Buhari’s 2yrs In Office: A Celebration Of First Of The Firsts In Failed Governance Records In Nigeria Since 1960
(Intersociety, Onitsha
Nigeria: 29th May 2017)-The leadership
of Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law has always
maintained that the best way to measure or assess the records or performances
of public governance in Nigeria carried out by successive and present Federal
and State Governments, whether military, civilian or diarchy, since the country’s
independence in 1960, is to embark on factual, realistic and comparative
assessment of Nigeria with its peers in South America, Asia, Middle East and
some African countries. Such comparative governance assessors must also be
grounded with what modern public governance is all about or its core essence.
By Nigeria’s peers in South America, Asia and its Southeast,
Middle East and its gulf region, and some African countries; they are those
countries that got their independences in the same era or decade with Nigeria
or those that shared same or lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Gross
National Product (GNP) as well as parity or lower income per capita with
Nigeria in the 60s and 70s. Some of those countries include Singapore,
Malaysia, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil,
Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Omar, Qatar, United Arab Emirates,
Iran, Israel, Botswana, Ghana, Angola, South Africa, etc.
Most importantly, the assessors must fully be grasped and grounded
with the core pillars or foundations of modern governance which are rested on
facilitation at all times of greatest happiness to the greatest number of
citizens through provision, delivery and maintenance of key public
infrastructures and tangible and intangible social developments and services
(i.e. security, safety, welfare, health, education, jobs, leisure and
recreation, protection of citizens’ core values such as ethnic identities,
religion and right of existence); human rights and rule of law (i.e. equality
and non discrimination before the law, supremacy of the constitution or mother
law and respect and protection of citizens’ constitutional rights/liberties);
equitable and non dominant allocation of the public or collective resources,
public institutions and appointments or public offices; total absence of three
hydra headed monsters, namely: physical or direct, structural and cultural
violence; and above all, promotion and institutionalization of public and
individual moral decency in public governance and among the elected and
appointed public office holders in the country or any part thereof.
Totality of these is called international best practices in
modern public governance. It must be remembered and pointed out clearly too
that modern public governance was parented by Social Contract, designed
by modern thinkers for the purpose of earthly and
humanly tame or control the wickedness of human beings against fellow human
beings and the environment so as not to make life and the living short,
nasty, brutish, dominant and dictatorial. These explain why the
Social Contract or public governance and its dos and don’ts were
put in place by modern thinkers.
The
Social Contract, it must be emphasized, was inspired
by the Holy Book’s instruction- do to others what you will
want them do to you and refrain from doing to them what you will not do to
them. The historical Social Contract is dated back to
several centuries and became globally popular and recognized in 17th,
18th, 19th and 20th century ADs. It was particularly
popularized by the great philosophical works of the trio of Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704) and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778); resulting
to 1689 enactment of British Bill of Rights, 1776 American Independence
declaration and 1789 French Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizens,
etc.
To Jean Jacques Rousseau, man
was indeed born free, but everywhere in chains. For Thomas Hobbes,
the happiness of man in a society has been gripped by fear of violent death in
the hands of another. The two great philosophers favored a society in
which the society and its people were sovereign and free leading
to a community where a group of free individuals agree for the sake of
their common (social contract) good and protection to form institutions to
govern themselves. John Locke added more popularity to the greatness of
Social Contract.
In his 1690 famous book called the
Second Treatise of Civil Government, John Locke saw and called for a
situation where a free, equal and independent people agreed to be
governed in return for certain secure enjoyment for their individual rights,
which the courts and police powers of a government can enforce leading to every
free individual having a moral right to be protected from arbitrary interference
by government or other individuals, of his or her sacred rights. These
reinforce the legal philosophy of man’s equality in dignity and rights
and inevitable justifications for their protection by a limited government.
