Of democracy and snake oil (1)

So I parted with N3.00.  I felt the ‘wristwatch’ in my hand and was glad I got a great bargain.  But on getting to Agege I discovered to my utter shame that ‘Bros’ had assembled small stones in the shape of a folded metal-strap wristwatch, and wrapped his contraption tightly in the envelop.  I had […]

So I parted with N3.00.  I felt the ‘wristwatch’ in my hand and was glad I got a great bargain.  But on getting to Agege I discovered to my utter shame that ‘Bros’ had assembled small stones in the shape of a folded metal-strap wristwatch, and wrapped his contraption tightly in the envelop.  I had been had!  That was the limit of 419 in those days.  I learnt several lessons though; never to go near stolen goods, because you end up short for trying to benefit from someone else’s ill-luck; never to buy goods I can’t see and verify; never to take vendors who upsell their goods too seriously…  Especially those who evoke the memory of snake oil merchants of times past…

It used to be that snake oil was bandied about by merchants and itinerant ‘medical doctors and pharmacists’, in Europe and the Americas, as a one-stop medicine for all types of ailments.  Travelling salesmen made a fortune from them.  The trick is always to have someone in the crowd, called a ‘shill’, who will attest to the efficacy of the drug, but to get out of town fast before unsuspecting customers discover that snake oil couldn’t cure leprosy, small pox, bubonic plague, fevers, joint pains and probably, HIV AIDS altogether.  It would seem to me that DEMOCRACY is being marketed like snake oil these days.  Everyone in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, seem to be dead certain that once we can adopt ‘true democracy’, where the ‘people’s votes count’, then all will be well with us.  Perhaps 90% of Nigerians agree that ‘Electoral Reform’ is the most important agenda in our polity today.  But is this really true?

Yes, democracy as defined is awfully attractive.  Who will say no to ‘a government of the people, for the people and by the people’.  But embedded in that lofty, even if simplistic, definition of democracy, are many booby traps.  The first problem is to be sure that the ‘people’ are in the right frame of mind and intellect to know what is good for them.  In our instance here in Nigeria, it would seem that majority of the ‘people’ are poor and educationally challenged.  Even the educated are mostly afraid of rocking the boat and questioning what has been assumed to be norms and standards, as I am attempting to do here.  The essence of education however, is about advancing knowledge, not buying knowledge off-the-shelf like some hair shampoo.

If 70% of Nigeria is poor and semi-educated therefore, would that not mean that even if votes counted, it will be the ‘uninformed’ and ‘uneducated’ choices that will carry the day?  Would that not mean that majority rule will be easily influenced by smooth-talkers who can easily con those who are poor and easily manipulable?  Would that not mean that the ‘people’s’ choice will always be made with short-term goals in mind, since the poor and uneducated, who happen to be in the majority, cannot really understand strategic choices and the need to make sacrifices in the near term in order to enjoy a more blissful future?  Will elections not be won simply based on promises of ‘food on the table, roads, water and electricity’, even when we should actually task contenders to political offices based on their long-term VISION for the country, in addition to the delivery of infrastructure?  

But then, most ‘educated’ Nigerians never vote.  And the excuse is that votes never count.  A catch-22 scenario is presented.  We don’t vote because votes never count. All we do is complain in the luxury of our posh sitting rooms about how things are bad.  Our concern should have been to figure out how to get out of this self-imposed trap.  Shouldn’t we have attempted voting first, to see if our efforts can change our reality?  Or of what value is vacuous self-and country-vilification without commensurate remedial action?  I always put this to test, and in most of my audiences, only 10% of tie-wearing, well-dressed men and women ever bother on voting day.  You don’t have a stake if you refuse to vote. They say ‘bad officials are elected by good people, who refuse to vote’.  Your stay-at-home, is a vote for that ‘useless politician’, whose guts you hate so much.  To turn the table against him, try cast your vote.

More frighteningly though, the ‘educated’ in Nigeria, who have all the information and the power of analysis of good and bad, who can adjudge the vision and mission of political candidates, may yet be marooned by what is called, the ‘tyranny of the majority’, even when he decides to vote.  This means that until the population is skewed in favour of the educated, the opinion of the poor will continue to carry the day.  This is another great flaw of democracy.  If it is all about the ‘majority’, then a certain segment of society may continue to dictate the pace, into perpetuity.  Many believe that democracy is ‘still the best form of government’, compared to others.  But my point is that we must find it necessary to tinker with the ‘product’ to correct its embedded deficiencies, its contraindications.  

In Nigeria today, one issue which brings to fore the deficiencies of democracy is that we do not even agree on our population census.  And if we do, the North of Nigeria may continue to dictate the direction of governance into perpetuity.  That will be bad for the country at large.  The poor and uneducated will also wield such un-manageable powers, much to the chagrin of ‘articulate’ and ‘analytical’ Nigerians, like you, reading this article.  This is the singular reason why we have to tinker with the democracy and have things like ‘rotational presidency’ and so on.  

Those who talk about ‘the best candidate’ carrying the day are living in a fool’s paradise.  How on earth will you determine who the best candidate is in the chaos that is Nigeria, and with all the distorting effect of sectional interests?   They should get real!  Well, those people who theorise don’t even vote.  Should Nigeria scrap ‘zoning’ and ‘rotation’?  Is ‘zoning’ not present at every level of governance in Nigeria today, even in our homesteads?  For example, my daughter is more computer-literate.  Should I allow her, being ‘the best candidate’ to always monopolise our home computer at the expense of my son?  If I do, how will my son learn?  Let’s think about these…