"Young, gifted and held back...., the world's young are oppressed unleash them"-The Economist
Suddenly i have become a story teller, but this tale must be told so i'm working hard to to tell this complex tale better in few pages. I participated in an online course about Understanding Economic Development, Oxford University, so i learnt about Life in a Rural Society: 'Give me the food or i'll beat you up'. The story of the big thug and their big army, the rich people that helped them to win elections and ordinary people. This is the story of the people who sold their soul to profit and power.
I have been trying to tell this story in different ways. This story could also be likened to a one eye thug, the one described as a one-eye General, lets hang on there. I also thought about the 'dialogue between the deaf and the dumb or better put a marriage between the deaf and the dumb. We all know it's very easy to predict the name of the child/children of this marriage, perhaps disaster. This is what is happening to democracy in Nigeria.
The system is not broken, it's designed that way. The situation is so critical because the one-eye thug, the biggest thug in the land has got the guns and the money, so the dumb can see the money but cannot ask questions, and the big thug will not hear the dumb so it becomes a very difficult situation to resolve, a dilemma, even a nightmare.
I raised this issue with one of my good friends, his response wasn't unexpected. He simply told me a very common narrative in Igbo proverbs: "The goat follows he who possess the palm fonds". I replied that this is a defeating statement, for those who have acknowledged defeat at the hands of destiny, i told him it can be avoided, he simply laughed at me, however there is some spiritual lessons to be learned from it.
We have argued that Democracy has failed in Nigeria due to so many causes, the remarkable thing is that it's deliberate and avoidable.The people that brought it to us said so. We've learnt that for it to work it has to be 'properly and transparently' be applied, this cannot work in Nigeria given the status-quo, so thinking needs to change. Ordinary people need to be in the know so that they can ask important questions about how it works and how it can be made to work for them.
The only real hope for change is total restructuring of the current political structure and leadership change, leadership that is credible, competent, healthy, well educated, etc, willing to adopt global best practices,to achieve growth and stability i.e, leveraging global partnerships to lift their people out of poverty, not to refuse to show us your education and health certificate, unless we go to the supreme court or remain silent in the face of massacre, it's worst when you didn't even visit the people to say sorry for the loss of lives and property, the same people that you need their votes to continue business as usual.
They are not bothered because their children and families are in some of the world's best schools so they have no business with the terrorists. The current political structure has not allowed the country to meet best criteria for ordinary people to enjoy the dividends of democracy.
Instead of using unemployed youths for the thug business, to monitor when i write against the government and attack me, we need to give them better tools for development by providing them with new skills, education, world class infrastructure including electricity, internet/broadband, good roads and sea ports, airports, refineries, etc to become more productive and give back to the economy and society, in turn become better change agents so that society can prosper, not sending them to attack people online, your enemies, even kidnap or kill them for speaking the truth to power.
The good thing is that today, there is a growing concensus against tyranny, so let us unite to defeat tyranny. This is a challenge to all of us including those who sold their soul to profit and power. We were trained to use statistics to tell stories, i'm beginning to explore moonlight tales, so that even the deaf, the dumb and the blind can understand better.
We can tell this tale from anywhere, I know it'll be more exciting in the village. Everyone loves it in the village. I remember one politician in the village, virtually everyone in the village gets their news from him, but i know he's a cripple interms development education. Whatever he tells the people is what they believe.
There is this organisation they call 'onongono'-remain where you are, the aim of this organisation is to resist diaspora influence, their new skills, attitude, etc. Even in online space, i read about some un-intellectual arguements about how the diaspora is the cause of the domestic problems. I read another one where they suggested that the number of the legislators be slashed, i think restructuring can take care of that, it's not just about the legislators, there are numerous wastes including religious pilgrimmage and traditional rulers, perhaps this makes sense.
I heard about state police, i haven't seen the details yet, but state police without greater resource control would lead to chaos because it'll be difficult to pay their wages, as the governors simply depend on allocation from the centre, so the problem is still there. I think the offer is very attractive to the governors because of their enemies. It's too early until we get the details.
There is this other story credited to a renowned politician that the white people don't want the country to develop, so that they can be exploiting our resources, this is a gutter reasoning from the same people looting the country and moving the loot from one overseas country to the other, but some people hailed him. The commentary on the post was good day for Facebook, that's the whole point. These are a tyranical tales condensed properly to continue the collossial damage. This story never ends. This could be a better valentine gift. Stories of love sell better.
We are still searching for answers so visit often as we keep updating the site. In your next visit you will see something new.
Uche Okeke is a Social Entrepreneur, he lives in London.
I have argued that Democracy has failed in Nigeria due to a number of causes, all deliberate and avoidable. For any real hope for change, it has to be 'transparently and properly' be applied. This requires informed citizenry willing to challenge the status-quo. There is urgent need for the restructuring of the current political structure to drive inclusiveness. This needs well educated, healthy, competent leadership willing to leverage global partnerships to achieve growth and stability. It's proven that civilians are better in the art of management and civility, so we must reject autocracy. The time to effect this change is now.
Uche Okeke
Read More: http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/02/nigeria-democracy-and-its-crisis.html
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