residential estate, polo ground, plots of lands and farm land. Recall that Abba Kyari is also standing trial for alleged drug deals and links to Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi, a Nigerian online fraudster, who is also facing alleged money laundering charges in the USA.
The foregoing cases are mere scratches on the surface of the magnitude of grand and petty corruption in Nigeria. We must, however, caution that corruption is not only endemic and pervasive in Nigeria’s public sector. Private individuals are also involved in massive corrupt activities.
Studies have shown that corruption is a cankerworm that eats into the social and economic fabric of any nation. It leads to “poor governance and low growth” and hampers social development (Rose-Ackerman, 2004). Corruption serves as a disincentive to foreign direct investment(FDI), thereby complicating the high rates of inflation, unemployment and decline in foreign reserves as well as deterioration in the standards of living of the people as is the case in Nigeria at present.
The pervasiveness of high-profile political corruption in Nigeria also undermines any genuine efforts to enhance economic growth and national development as well as diminishes the peoples’ trust in government. In a nutshell, corruption is anathematic to political stability and economic prosperity.
Democracy and politics of exclusion in Nigeria
As a concept, democracy has evolved from pre-modern to modern times. One of the most popular and earliest conceptions of democracy is that credited to Abraham Lincoln who perceived democracy as “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. This simple and clear definition of democracy underscores the centrality of the majority of people in this political system whether in terms of investing in, or harvesting the bounties of democracy. Democracy has been touted as the most preferred system of governance, worldwide. It is perhaps, in acknowledgement of that, that Obafemi Awolowo, a sage and one of Nigeria’s foremost politicians noted that the worst form of democracy or civilian rule is better than the best military regime.
However, Uji and Kigbu (2013) have opined that while Western democracy entails the development of the people’s capacity as well as ensuring freedoms for the people, the experience with democracy and its practice in developing countries, including Nigeria as a transferred system of government since independence has not taken into cognizance, a strong and sound economic foundation as a basis for national development. According to Eugenia George-Genyi (2022) the vast population of the Nigerian people is impoverished and emasculated by poverty and misery while development and economic growth have continued to elude the nation despite the presence of oil in large commercial quantities.
This has prompted scholars such as Collier (2009), to argue that democracy has not actually taken root in Africa generally yet. According to Collier what transpires essentially, may have superficially looked like the spread of democracy, but it is actually the spread of elections. In fact, one opinion that appears to be gaining ground is that despite Nigeria’s 23 years’ unbroken record of democratic transition, the brand of democracy being currently practiced in the country is civil rule, characterized by politics of ethnicity and exclusion rather than democracy of majority rule and inclusive politics. It is in the light of that assertion that this section of our conversation examines Nigeria’s divisive ethnic politics and its implications
Nigeria’s divisive ethno-religious politics and its implications
Politics of patronage based on primordial identity is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria. From the colonial period, through independence to the present era, ethnicity has played, and is still playing, manifest and latent roles in the political life of Nigeria. Ethnicity has been one of the most important causes of social crises and political instability in Nigeria. Alumona and Okoli (2021), linked ethnic politics and rivalry in Nigeria to the country’s colonial era when the imperial overlords adopted the strategy of “divide and rule” to further colonial penetration and consolidation.
Successive governments in Nigeria since independence, have in one way or the other deployed primordial sentiments in deciding who gets what, when, and how. However, it has never been as pronounced as it appears to be in the present era as ethnic and religious politics tend to have been elevated to the level of a national statecraft.
Kehinde (2015), argued that Nigeria’s electoral choice is largely based on ethnic considerations as successive elections from the colonial era through the post-independence period to the current dispensation have been seriously undermined by ethno-regional cleavages. He lamented that President Muhammadu Buhari rode to power on the basis of such sentiments. What is more, the results of both the 2015 and 2019 elections showed that the voting pattern was based on ethnic and regional considerations.
Deriving from the ethnic, regional and religious flavour which the outcome of both elections produced, political appointments made by President Buhari and patronages extended to party loyalists have seemingly reflected such sentiments. As a matter of fact, not only has most of the appointments been highly skewed in favour of the North to the disadvantage of other sections of the country, they have also favoured people of a particular religion. Table 1. below, which shows the distribution of the appointments of heads of the nation’s military and paramilitary institutions as at 2022, speaks volumes about such religion-induced lopsided appointments.
