Four days on, the mantle of leadership of this country will switch over to president-elect, Gen. Mohammed Buhari. On that day, he would be sworn in as the president of the country for the next four years following his successful election.
Preparations are on top gear with expectations very high on the good things to come with the change of leadership in national affairs. Representatives of governments, groups and individuals have been generous with suggestions on what the incoming government should do to make the needed difference. Issues that have been a recurring decimal, among others include the urgency to battle corruption, insecurity and the parlous state of the nation’s economy.
Incidentally, these were some of the key campaign promises of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under which platform Buhari won the election. If there are constant references to them, they serve as reminder to the incoming administration of the imperative to live up to the high expectations of the people.
In this wise, institutions, persons or groups that ought to attract the prying eyes of the new government in its new direction have been fingered very relentlessly. So also are the necessary policy measures to be initiated for our economy to rebound. There seems to be a wide range of consensus that things must be done differently for this country to move forward. Not surprisingly, corruption in all its ramifications stands out as one cankerworm that must be uprooted for these high-minded expectations to be met. There seems to be a wide range of consensus that we are now ready for this all important crusade irrespective of the pervasiveness of the malfeasance and envisaged reluctance of some vested interests to embrace the new direction.
The way the issue of corruption is being bandied, the impression one gets is that people are expecting a very quick fix to the cankerworm. But that would be a very limited understanding of the pervasiveness of the matter. It would imply that we are yet to come to terms with the dynamics of the matter. Corruption is more encompassing and pervades the entire gamut of the nation’s social fabric. It is every where. It has eaten very deep. Such a debilitating problem cannot lend itself to a quickly procured remedy as is currently being expected. This is more so because some of the systemic dysfunctions that are at the root of corruption will take a long time to lend themselves to serious therapeutic response. Some of them are deeply rooted in the very structure and organization of governance framework. Others have their root in the defective manner the Nigerian federation evolved. The role of ethnicity, religion and some other primordial influences in
sustaining corruption can only be ignored at a great risk to the envisaged fight. So also is the defective federal structure that vests the powers of life and death on the central authority. There is also failure on the part of our leaders (past and present) to institute socialization processes capable of producing true Nigerians (in the way an American will regard himself) – the kind the Israeli did through their Kibbutz system.
It is nigh impossible to fight corruption in a setting where ethnicity and religion are in constant competition with the government for the loyalty of the citizens. It is difficult to fight corruption in a milieu where civic institutions are seen as instruments of dominance by one ethnic group against the others. That exactly is the point the Nigerian federation finds itself now. So if we focus on institutions of governance without taking into account the latent sources that influence behavior at those formal levels, we may not get the right handle to it.
If we focus on proper husbanding of our revenue without considering how to whittle down the prebendal nature of our politics, we may not achieve optimal results. This point is further underscored by our geo-politics that places higher premium on where the candidate comes from rather than suitability and ability to do the job. The logic of geo-politics in our case is rooted in the warped notion of sharing the national cake rather than issues of affirmative action or balance. The underlying thinking is that it is only when one of theirs ascends to that high office that their interests can be adequately taken care of. That has been the general feeling and it cannot make for real progress.
Even with many years of living together since independence, rather than wane, these tendencies have been on their ascendancy. They got to a point about two years ago that two former heads of state, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida had to issue a joint statement lamenting the degenerate level the nation had sunk within this ignoble matrix. They were alarmed at a situation where some of those they hitherto regarded as patriots were increasingly beginning to question the basis for Nigerian unity. And their ranks are not few. The fears they then expressed were further taken to a dangerous level during the last electioneering campaigns and are bound to influence public perceptions for some time to come.
The thing to consider is why we have not progressed beyond the things that divide our people. We need to factor in the role of the elite in sustaining and reinforcing these centrifugal tendencies and whose interests such divisions largely serve- that of the elite or the fetchers of wood and drawers of water.
As Buhari moves to confront issues of corruption and development, he is bound to be challenged by these systemic dysfunctions some of which will entail fundamental restructuring of the polity. He has to take both a short and long term perspective of them. Yes, he can start with the leakages in the system. He has said every Nigerian would be made to live within his means. For this to happen, all avenues for fleecing the government must be plugged and blocked. But corruption is not all about stealing money from the government coffers. It is also about giving disproportionate attention to some geo-political zones to the detriment of others. It is all about a skewed distribution of public goods based on some other hazy exigencies.
It is the same phenomenon that gives rise to allegations of alienation and marginalization by the constituent units. Things must have to be done the right and proper way for the fight to be won. There are institutions of government that have been notorious in shortchanging the public. They too must have the searchlight beamed on them. One of such institutions is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The corruption that goes on within that organization during elections must be stamped out without much delay. Since elections are the basis for conferring legitimacy in a democratic setting, a corrupt electoral process is unlikely to produce leaders who can meaningfully wage a relentless war against the cankerworm.
So the fight must start from the electoral body. Much of the problems that marred the last elections in many places were as a result of INEC officials compromising their positions. Not only did they sell authentic results sheets to the highest bidders, falsification and mutilating of results sheets were all traceable to these officials.
Somehow, there is the feeling that we should let go and move forward. Fine! But there is no guarantee people will be that patronizing the next time round.
Buhari must move to unite the country; give all a sense of belonging through inclusive policies. He must at once, identify and redress the sources of frustration which forced Obasanjo and Babangida to deplore the increasing loss of confidence by patriots on the continuing basis for the nation’s unity 54 years after independence.
