Nigeria: The Available and the Affordable

By Bala Ibrahim

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims… but accomplices”-George Orwell

George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist, and critic, that made name from his novel, The Animal Farm. The Animal Farm tells the story of a group of animals living in a farm, and having characteristics like those of human beings. They rebelled against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy.

Undoubtedly, George Orwell had demonstrated an uncommon ingenuity in the book, but if the Nigerian situation today, was factored by the book, George Orwell would be accused of being extremely naive. His naive attitude toward politics, particularly the politics of Nigeria today, can be called a preposterous imagination. Had the rebellious animals in the Animal farm, had any inkling, or even a vague understanding of what life would be like in Nigeria today, about 75 years after the publication of the book, they would have written a caveat, to exempt Nigeria from the crime of that imaginary society, where the animals can claim to be equal, free, and happy. Animal Farm was written in 1945. George Orwell died in 1950.

Ten years after his demise, Nigeria gained independence from George Orwell’s Britain. And contrary to the simplistic, or naive social imagination and his opposition to all totalitarianism, independence has not totally liberated some Nigerians from the crime of absolute dictatorship practiced by their leaders. The country today, has leaders that are happy to operate against the provision of the constitution, and they do so without remorse. The Nigerian constitution has made provision for a three tier structure of Government- Federal, States and Local Governments. The last or lowest on the ladder is the closest to the people and one that ought to be the most effective means of communicating, or conveying democratic dividends to the people.

Unfortunately, because of corruption and the self-centred interests of the governors, this arm of government has not been functioning in the best possible interest of the people. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seems to have come with a will to review and reverse the situation, to the benefit of the people, I think. His government went to court, wherein the Supreme Court ruled that the 774 local government councils in the country should independently manage their own funds. Despite the ruling, some Governors, in cohort with some anti-people Local Government Chairmen, are still acting with intransigence. To them, all animals cannot be equal. Yes, some should be more equal than the others.

In an effort to hasten the process of nailing the coffin, the Federal Government instituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee recently, with the charge of enforcing the Supreme Court Judgement on Local Governments Autonomy. The aim is to free resources from the hands of those Governors that have chronic Kleptomania. These Governors, who have long been diagnosed with irresistible urge to steal, would continue to fight, because, their impulse of theft, has misinformed them about the meaning of equity and that the essence of democracy is the establishment of a society where the people can be equal, free, and happy to enjoy the good dividends of governance.

Some have since commenced the process of surreptitiously circumventing the system, by arranging sham elections, and declaring their lackeys as winners. This is because, the Federal Government is insisting that money meant for the Local Governments, would not be released to states that have no elected councils. Simple as they may look, by the provision and ambition of the Nigerian constitution, local government elections are as important as any other election. This is so because, these elections are held at the grassroots level, and they are suppose to be the fundamental part of shaping local governance, and by extension, impacting positively on the life of the community.

Because of their significance and the various challenges they face, local government elections in Nigeria are easily the foundation of democracy. They bring governance closer to the people, determine the leadership of local councils, are responsible for providing basic services and amenities, bringing development and addressing community-specific problems. The success or failure of local governance rests squarely on the success or failure of these elections. Hence, the need to resist the corrupt and those with the intention of corrupting the system.

As mentioned by George Orwell, a people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims but accomplices. Knowingly or unknowingly, they are compounding the challenges faced by the local governments. Because of the selfish interests of the Governors, the best is not the one presented for the contest. Rather, the position is given to the highest bidder, who is the affordable, and becomes imposed on the people as the available.

Once they win the elections, which they always do, political interference commences or continues. Thievery commences or continues. Transparency reduces or nosedive. And at the next round of election, voter apathy is created, because the people would feel increasingly alienated. This is because, the candidate put forward to the people was the one with the affordability and not the credibility.

If the people want to enjoy the dividends of democracy as is being planned for them by the Federal Government, they must be ready to resist imposition. They must be ready to resist the temptation to play the accomplices, by not electing the corrupt, the imposed, and by extension, the traitors. That way, they would not become the victims.