THE PROBLEMS OF NIGERIA DEMOCRACY WRITTEN BY AMIDA OLUWATOSIN

According to professor Owuka Chike a renounced professor in the university of Ibadan, he says and I quote that ‘it is necessary to look at the past in other to see the present in their proper perspectives, we cannot understand the present except we understand the past in which the present is built in’ meaning that it is very crucial to look at the brief background of Nigeria democracy.

According to Abraham Lincoln, democracy can be defined as the government of the people by the people and for the people.  Democracy is by far the most challenging form of government - both for politicians and for the people. The term democracy comes from the Greek language and means "rule by the (simple) people”. Democracy is far and away the foremost difficult type of government - each for politicians and for the individuals. According to Merriam Webster, democracy is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. Democracy can also be defined as the rule of the majority

Democracy Day is June 12, a national public (bank) holiday in Nigeria. Until June 6, 2018, it was held annually on May 29. Democracy Day marks the day the military handed over power to an elected civilian government in 1999, marking the beginning of the longest continuous civilian rule since Nigeria's independence from colonial rule in 1960. It is a tradition that has been held annually, beginning in year 2000. June 12 was formerly known as Abiola Day, celebrated in Lagos, Nigeria and some south western states of Nigeria.

Nigeria's Democracy Day is a public holiday to commemorate the restoration of democracy in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. May 29 was initially the official democracy day in Nigeria, marking when the newly elected Olusegun Obasanjo took office as the President of Nigeria in 1999, ending multiple decades of military rule that began in 1966 and had been interrupted only by a brief period of democracy from 1979 to 1983.

On June 6, 2018, eight days after May 29, 2018 had been celebrated as Democracy Day, the President Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria declared June 12 to be the new Democracy Day. Buhari would give his inaugural address for his second term on June 12, 2019. These were done to commemorate the democratic election of MKO Abiola on June 12, 1993, in what has been adjudged to be Nigeria's freest and fairest elections. It was, however, cancelled by the Ibrahim Babagida Junta. MKO Abiola was later detained after he declared himself the president.

PROBLEMS OF NIGERIA DEMOCRACY

1. The 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria is not democratic: the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria was drafted under the military regime of Abacha with 21 men ruling council. Looking the preamble of the Nigeria constitution which state that “WE THE PEOPLE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HAVING FIRMLY AND SOLEMNLY RESOLVED TO LIVE IN UNITY AND HARMONY AS ONE INDIVISIBLE AND INDISSOLUBLE SOVEREIGN NATION, UNDER GOD, DEDICATED TO THE PROMOTION OF INTER-AFRICAN  UNITY, WORLD PEACE , INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND UNDERSTANDING AND TO PROVIDE FOR OURSELVES A CONSTITUTION’ the question  is that which people? The Nigeria constitution is a lie. The people were not consulted in drafting the constitution and we said we are operating on a democratic system of government.


2. Corruption: Corruption has become a culture in Nigeria such that it now looks strange to condemn it. Many people believe that Nigeria cannot survive without corruption. Some politicians are in office just for the singular aim of stealing. How does one explain a situation whereby elderly politicians are still amassing wealth they don’t need? Does it make sense to the masses to come out to vote in an election that would throw up a cabal of looters? Democracy is supposed to create strong institutions which discourage wastages and profligacy. According to Anyang Nyango (1998) democracy ensures a judicious use of resources. But the reverse is the case in Nigeria. How has the nation been spending her resources since 1999? Why, in the midst of infrastructural decay, should the nation acquire 11 jets for the presidential fleet? Why should N1billion be budgeted annually for the presidential kitchen? How come that an oil producing nation like Nigeria with four refineries has spent over a trillion Naira to subsidize the importation of fuel while countries not blessed with oil have not spent up to that amount? Why billions of naira should be spent for the renovation of a mere banquet hall? A democratic regime is expected to deliver services to the masses and abolish poverty, but this cannot be achieved if corruption remains a way of life. It is sad that stealing is not corruption in Nigeria, according to the PDP presidential candidate. This is a serious threat to democracy. We cannot easily forget the reason for military intervention in Nigeria. During the campaign days, the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, said that if we didn’t kill corruption, corruption would kill Nigeria. This clearly underscores the grave consequence of this malaise on the polity. The predatory elite in the political scene has an unhealthy urge for primitive accumulation of wealth and this has been responsible for the dilapidated infrastructure, poverty and poor social services. Partisan Security Agencies and Electoral Umpire. Security agencies are supposed to keep law and order and to remain politically neutral during elections, but here in Nigeria the opposite is the case. There are political officers and men in the Nigerian Military, the Police Force and other security agencies. In most cases, they work for the ruling party. Which work do they do? They give cover to thugs when snatching ballot boxes and other voting materials, they unlawfully arrest and so on.


3. Poor justice delivery: The Nigerian Judiciary is confused and in disarray. It is only the rich that get justice because they can afford it. While the rich are above the law, the poor are below it. Most of the court verdicts are conflicting. While a man who stole N23 billion from police pension fund was given two years behind bars with the option of a fine of N750,000 by Abuja High Court (Vanguard Newspapers, Jan. 29, 2013), the man who stole a Governor’s GSM phone would spend eight harrowing years in prison without an option of a fine! With money one can obtain frivolous injunctions to truncate or impede the wheel of justice, referred to as black market injunctions by Edo state Governor Oshiomhole. Some injunctions are perpetual, that is, they cannot be vacated. This is why some high profile criminals such as corrupt state governors and some petroleum subsidy thieves are freely enjoying their loots. But the poor who cannot afford the services of senior advocates of Nigeria are languishing in jail over minor offenses. The law is interpreted and applied in Nigeria based on status differentials. One can now see the level of debauchery into which the judiciary has sunk. This is anathemic to the rule of law and a negation to democracy. As observed by Professor Itse Sagay (1996), the rule of law is democracy and without it there is no democracy.


4. Insecurity

Insecurity is unarguably the greatest threat to Nigeria nascent democracy. In the southern part of Nigeria, there is the menace of kidnapping for ransom and armed robbery. Several lives have been lost in the process. In the northern part of the country, there is the problem of a mindless sect, Boko Haram! That has wasted several lives and destroyed property worth billions of Naira. This group defies logic: what is it fighting for? The members of the group are just killing, raping women and girls and destroying houses. Over 200 secondary school girls were kidnapped by the sect over a year now. Insecurity is capable of shaking the corporate existence of our nation. A serious challenge of the 5th republic is how to completely annihilate the sect. Apart from the sect, there are other ethnic militias in other parts of the country. The group in the South-South Region, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), uses economic sabotage to draw government attention to its demand for infrastructural development of the region. The group in the South-East,

Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), wants Independence for the region while its counterpart in the South-West, Odua People Congress (OPC), is mainly concerned with ethnic jingoism. The problem of insecurity must be addressed holistically by the new administration if the democracy must stay.

  5. Poor Supply of Electricity and Petroleum Products

Electricity and fuel are very essential commodities in Nigeria and as such should never have been left in the hands of those that cannot make them available to the masses. Recently the country was locked down for some days because there was no power as well as fuel. Communication firms closed shops, banks were working half day, Television houses were off the air. This is not healthy for democracy as anything could have happened. The privatization of the Power Sector has not yielded dividends. It appears that the new investors, mostly cronies of officials of the immediate past regime, are not ready for business. They are kept afloat with outrageous estimated bills and the unholy electricity fixed charges paid by Nigerians for staying in darkness.

HAPPY DEMOCRACY DAY