On ending prebendalism (II)

To most of them I just said I didn’t think so, until one of them asked to know what the hell I meant by: “This is the only way to stamp out this neopatrimonialism of our prebendary.” Indeed, why should I ever have written that? I apologised though not unaware that while I must accept […]

To most of them I just said I didn’t think so, until one of them asked to know what the hell I meant by: “This is the only way to stamp out this neopatrimonialism of our prebendary.” Indeed, why should I ever have written that? I apologised though not unaware that while I must accept that at other times I might have guilty of dishing out impenetrable, gratuitous grandiloquence on readers, for a very sad reason this time it is entirely justified.
First, there is no word in English language that can adequately and accurately describe the nature of the rot going on here. Indeed, the word prebendalism was specifically invented by a professor at Northwestern University in the US just for use to explain Nigeria’s otherwise indescribable corruption. He coined and adapted the word from the Catholic prebends of old that used to denote a member’s share of the revenues collected by the cathedral he attended.
Second, in the new usage, it is employed to refer to the assumed right to control, own or use national resources—assets, office or influence—as if they belonged to one or to a so-called ethnic nationality to the exclusion of all others. In other words, ‘neopatrimonialism of prebendary’ indicates the new form of inheritance that treats public trust as a prebend such that whoever is placed in charge of public resources behaves as if they are his lost property to repossess, to own and to dispense to tribal, ecumenical or Ummatic kin as he deems fit.
Because to them, the nation is a cake—nothing but a cake; and cake is to be eaten. For instance, there are Muslim executives who think it is in order for an official to misappropriate public resources to do religious works, like sending hordes of pilgrims on Hajj to Mecca and Medina, and you can never tire of marvelling at the impious logic behind this. There is no doubt that they have to account for this here, or, if not here, then, in the hereafter; because, first, it is not their money; second, that is not what they were elected, or, more likely, rigged into office, to do; and, third, there is no financial appropriation for it by those duly elected, or duly rigged, to pass it, which on its own alone makes it a criminal, impeachable, indefensible constitutional offence. And in all this, what is good for the Muslim goose is good for the Christian gander whether on Mount Zion, at the Church of the Nativity or at the Pentecost, as the two turn religion into one huge prebendal joke.
It is a cardinal indication of prebendalism that the civil service is not merit-based and is not politically neutral: it is a politicised spoils system so that political leaders can dispense favours [prebends] without restraints or any constraints. That is why the service had to be deliberately destroyed because it was a great bulwark against arbitrariness and graft—and, in the end, it became itself the real graft, a development that was inevitable after its merit system had been demolished.
In Nigeria, the cult of elitism has already claimed its biggest prize but at the greatest price: it has achieved supremacy over every claimant to political or bureaucratic power at the expense of the popular will. It has depleted people’s energy by keeping them busy with frivolities; it has cut the ground from under the feet of their resolve to develop and undermined their will to live together as one. But this shouldn’t be surprising; while every nation has depended on the tried and tested, this country has put its faith in the tried and wasted.
Prebendalism is the greatest waster: it is a transition back to the future in which the past is unknown and the future unknowable. In the past, in the days of kingdoms and empires, everything belonged to the king or emperor; in the present, everything belongs to the president. And in the future, it matters little to whom anything will belong, because there may be no future. It is a result of prebendalism that appointments into public office are not opportunities for service—in Nigeria, they are seen and called ‘juicy.’
Perhaps after the oil sector, the most ‘juicy’ part of government is revenue collection. It is an indication and part of the misreckoning of prebendalism that agencies of government collecting revenues are allowed to keep a percentage for internal use, a practice that is constitutionally illegal. It negates the cardinal principle of accountability in public revenue collection that in order to obviate any chances of corrupt diversion, all public moneys collected must be deposited into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, from where allocation will be made only in accordance with the appropriations made by the National Assembly; and not a single kobo may be spent without a law backing the expenditure. But in Nigeria you have to contend with the likes of escrow account, oil windfall, security vote, internally-generated revenue, as if the ‘internal’ gives power to those inside to spend it without proper procedure.
But there is nothing like security vote in public expenditure, because there ought never to be expenditure without law backing it up to legitimise it and explain its purpose; and there is no expenditure incurred in the public interest for the public good that can be beyond the green ink of auditors. But the truth is that security vote is a financial conspiracy against the public: it has become the elected official’s unassailable legitimising device and defence—and the dust thrown in the nation’s eyes— to cover up, rationalise and dignify plain theft.
And as long as it is around, prebendalism will not allow democratisation any chance: it has already crippled all the arms of governance. 12 The judiciary has given itself over to the highest bidder—and the highest bidder is most often the government—and, as a result, there is no justice for the aggrieved in Nigeria—in or out of court. And law will not be legislated into existence until it is paid for, by the government or by the foreign sponsor or, at least, only after the legislators have held the nation hostage and taken their ton of flesh in contracts.
Meanwhile, the executive is permanently set in its corrupt, do-or-die, all-or-nothing, winner-takes-all ways, and will not accept the loss of privileges that comes with electoral defeat lying down unless it is forced to do so by the fire of the steamroller of participatory democracy, which the Nigerian people are too timid or too divided to drive.
The only antidote is democracy and only the institutionalisation of its culture will demolish and erase the tentacles of the infrastructure of Nigeria’s prebendalism over the polity; but this nation will never accept or practice r true democracy willingly: it will have to be forced. The political elite of this nation have shown times without number that they will never play democracy by its rules willingly, and it will do with a determined teacher. They have demonstrated that they have no faith in or respect for the ballot box; and a permanent elite consensus has been formed around crass class interest which can only be smashed by a determined democratisation drive.
Perhaps Nigeria lost its two best chances for entrenching a democratic culture that would have taken deep root during the times of General Murtala Mohammed when he drew up, followed to the letter and, finally, fell martyr to his handover programme; and the period of General Muhaammadu Buhari, when he drew up and followed the War Against Indiscipline, WAI. Both periods had been described as draconian times, and for Nigeria that would have provided the best backdrop against which to lay down its democratic foundation; and the two generals could, and should, have rammed democracy down the nation’s throat and kept up the pressure until its tenets have become second nature to the people the way the queuing culture caught on.
But it is possible to do this without soldiers. With a civil society that insist on getting free access to the information that promotes transparency and accountability in the system, and one that encourages proper oversight function by the legislature, other non-governmental organisations and the public at large; and a politically neutral civil service that is merit-based and concerned with the implementation of policy as the politicians are content with formulating it, a determined and vigilant people can get and be able to police their democracy.
Whether or not President Jonathan finally acts on the aviation ministry probe report, the nation can’t hope to make him the last by just having him defeated in 2015; it must first get ledershp by example that is capable of fighting arbitrariness. And with a new leadership able to marry vision with competence, effectiveness with efficiency, and probity with integrity, this nation can proudly say that it is on the path to reform and greatness; otherwise it should know that it is only on the way to perdition.
 
ENDNOTE: Christmas greetings and best wishes to all followers of Jesus, the Christ [AS] on the auspicious day of his holy birth. I congratulate the world on its having the honour that this birth, this greatest of events, took place on its surface. And to God be the glory. “And, so, peace on him [Jesus [AS] on the day he was born, and on the day he dies, and on the day he will be raised up to life.” [Holy Qur’an 19:15].