The Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) recently inaugurated two committees, the Governance Programme Steering Committee and the Legislative Programme Steering Committee.
Why is this important? First, I confess my bias for genuine progressive governance, not one that appropriates the appellation without appreciating the substance of what progressivism entails. I supported APC in 2015 because while sixteen years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been good for the men and women in the corridors of powers and their hangers-on, it produced untold misery for the development of the nation and thus for the masses who ought to be the beneficiaries of governance.
In 2015, I thought that with a progressive government in power at the federal and state levels, there was a good chance for initiatives that put the masses at the center of governance. Naively, I expected those who subscribed to the manifesto of the victorious party to be all in with its requirements. I was wrong. For as it turned out, many were Progressives in Name Only (PINO).
What with the hustle for personal advancement at the expense of collective achievement on behalf of progressive ideology? Or the open confrontation on the part of a hostile National Assembly against party initiatives? Or state executive misfits whose penchant for profanity outweighed and compromised the good they were capable of doing? Unfortunately, the paint brush of shame and dishonour that is justifiably applicable to a few ended up smearing the collective. Until the dam broke and the shameless lot got blown away by the storm.
In 2019, I also supported APC for two reasons. First, it occurred to me that the challenges the party had between 2015 and 2019 were principally because its rank was infiltrated by strange bedfellows with a retrogressive mindset. Rid of that element in the runup to the 2019 elections, I surmised that the party could muster the combined strength of like-minded progressives for the good of the country. Second, I deeply resent PDP as a party which so egregiously betrayed the trust of the nation for sixteen years. The breach of trust was so glaring that the party itself felt the need to tender an apology to the nation, and even contemplated changing its name. How could such a party dare to come back within four years to seek another mandate to rule? Was that a test of national memory?
Compare our situation in 2019 with the US presidential election of 2012. In 2008, Barack Obama won the election mainly because of the coherent policies he laid out to rescue the nation from the great recession into which it was plunged in the eight years of Republican administration. Obama and his team worked so hard that in 2012 the economy was on recovery mode. Yet the Republicans who ruined it in the first place had the gut to complain that the recovery was too slow! Of course, the people knew the facts and they gave Obama a second term to continue his recovery efforts. Nigeria was in a similar situation in 2019. And the people knew which party ruined their lot and which party had tried its best to focus on recovery.
However, the people also want a consistency of policies and programmes from the ruling party at federal and state levels. But since all politics is local and the greatest impact of governance will most likely be felt at the state level, the new initiatives by PGF are timely and heartwarming.
From the snippets provided in its media briefings, a few elements of the Governance Programme Steering Committee initiative are clear. For the Committee, the goal is uniformity of policy initiatives, with a focus on strengthening the capacity of APC states for implementing approved initiatives. Since it is their initiative, there is a buy-in by the governors, and the target is party manifesto and campaign promises. There will be peer review of states’ implementation of party programmes. Finally, the need is recognised for ultimately highlighting the distinction between APC on one hand, and PDP and other parties on the other hand in terms of policies and programmes. It is all well and good.
On its part, the Legislative Programme Steering Committee will synergise the interactions between the executive and the legislature across the country; help contextualise government processes and decisions in terms of the legal frameworks governing them; monitor government operations, gather and evaluate information and recommend action to PGF; promote the interest of PGF member-states with regard to laws, regulations, and policies that may affect them; and promote cordial relations between legislatures and executives in APC states.
The two initiatives are certainly timely and proactive. But what will it take for these initiatives to succeed? It will take discipline and it will take fidelity to progressive governance ideas.
First, the requirement of discipline is a no-brainer. We saw what havoc indiscipline wrought between 2015 and early 2019. When party members appear to be laws unto themselves and the supremacy of the party as a sine qua non of party success is thrown out the window, it won’t matter what progressive ideas have proved effective in other climes. Self-interest and hubris will always ensure that such ideas get pushed to the back burner of governance to the detriment of the masses. And with ego-driven conflicts between the executive and the legislature, progressive legislation designed for the good of the state is bound to suffer. Therefore, while the initiatives are great, what comes out of them will depend pretty much on the self-discipline and commitment on the part of actors.
Second, the requirement of fidelity to progressive governance ideas is self-explanatory. A progressive party in government must set its eyes on the prize of implementing progressive policies for the development of citizens as human beings with inherent dignity, a priceless possession that has been unfortunately devalued and abused in a nation that glorifies material possession at the expense of human dignity.
Three areas promised in the party’s manifesto and campaigns are worthy of attention for a common agenda across APC states. Education is key to the development of human talent. Unfortunately, the nation has ceded its responsibility to educate citizens to the private sector. The result is that only those with the resources that the private sector demands in return for good education have access to it. Thus, we now have two classes of citizens, contrary to the progressive ideal.
Health is another agenda item. States have shared responsibility with the federal government on health and education. It is unfortunate, however, that this responsibility has been shirked over the decades since the inception of military rule. Public health is neglected. Basic health is not adequately funded. The masses lack the option of medical tourism; so, they end up dying in large numbers because of inadequate facilities and wrong or late diagnosis.
Infrastructure is the third area. Rural poverty is largely related to lack of infrastructural development. The Buhari administration has prioritized economic diversification with a focus on agriculture and mining. But many rural roads are in terrible shapes. And though the federal government is investing heavily on road infrastructure, APC states must also do their part.
Of course, security and revenue are two preconditions for the success of any initiatives on the progressive agenda. Both are related and intertwined. Revenue cannot be generated in an atmosphere of insecurity. And adequate revenue is essential for the implementation of programmes.
APC states must work extra hard to ensure that security of life and property is guaranteed. Governors must invest their security votes wholly and effectively on tested and proven security measures. They must strenuously seek foreign direct investment in agriculture and mining as the multiplier effect of such investments will generate revenue for the implementation of various progressive programs in education, health, and infrastructure.
In the next four years, if APC states can focus attention and invest heavily on education, health and infrastructure, and the federal government takes its signature social investment programs to the next level, the nation would have taken some giant steps towards the reduction, if not elimination, of poverty across the land. That’s progress.