Table 1: Current Heads of Military and Paramilitary Organizations Appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari
S/N | Name | Status/Agency | State of Origin | Region/Religion |
1 | Lt-Gen. Farouk Yahaya | Chief of Army Staff | Sokoto | Northwest/Muslim |
2 | Air Marshal Ishiaka O. Amao | Chief of Air Staff | Ogun | South West/Muslim |
3 | Rear Adm. Awwal Zubairu | Chief of Naval Staff | Kano | South West/Muslim |
4 | Lt-Gen Lucky Irabor | Chief of Defense Staff | Delta | South South/Christian |
5 | Maj-Gen Babagana Monguno (Retd) | National Security Adviser | Borno | North East/Muslim |
6 | Mr. Alkali Baba Usman | Inspector-General of Police | Nasarawa | North Central/Muslim |
7 | Alhaji Yusuf Bichi | D-G DSS | Katsina | North west/Muslim |
8 | Ambassador. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar | D-G NIA | Nasarawa | North Central/Muslim |
9 | Brig-Gen Buba Marwa (Retd) | Chairman, NDLEA | Adamawa | North East/Muslim |
10 | Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Retd) | Comptroller-General, NCS | Bauchi | North East/Muslim |
11 | Dr. Ahmed Augi | Commandant General NSCDC | Nasarawa | North Central /Muslim |
12 | Mr. Abdulganiyu Jaji | Controller–General Federal Fire Service | Niger | North Central/Muslim |
13 | Mr. Dauda Biu | Ag. Corps Marshal, FRSC | Borno | North East/ Muslim |
14 | Mr. Idris Isah Jere | Controller-General NIS | Kaduna | North West/Muslim |
Source: Compiled by author from several sources, 2022.
A careful perusal of table 1, shows that of the current 14 heads of military and paramilitary agencies in Nigeria, 11 or 78.6 percent, are from the northern region while only 3or 21.4 percent are from the south. What is intriguing and more worrisome is that of the appointees, 13, representing 92.86 percent, are Muslims while only 1 or 7.14 percent, is of the Christian faith. The politicization of appointments along ethno-religious and regional lines in such highly regimented and professional agencies has the capacity to weaken commitment to service values, breed discontent, erode operational discipline and loyalty, and promote allegiance to religious and ethnic cleavages over and above national interest.
Expectedly, while the lopsided appointments which negate the provisions of the Federal Character principle of equity and fairness in appointments and distribution of offices and privileges, have attracted sharp reactions from different parts of the country, the president and his minders have consistently justified them on the strength of the electoral votes which the All Progressives Congress, APC, received from the north.
As if borrowing a dirty leaf from Buhari’s prebendal “us versus them” politics, the APC has taken the politics of ethno-religiosity to another height with the introduction of the hugely disparaged same-faith presidential ticket in the runoff to the 2023 general elections. All entreaties from well-meaning Nigerians to Ahmed Bola Tinubu to reconsider the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim, in favour of a northern Christian have been spurned by the APC flag bearer. Bola Tinubu has instead, vehemently defended the choice of his running mate. He hinged his action on Shettima’s supposed competence and electoral value as against his religious affiliation. Analyst contend that this ‘stubborn’ stance has the capacity to further polarize an already fractious nation.
There is no doubt that politics of ethnicity, religion and exclusion, such as the type being played under our current democratic dispensation comes with devastating consequences, especially in governance.
Firstly, it promotes mediocrity at the expense of competence and merit. Under such circumstance ethnic sentiments replace merit and skills, as square pegs are placed in round holes, with telling effects on efficiency and productivity in Nigeria.
Secondly, politics of ethnicity and regionalism threatens national integration and cohesion as disadvantaged ethnic groups who naturally feel alienated, may lose faith in the Nigerian project. The feeling of alienation and marginalization has heightened the current agitation for self-determination from separatist/secessionist groups such as the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) and the Oduduwa Republic movement championed by Sunday Adeyemo, alias Igboho, to defend the rights of the Yoruba people.
