One New Year resolution expected from politicians, particularly those at the federal level, is public affirmation of total commitment to free and fair election in 2015
This is the season for private citizens and public officials to make resolutions about how to choose new paths of improvement in what they do. Just as expected, our political leaders have seized the opportunity of Christmas and the coming of 2014 to do what they know how to do best: make promises; sermonise about how to make Nigeria work for all; and even pontificate about matters that are naturally beyond their ken. The goal of politicians’ sermons and New Year resolutions is generally to assure citizens of the relevance of political office holders to the lives of citizens. What troubles the average observer is that Nigerian political leaders from the president down to local government chairmen never take the trouble to find out if citizens are impressed by their mendacious talks at every religious festival.
For example, when President Jonathan announced his resolution to give Nigerians at least 18 hours of electricity per day, he did not realise that most citizens could not turn on their televisions or radio to watch or listen to him, simply because of power outage. Citizens must have been wondering in darkness why the president had to make this promise, more so that the energy sector had been successfully privatised by his administration. Ordinarily, people would now expect to hear from the new owners of the electricity supply chain, most of whom have been silent since they took over from PHCN. The federal government should give all the assurances of help at its disposal to the new electricity companies, not to citizens who have in the last six years have had to live with unredeemed promises about moving electricity supply from 2,500 megawatts to 5,000, and later to 6,000 megawatts.
In another part of his Christmas message, President Jonathan (perhaps unwittingly) made negative comments about the nation’s diversity, which for decades, leaders and citizens have passionately believed to be a fertile source of greatness for the country: “It remains my sincere belief that no height of human accomplishment is beyond us as a nation, if we can overcome our differences, such as they are, and forge a binding consensus to put the progress and well-being of the country above all other considerations.” I am sure the president knows that our cultural differences are not handicaps. What we need to do, as we prepare for a national conference to discuss how to make our country do better than it has done since 1966, is not to see our differences as obstacles to overcome but as realities to understand. Therefore, delegates to the national conference should not be encouraged to go and sit down and work out how to overcome our differences, but how to understand them and use the country’s diversity to improve the country’s performance and competitiveness within the comity of nations.
With the president’s announcement of his commitment to encourage Nigerians at the proposed national conference to contribute to how to make Nigeria peaceful and great, it is a good time to add that there is more to a national conference than talking about how to make a nation great. It requires talking and agreeing on how to make justice in all forms an abiding aspect of public and private life in a country. The presence of justice in every society and polity is the source of peace, harmony, and greatness. Those who have been calling for a national conference for decades have been concerned about justice to all sections of the country as the best way to make every part of the country feel confident to make the most sacrifice towards achieving the country’s progress and greatness. Such advocates recognise the country’s diversity, believe that the diversity is a source of greatness, particularly if the diversity is managed with a sense of justice by all concerned. Governor Kayode Fayemi’s New Year message to people of Ekiti State captures this view well: “I urge us all as a people whose destiny is connected inextricably with our great country to keep praying as we support the agitation for the restoration of true federalism and the entrenchment of equity and justice in our polity.”
One New Year resolution expected from politicians, particularly those at the federal level, is public affirmation of total commitment to free and fair election in 2015. On the part of partisan politicians, there should be an expression of commitment to a violence-free election at all levels, such as we just witnessed in Yobe, despite the state of emergency in that state. On the part of the country’s independent electoral commission, the agency needs to assure citizens at the beginning of a new year that all elections in 2014 and 2015 will avoid all the problems that marred the recent Anambra gubernatorial election. INEC must, as a body that is expected to be an impartial umpire, accept that excuses for not getting any aspect of polling right reflects sadly on the commission, erodes voters’ confidence in the electoral process, and can lead to serious democratic deficits capable of creating legitimacy problems for post-election governance. In addition to President Jonathan’s resolution to organise a credible national conference, INEC is the second most important agency in the country to assure citizens that it will do everything possible to gain the confidence of citizens in all elections the agency will conduct in 2014, as a way of making the right preparation for the 2015 national elections. Citizens need to be assured that elections will be transparent, efficient, free, and fair at all times in 2014, as this is one way to enhance peace, harmony, and unity in the country.
As universal (and sometimes instructive) as New Year resolutions are, Nigerians know that the president and most governors are entering in 2014 their lame-duck phase. Consequently, citizens are not going to take many of the promises made by federal and state executives with much seriousness, given the fact that a lame-duck year is not the best time to fulfill promises that could not be fulfilled in the preceding three years of full governing authority. What is likely to attract citizens’ attention and belief is for the federal government and its agency, INEC, to resolve to do a thorough job in organising a credible national conference in 2014 and credible elections in 2015 and beyond.
