The essence of democratic government is the institution of good governance which will ensure effective and efficient management of public resources with a view to improving the lot of the people.
When Nigerians were clamouring for democratic rule during the military regimes that preceded the current republic, their expectation was that with the military shut away from governance, the succeeding civilian administrations would strive to make life better for the people. However, 14 years of democratic rule has
turned out to be a mixed bag for Nigerians. While some avow that the democratic experience has been worthwhile, not a few argue that democracy in the country has been bereft of the anticipated dividends. Majority of those in the former group are understandably politicians and government functionaries.
At the presentation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s midterm report to the nation on the occasion of this year’s Democracy Day on Wednesday, Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said Nigeria’s economy was growing at 6.5 per cent, making it one of the fastest growing economies in Africa.
She added that the government was taking the issue of road rehabilitation seriously with many road projects either completed or ongoing. She also said that the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri rail line would be completed in the current year with other rail lines also billed for completion before the year finally peters out.
According to Okonjo-Iweala, “Nigeria now produces 28 million metric tons of cement, but needs only 20 million. So, Nigeria is now a net exporter of cement.”
Speaking in a similar vein at the event, Senator Pius Anyim Pius, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, mentioned some of the gains of democratic rule in the country as the promotion of the rule of law, integrity of state institutions and the entrenchment of the rights of citizens.
Many Nigerians will readily agree with those in government that with democracy, Nigerians enjoy, to a great extent, their freedom of expression. It has been said that Jonathan is one of the most criticised presidents in the world. Members of the opposition parties regularly take a swipe at him without any remonstration. Unlike what we had in the past when those in government clamped down on dissenting voices, that is no longer the case. Those who are displeased with the actions and inactions of the government freely express their displeasure without unnecessarily attracting the wrath of the government.
This is also extended to media organisations. Democracy has allowed the Fourth Estate of the realm to really thrive by playing its watchdog role, especially with the passage of the Freedom of Information Act in 2011. The era of closing down media houses and hounding journalists for publishing or broadcasting what the government considers unsavoury is history. With the exception of the recent arrest, arraignment and later withdrawal of the case against two Leadership newspapers journalists, the government has really created a conducive atmosphere for media practitioners to operate. Even when the government is hammered, its functionaries only ask to be allowed to state their own side of the issue.
Then, the problem of telecommunications which for a long time weighed down the country has become a thing of the past. Before the coming of democratic government, all attempts to liberalise the telecommunications sector met with failure. While smaller countries such as the Republic of Benin and Togo were enjoying seemingly seamless communication, Nigeria was at the mercy of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited with only the very rich being able to afford connection. However, not long after assuming office as president of the country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo solved the problem of telecommunications by empowering the Nigerian Communications Commission to license private telecommunications companies to operate in the country. The effect of that is the ease with which Nigerians can now communicate locally and globally and the number of jobs that the telecommunications sub-sector of the economy now generates.
Also, the story seems to have improved in the area of power generation over the last 14 years. In 2000, the generation level dropped to an all-time low of 1,500megawatts. The parlous state of electricity generation in the country has been traced to the failure of successive administrations to invest in generation and transmission. However, there has been a change in this respect since 2001 with government investing in electricity generation and distribution.
During the Obasanjo years, the Federal Government, in its efforts to improve on power generation and supply, set up the Electric Power Sector Implementation Committee (EPIC) for the purpose of undertaking a comprehensive study of the electricity power industry. EPIC came up with the national policy on electric power and a draft Electric Power Sector Reform Bill. These formed the basis of a draft bill sent to the National Assembly by the NCP in 2002. The bill was passed in 2005.
The major components of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act were restructuring of existing utility, liberalisation and privatisation, as well as reinforcement of existing infrastructure through National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) and other government interventions.
With the Act came the creation of the PHCN to assume the assets, liabilities and employees of NEPA, unbundling of PHCN into successor companies and ensuring greater operational autonomy, development of an efficient electricity market, privatisation of successor companies and establishment of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
However, despite the huge sums of money sunk into the reform of the sector and the building of power plants, the change of government in 2007 stalled the progress in the sector. Some of the decisions made sequel to the Act were reversed, it was not until President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office that activities targeted at improving the sector resumed.