Thirdly, the current practice of what Alumona and Okoli (2021) called kinship politics has engendered mutual distrust among the different ethnic groups in Nigeria, as everyone views the other with suspicion. No one seems to trust the other even when such persons have good intentions. For instance, in most communities in the South East and South South, people of Hausa and Fulani extraction are seen and sometimes, treated as enemies. The same sentiment has been visited on people from the southern part of the country who find themselves in the north. Such hidden animosity which has defined ethno-regional relationships among people of different ethnic backgrounds in recent times, occasionally blossom into needless open confrontations, with huge human and material casualties.
Finally, the menace of ethnic or kinship politics has denied Nigeria the patriotic flavour necessary for national development. As things stand, patriotism to the Nigerian state has been replaced by individualism, personalism, sectionalism, nepotism, and parochialism. These days, it is hard to find patriotism or loyalty to a cause in an average Nigerian (Alumona and Okoli, 2021, p.47).
Insecurity
Security is a basic and fundamental human need. It is the assurance that man can live in peace to be able to carry out his activities and meet his existential needs. Security is the ability to provide protection and safety whether with or without threats. Nigeria has of late, found itself in the throes of monumental insecurity and violent conflicts, resulting in the loss of lives and property of countless number of Nigerians.
There is no region in Nigeria that is not ravaged by one form of insecurity or the other. The North Eastern part of Nigeria has been traumatized by more than a decade of terrorism masterminded by the Boko Haram Islamist sect; while the North West contends with kidnappers, abductors and bandits. Similarly, the North Central zone has witnessed continuous farmer-herders clashes while the South-South region faces issues of militancy. The South East and South west; have also witnessed rising agitations by secessionist groups.
From kidnapping to killings by terrorists and other criminal activities, many Nigerians now live in a state of fear and trepidation. According to a report by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), no fewer than 60,000 people had been killed in Nigeria’s 19 northern states in the last 10 years. The CDD disclosed that between 2011 and 2021, 14,000 people lost their lives in the north-western states of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara while about 35, 000 others were killed in the north-eastern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe. Between January and June 2022, the Kaduna State Government said about 645 persons had been killed by terrorists in different parts of the state. Benue State is the most hit by violence in the North Central zone after Niger State. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), which collects and maps violent events in the world, reported 456 attacks and 1,692 fatalities in Benue State between January 2018 and August 2022 (Odeyinka, 2022).
Granted that insecurity in Nigeria predated 2015 when the present administration came into power, the sheer magnitude of terrorist attacks, kidnapping, banditry and complicity of both state and non-state actors in alleged cases of wide spread insecurity-related corruption in the last seven years, has cast a dark cloud on the commitment of the Buhari administration to decisively deal with the menace.
While the Buhari regime assumed office on the back of a three-prong mantra of fighting insecurity, corruption and ensuring economic revitalization, evidence in the literature showed that insecurity has deteriorated to a frightening level. This has resulted in Nigeria being rated by the World Terrorism Index as the 2rd most terrorized country in the world for three years running. Some of the high profile terrorist attacks on individuals and institutions across the country in recent times confirm the magnitude of the nation’s terrorism index rating. These include the June 4, 2022 mass shooting at the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, were 40 worshippers were killed and 80 others injured and the March 28, 2022 attack on the Abuja-Kaduna bound passenger train leaving 8 persons dead while 63 others were taken hostage. As at September 13, 2022, no fewer than 23 of the abductees were still being held by the terrorists, allegedly on account of their inability to pay the 100 million Naira ransom per person.
There was also the July 5, 2022 attack on the Kuje Custodial Correctional Centre, Abuja, by members of the Islamic States’ West Africa Province, (ISWAP), a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, in which over 800 inmates and 65 members of the Islamists sect were set free. An official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, was reportedly killed during the ill-fated raid on the facility.
Similarly, Boko Haram elements ambushed troops of the elite 7 Guards brigade which provides security for the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on July24, 2022, during routine patrol along the Kubwa-Bwari road, in the course of which 3 soldiers reportedly sustained injuries. The activities of the so called “unknown gun men” in the South east have not also abated. As recently as September 12, 2022, a group of 9 “unknown gunmen” attacked the convoy of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, at Enugu-Ukwu, in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State. Three civilians and two police personnel were reportedly killed.
