These are indeed most interesting times in Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan and his strategists must be having a good laugh and patting each other on the back for a job well done. Surely their strategies are working perfectly. The nation drifts under a leader who so obviously lacks the vision or capacity to achieve genuine national transformation. Corruption festers. Critical public infrastructure remains in a parlous condition. Unemployment soars. Insecurity grows worse by the day. The vast majority of Nigerians are worse off today than they were in 1999. Yet, rather than these challenges putting Dr Jonathan on his toes to find lasting solutions to them, national attention has been diverted to a phantom National Conference.
Many of the experienced politicians who have jumped on the National Conference bandwagon surely ought to be more circumspect. They ought to have raised questions about President Jonathan’s sudden somersault and enthusiastic embrace of a national conference he had opposed for so long. The born again stance of Jonathan is even more suspicious given its timing so close to the next general elections. That he has performed abysmally as President of Nigeria is so obvious. President Jonathan made 91 promises on the campaign trail before the 2011 election. These promises have been carefully documented. It is doubtful if he has fulfilled 20 per cent of these pledges. But now, as the national conference grips the national consciousness, the issue of poor governance by Dr Jonathan recedes to the background.
Those who support the National Conference contend that the problem with the country is that of its defective structure rather than poor leadership. This view absolves President Jonathan and elected officials at all levels of blame for the unsavoury state of the country in virtually all sectors. Whatever may be the defects of the current constitution, it is still possible for the country to make progress under it with the requisite leadership. After all, a good number of states are taking giant strides in terms of delivery of social services and provision of infrastructure under the present constitution.
In an interview in the Sunday Punch of February 16, the respected Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo said: “We do not want an amendment of the constitution. We want a brand new constitution”. He contended that we want a constitution under which the Yoruba will not feel cheated. Honestly, I do not know why the Yoruba should feel cheated under the present constitution. At least we had a Yoruba man, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo at the helm of affairs between 1999 and 2007. The belief that a brand new constitution will automatically help solve our current national problem is completely illusory. If there is no change in terms of attitude, behaviour and values among the political class, not even a constitution drawn up by angels can salvage Nigeria.
Some have advocated a return to the parliamentary system of government. They therefore see the current presidential system as the source of our woes. It was this type of reasoning that made us to abandon the parliamentary mode of governance for the presidential constitution of 1979. Yet, the political class of the Second Republic were largely as corrupt, venal and anti-democratic as those of the first. The question is not a matter of a presidential or parliamentary constitution. Good governance can flourish under both with the right kind of leadership that maintains high ethical standards and pursues its programmes with determination and a sense of purpose.
After all, Chief Obafemi Awolowo performed exceptionally as Premier of the Western Region in the First Republic under the parliamentary constitution. And in the Second Republic, many state governments notably Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi to cite two examples, performed creditably. It is thus not a question of the type of constitution but the quality of leadership that matters. Again some have advocated a return to regionalism. Those who make this case forget that the breaking up of the former regions into states was a major step forward in the political development of Nigeria. Chief Awolowo strove tirelessly in the First Republic for the creation of the Calabar/Ogoja/Rivers (COR) state out of the former Eastern region and the creation of the Middle Belt State out of the North. Of course the Mid-West region had already been carved out of the Western region.
Right now, there are at least 50 requests for the creation of new states. This shows that it is most unlikely that any state will subsume its autonomy under any regional government. In any case, without a change of values, orientation and attitudes among the political class, the creation of regions will only amount to the decentralization of corruption, ineptitude and lethargy from the centre to the regions. It is ironical that those who make a case for a return to regionalism do not realize that they will only be substituting centralization in Abuja for centralization in the regions. One form of centralization is as undesirable as the other.
It is disturbing and alarming that a country with so many challenges confronting it can afford to budget N7 billion for an ill-thought out and hastily conceived National Conference. The lucky delegates at the conference will reportedly go home with at least N12 million each at the end of three months. Yet, given the intensity of the pre-National Conference debate, it is obvious that the exercise will most certainly exceed the three month time frame within which it is supposed to function. Meanwhile the National Assembly had earlier commenced its constitutional review exercise, an undertaking that took members round the country at great cost to the national treasury.
Anyone who thinks there can be a conference which is a magic wand to end all conferences or a super dialogue to end all dialogues is grossly mistaken. Democracy is inherently a process of never ending dialogue. The National question will continue to exist as long as Nigeria survives. We have had enough conferences and dialogues over the years; the challenge is the will by those in power to implement proposed suggestions. In what way will this National Conference differ, for example, from that of 2005 organized by President Obasanjo? Some have contended that the 2005 exercise lacked legitimacy because its members were not elected. But the members of the Jonathan conference will also not be elected; they will be nominated. In any case, is there nothing of value we can extract from the 2005 conference once we eliminate the toxic third term virus that did not materialize?
It is ironical that as the esteemed Chief Ayo Adebanjo has continued to insist that the National Conference is more important than the next elections, President Jonathan has been steadily and systematically pursuing his bid for a second term in office. In the last one or two months, he has worshipped in several churches including the Catholic, Anglican, Winners Chapel and the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Not only was he allowed to address the congregation in all these churches, his minders have ensured that his photographs with top men of God are generously used in the media. Is this not a subtle appeal to Christian voters? Last week, President Jonathan visited the Alaafin of Oyo, Ooni of Ife and the Emir of Kano. The campaign is surely afoot. This whole idea of a National Conference is thus just another brilliant manoeuvre to help actualise Dr. Jonathan’s undisclosed but all too obvious re-election ambition.
I believe that there is so much that President Jonathan can do without having to convene a National Conference. He does not need a conference, for example, to decisively sanitise the corruption-ridden Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Nor does he need any conference to give the country a more equitable and just revenue allocation formula. Indeed, the constitution provides for a review of the revenue allocation formula every five years. The PDP administration has refused to do this since 1999. The President does not need a conference to fix federal high ways nationwide, ensure that pension fund thieves or fuel subsidy robbers are brought to book speedily and propose a new policing structure to the National Assembly. Well, I am sure there will be vigorous lobbying by those who want to go to Abuja as delegates. After all they will have their own share of the national cake. Allah de!
