Nigeria lacks the ‘political will’ for development

The role of the legislature is to make laws for the good governance of a nation. It is hard to say it has done so in Nigeria with courage and sincerity of purpose.  For instance, whereas it has been quite active in the area of lawmaking for elections in the country since 1999, it has […]

The role of the legislature is to make laws for the good governance of a nation. It is hard to say it has done so in Nigeria with courage and sincerity of purpose.  For instance, whereas it has been quite active in the area of lawmaking for elections in the country since 1999, it has not had the ‘political will’ to evolve what can give the nation free and fair elections. The Electoral Act has been tinkered with several times but our legislators have skillfully refused to endorse electronic voting because it would be virtually impossible for them to rig elections in the system. Oh yes, with a computerized election process, it would be irrational to purchase voters’ cards; just as it would be futile to assemble a group of people in a hide-out to massively thumbprint ballot papers. A voter’s card that is used by a person other than its rightful owner is fruitless. Similarly, a ballot paper with a wrong thumbprint will be electronically rejected making it hard for unpopular candidates to win elections.  The argument that our people are not educated enough for electronic voting is a ploy by the elite to carry on with the present system that they easily manipulate. Electronic voting does not require a higher level of literacy than we presently have. If the so called Nigerian illiterates can use their GSM phones, there is no reason why they cannot participate in elections based on electronic voting. Indeed the role of a voter in electronic voting is not different from what he does at present

Therefore, if the National Assembly is committed to the growth of our nation, it should muster sufficient ‘political will’ to make a law to empower our electoral body to use technology to sanitize our electoral process.  If that is done, the political environment would become attractive for men and women of vision who can conceive of and execute good projects to come forth and lead the nation aright. Such visionary leaders are likely to have the ‘political will’ to develop the nation. Where any of them in the executive begins to falter due to the comfort of office, the legislature ought to use its oversight functions to redress the situation.  It would however be a different ball game if the legislature due to lack of ‘political will’ colludes with the executive arm to shortchange the people.  For instance, the Nigerian budget has being an annual ritual since 1999 in which funds are not released as approved or on time and projects are not executed as proposed. Rather than compel a change, the legislature had played along. Thus, history would be kind to Speaker Tambuwal and his team for seeking to know how budget 2012 has fared before looking at a future budget. It is hoped that our Senate can herein know the appropriate meaning of ‘political will’ from the dimension of the legislature.

Considering that many charlatans pose as visionary leaders to win elections, the judiciary is empowered to examine claims brought before it and throw out such impostors. Unfortunately in Nigeria, there are many judges who, due to lack of a firm resolve, another word for ‘political will’ in this article, hide under technicalities to shield such charlatans. That appears to be the only way to rate those judges who refuse to look into the participation of impersonators in an election only because the electoral commission allowed their participation. In other words, for a judge to appropriate such omnipotence to an administrative body is an invitation to the leaders of the other branches of government that the judiciary is willing to partner with those seeking to frustrate the Nigerian dream. Thus, leaders who lack the ‘political will’ to move Nigeria forward are in all the 3 branches of government. Indeed the leaders of the Nigerian judiciary proved this beyond reasonable doubt when they chose to stand the law on its head in the Katsina-Alu / Salami case. There is no doubt that broadcasters who hear of the amusing tales that are often credited to the National Judicial Council are standing by to develop a good story line for a television drama series.

We can also not federalize leadership in government because we have 3 tiers of government- federal, state and local. The ‘political will’ to develop the nation at all 3 levels would also matter. It is also important to note that the level of development in a nation can be looked at from the growth of its institutions.  For instance, many analysts are appalled by the fact that no Nigerian university is listed among Africa’s best.  Could it be that the leadership of Nigerian universities do not have the ‘political will’ to move their institutions?  The recent ‘Keffi declaration’ in which  our Vice Chancellors resolved to put a halt to their own practice of awarding  honorary degrees to undeserving persons seems to suggest that there is lack of ‘political will’ by any type of leadership in Nigeria.