Nigeria’s escalating insecurity has elicited concerns about the humongous amount of funds voted for military expenditure in the country’s annual budgets. While it is on record that the federal government has spent no less than N12 trillion on security in the last seven years, insecurity has, however, remained pervasive. For instance, even though the military has taken delivery of the 496 million dollars 12 Tucano fighter jets and deployed same for counter-insurgency operations in the north eastern and north western zones of the country, insecurity does not seem to have abated.
There have been allegations of high wire corruption among the top echelon of the nation’s armed forces, some of whom have been accused of diverting funds meant for procurement of military hardware and the welfare of military personnel, thus, leading to low morale. This much was confirmed by the Chairman of the Independent Corruption Practices Commission, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye. Professor Owasanoye who attributed the worsening insecurity in the country in part, to corruption in the military, revealed that some former heads of military and security agencies were being investigated for embezzlement of public funds.
The ICPC boss spoke at a function organized by the Commission in Abuja on September10, 2022, during which he cited the case of an unnamed former military chief who stole and deposited N4 billion from the military budget into the accounts of two companies where he was the official beneficial owner and sole signatory and later used the proceeds to purchase choice properties in Abuja, in the names of cronies and proxies (ThisDay, 2022).
Perhaps, it is as a consequence of the seeming failure of the federal government to tame the scourge of insecurity that some subnational governments and communities have resorted to self-help by establishing local security outfits. Governors of the South-West took the lead in regional security by setting up the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed ‘Amotekun’ on January 9, 2020. The South East Governors followed suit with the establishment of the Eastern Security Network, aka, ‘Ebubeagu’ on Sunday, April 11th 2021. Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State also inaugurated the State’s 500-member Community Volunteer Guards on August 4th, this year, to safeguard rural Benue from persistent terrorist attacks. Numerous vigilante groups have also sprung up in various parts of the country, in response to the menace posed by terrorists and other criminal elements.
Options for fixing a bruised and battered Nigeria
In spite of all our existential challenges fueled by ethnicity, religion, lack of sincerity and broken promises, we can still salvage our bruised and battered nation, Nigeria, from the jaws of economic, social and political eclipse and global irrelevance. This, however, requires making some hard choices and painful sacrifices by all Nigerians who have unfading and abiding faith in the Nigerian project. To do this, we propose the following by way of recommendations:
- As we worry about moving Nigeria forward in the right direction, our first major focus should be on the search for credible leaders. Nigeria urgently needs visionary leaders who have the reputational capital to create the enabling environment that can bring about social and economic re-organisation. With good leaders, Achebe (1983) argued that Nigeria could solve her major problems of tribalism, lack of patriotism, social injustice and the cult of mediocrity; indiscipline and corruption. Our leadership recruitment and by extension, the outcome must embrace a new orientation that is people conscious and generates credible ideas, policies and programmes that address economic rebirth and good governance generally, to achieve the desired democratic practice that will be inclusive of all peoples within the society.
Furthermore, in our collective search for leaders, we must look out for servant leaders since the core essence of leadership is about service to the people. As rightly noted by Onucheyo (1994), many people who grew up under strange conditions are street smart and have all the survival instincts but not the love and care to lead people. According to him, such individuals should not be trusted with people’s lives, because history has shown that leaders of strange upbringings brought destruction on their societies. For example, the Roman Emperor, Nero Claudius Caesar (37 – 68 AD) who was said to have had an unclear parentage, ruled with a vanity and irresponsibility that antagonized most sectors of the Roman society. He was said to be playing music while Rome was burning! Shaka Zulu (1787 – 1828), King of the Zulu kingdom of South Africa also had a similar background. He was notorious and ruthlessly expanded his possessions. Speculations are equally rife that some past Nigerian leaders had questionable paternity and nationality. We must therefore, ‘shine our eyes’ to critically study the background of those who aspire to lead us, as we journey towards the 2023 general elections.
- There’s no doubt that our economy is still bleeding and keeps going in and out of recession. Beyond its mono-product or oil dependent nature, we do not need a prophet to tell us that our economy fell from grace to grass due largely to bad planning, wrong choices/priorities, egregious greed and corruption, among others. To get out of the woods, Nigeria requires a pragmatic development agenda with emphasis on economic diversification, mechanized agricultural production and industrialization, to create employment and mitigate poverty. The federal government must demonstrate appropriate political will to make such a proposal work.