The government has signed an MoU with General Electric. This agreement would see the company investing up to 15 per cent equity in power projects in the country summing up to 10,000MW capacity by the year 2020. It also entered into an agreement with Siemens to increase thermal generating capacity of up to 10,000MW by investing equity of 15 per cent per Independent Power Project. In the same vein, the government in July last year signed another MoU with Daewoo E &C of Korea with the company committing itself to investing up to 20 per cent equity per project summing up to 10,000MW.
According to Sure and Steady Transformation Progress Report of President Jonathan’s Administration, a publication of the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Research, Documentation and Strategy, “We have commissioned new power stations to increase existing generation capacity. This was done in the following locations; Olorunshogo in Ogun State gave 563MW, Sapele in Delta State gave 225 MW and Omotosho in Ondo State 112.5MW. Since this administration began, rehabilitation of existing power infrastructure has yielded up to 1000MW of electricity. This includes projects in Egbin Power Plant in Lagos State, Sapele and Ughelli in Delta State, Olorunsogo Phase 1 in Ogun State, as well as Shiroro and Kainji in Niger State.”
On Tuesday, this week, the president kicked off the construction of a 700 megawatt hydropower plant at Zungeru in Niger State.
With the investments committed to improving power generation and distribution in the country, there appears a steady improvement in power generation. Albeit, the improvement is still a far cry from the expectations of the people as considerable amount of money still goes into providing alternative power by individuals and corporate bodies.
In the same vein, the government has resuscitated the railways with the Kano to Lagos rail line fully rehabilitated after a 25-year hiatus. Work is also ongoing on several rail lines across the country. The train is already back with the patronage gradually on the rise.
However, the nation’s democracy seems to be synonymous with corruption. Politicians and public office holders steal public funds with impunity. It is so bad that 94 per cent of Nigerians, according to a Gallup Poll conducted in October 2012, believe that there is widespread corruption in the country.
Similarly, the United States Department of State, in a report released in April, alleged that government officials and agencies frequently engaged in corrupt practices. According to the report, “The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption affected all levels of government and the security forces. The constitution provides immunity from civil and criminal prosecution for the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.”
Although the Federal Government debunked the report, many Nigerians are of the opinion that corruption defines the nation. It appears that the general consensus among Nigerians is that Nigerian ‘democrats’ are more corrupt than the soldiers.
It is not for nothing that Nigerians believe their leaders are corrupt. Last year, a number of people were fingered in the fuel subsidy scam but nothing has come out of that exercise. The House of Representatives that was probing the subsidy regime was also smeared as Hon Farouk Lawan, chairman of the committee investigating the matter, admitted to taking bribe from Mr Femi Otedola, chairman of Zenon Oil. Nothing has come out of that admission of guilt up to date.
A number of former political office holders who were indicted by one panel or the other are yet to be brought to justice, they walk about as free men.
As corruption is rising in the country so is poverty. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the percentage of Nigerians living in absolute poverty, those who can afford only the bare essentials of food, shelter and clothing, rose to 60.9 per cent in 2010, compared with 54.7 percent in 2004.
The World Bank also recently expressed worry over the rising poverty rate in the country. While presenting the World Bank Report on Nigerian economy in April, Country Director, Marie Francois Marie-Nelly, observed that, “poverty reduction and job creation have not kept pace with population growth, implying social distress for an increasing number of Nigerians.”
According to experts, the cause of the rising poverty in the country is the poor supply of electricity and unemployment. It has been said that the irregular power supply has made it difficult to do business in the country. This has forced many companies out of the country. Coupled with this is the fact that the number of new companies coming into the country is shrinking. With that, employment opportunities in the country have become very narrow especially since the government failed to plan for the army of graduates produced year after year.
Another problem that is bedeviling the nation is the high rate of insecurity. In every part of the country, insecurity has become a serious challenge as there has been an increase in armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes. Added to the regular crimes is the case of insurgency in the North-Eastern part of the country which has forced the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in three states. A number of people believe that the government should have moved decisively against the insurgent before it did instead of allowing the issue to fester.
One other issue of concern to Nigerians is the state of education. While the government has increased funding to education since 1999, the nation’s education sector does not seem to be getting better. Although licences have been granted to individuals and organisations to run private universities, access to students desiring tertiary education seems to be getting narrower each year. Then, the number of students who fail public examinations in the country is also on the increase just as the number of children out of school.
So, the democratic journey in the country has not been completely satisfactory. While Nigerians would not wish for a return to military rule, they certainly would want those elected by them to govern them to do more in meeting their expectations.
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