- Poor investment in human capital development, particularly the neglect of technical and vocational education and science-based technology education by successive Nigerian governments has denied the country the benefit of highly skilled technical manpower and the technological capabilities required to transform the nation into an industrialized hub and improve the living conditions of her teeming population. To address the lacuna, the Nigerian government must invest heavily in education by improving its budgetary allocations to the education sector to conform to the 26 percent allocation recommended by the UNESCO as well as tackle the energy and other infrastructural challenges bedevilling the country.
- Given that the magnitude of high-profile corruption in Nigeria has made nonsense of genuine efforts to enhance economic growth and national development as well as diminished peoples’ trust in government, the federal government must show greater commitment, both in word and in deed, to stemming corruption by waging a total, comprehensive and all-encompassing fight against the scourge. This will require a legislation to establish specialized courts specifically dedicated to handling corruption cases, especially those against politically exposed persons holding political and administrative positions in government. The policy of plea bargaining, which is skewed in favour of the rich and powerful in our society, should be expunged from our legal books because it constitutes a cog in the battle against corruption in Nigeria.
- To fix our nation, we must also fix our current expensive democracy which is apparently not working. The present bicameral legislature should be made unicameral and operated on part-time basis, as the cost of running that arm of government is no longer sustainable in the face of current economic realities. It will also make full-time politics unattractive and forestall the crazy penchant by former Governors and Ministers, to turn the national assembly into a retirement home. It is also our contention that the 36 states structure, characterized by an over bloated bureaucracy not only breeds corruption but also makes governance very expensive. We suggest a restructuring of the 36 states into six regions through an act of parliament. The proposed six-regional arrangement will position the regions to efficiently exploit their economic and natural resources and pay appropriate royalty to the government at the centre, in the spirit of true fiscal federalism. It also has the further advantage of creating a lean bureaucracy which can make Nigeria become more efficient and prosperous.
- The protection of lives and property is a foremost social and constitutional responsibility. However, when citizens have the feeling that government is not doing enough in that direction as currently being witnessed in Nigeria, it could lead to despair and loss of faith in governance. Perhaps, it is in the light of the seeming failure of the federal government’s effort in the fight against insecurity, that the clamour for state police or community policing, irrespective of their imperfections, has become very loud. The federal government may need to appropriately review its current strategy against insecurity, which appears to have produced more billionaire Generals and multi-million-naira military contractors at the expense of traumatized Nigerians who live in perpetual fear of attacks by bandits, abductors, kidnappers, terrorists and other criminal elements.
- To salvage Nigeria and restore her to the path of greatness, we must also change the thinking and social behaviour of Nigerians to include a new set of values. Concerted efforts must be made to reactivate our battered and bastardized institutions through the enthronement of fair play, merit, maintenance of standards and traditional values and the uplifting of the higher universal values of freedom of speech, worship, and choice. This is one of the ways Nigeria can regain her respect in the global community again.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, before I take my seat, I must not fail to add that many Nigerians are also part of the problem of Nigeria. We cannot keep blaming the leaders all the time when we are also refusing to take responsibility for our actions, especially our bad behaviours. It will amount to sheer wishful thinking to expect that the visionary leaders we desire to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria, will fall from the sky. The task of nation building will be difficult if we fail to understand that our individual roles right from the family unit through the community to the state and national levels, matter. We must all resolve to make Nigeria work again, because as Muhammadu Buhari, one of Nigeria’s former military rulers and now a ‘repentant democrat’ once said, “We have no other country to call our own but Nigeria”.
I thank you all for your patience and rapt attention.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
- Being text of a paper presented by Linus Akor, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria as Guest Speaker at the 2022 Anthony Cardinal Okogie Foundation Lecture organized by the BoT of the Anthony Cardinal Okogie Foundation in Conjunction with the Lagos Archdiocesan Laity Council held @ the McGovern Hall, St. Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Lagos on Thursday, October 20, 2022. He can be reached on Email: linus.akoryusuf@fugusau.edu.ng