It is therefore important to inform
that it is from the great philosophical work of John Locke that a leading
American independence campaigner, Thomas Jefferson, who later became the third
President of the United States (1743-1826), took his country’s independence
declaration’s speech of July 6, 1776. The most popular part of the speech says
and we quote:
“We hold these truths to be
self evident that all men (and women) are created equal and endowed with
certain natural and inalienable rights, and most important being of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And to protect these rights, men set up
government whose authority rests on their consent. And whenever a government
ceases to do what it has been set up for, its citizens have a right to change
it or its order and put in place a new government or a new order that will
provide for their safety and happiness”.
Following from the foregoing
therefore, it is extremely important for those conscientious Nigerians and
Nigeria’s regional and international counterparts to at all times have the
above grand or fundamental governance measurement or assessment yardsticks at
hands before venturing into performance assessment of any central or unit
(State) government in Nigeria particularly the present Buhari Administration
that has marked two years in office.
It is also very important for
assessors to always ask and find answers to: what is Nigeria’s present state
of public health, education, safety, security, citizens’ welfare and
protection, economy, electricity power, employment, provision and maintenance
of key public infrastructures, in comparison with those of Singapore, Malaysia, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan,
Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain,
Omar, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Israel, Botswana, Ghana, Angola, South
Africa?
Others are what is Nigeria’s state of industry and its policy,
agriculture, foreign direct investments, inter ethnic and religious protection
and coexistence, human rights, rule of law and access to justice, public and
individual moral decency, all in comparison with those of Singapore, Malaysia,
China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, Argentina,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Omar, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Israel,
Botswana, Ghana, Angola, South Africa?
The rest of such mandatory questions required of credible
assessors of public governance in Nigeria of the Buhari’s Presidency are what
are the citizens’ living and practical attitudes towards the present governance
of Nigeria? Are there high rates of rural-urban drift or migration, brain
drain, human capital and material flights, internal conflict related and non
conflict related or starvation/hunger forced citizens’ displacements? Are there
steady increases or decreases of citizens’ militancy and restiveness?
Are there high increases or decreases in arms and militancy
proliferations in Nigeria? Is there rampancy of direct or physical, structural
and cultural violence in Nigeria, and if yes, what are the attitudes of the
present central government towards them? Are these direct, structural and
cultural violence created or sponsored by government? Which section or ethnic
nationality or nationalities or religious bodies are targeted or made age long
victims of the three hydra headed monster violence and why?
Is the present central government a truly democratic government or
a diarchy or militarized civil space? What are the present composition and
sharing formulae of the present central government in Nigeria as they concern
public resources, institutions and appointments? Are they equitably or fairly
composed or shared among the country’s six geopolitical zones and in accordance
with Section 14 (3) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution? Is Nigeria’s 1999
Constitution being protected, upheld and respected at all times and
non-selectively by the present central government?
How far have the present government in Nigeria gone in obedience
to court orders and pronouncements? Have more innocent citizens being killed
extra judicially by the present government or murdered by government oiled
armed opposition groups and criminal citizens than any other government in
Nigeria since 1960 or even since 1999? Has the present government in Nigeria
promoted, defended and protected the constitutional, regional and international
rights of the Nigerian citizens as mandated by the Constitution, regional and
international law enactments willingly accepted and adopted by the Federal
Republic of Nigeria?
How many Nigerian citizens are happy today under the present
central government? Has the present central government ensured greatest
happiness to greatest number of Nigerian citizens through its governance
policies, directions, pronouncements, conducts, projects execution and
provision and delivery of social services, tangible and intangible democracy
dividends including key public infrastructures? Does Nigeria really have a
democratic government under the present central government or a diarchic,
kleptomania, mafiaso, alarmist and deceitful government?
What is the morality and integrity placement of the public office
holders of the present central government in Nigeria particularly its executive
public office holders, in credible comparison with their counterparts in
Singapore, Malaysia, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand,
Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Omar, Qatar, United Arab
Emirates, Iran, Israel, Botswana, Ghana, Angola, South Africa? Is it not
correct to say that the present central government in Nigeria is a government
composed of and operated by the doyens of corruption?.
That is to say that the two years in office of the central
government of Retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari is nothing but first
of the firsts in failed governance records and measurements since Nigeria and its
annexed ethnic nationalities regained its independence from the British led
western colonial masters and mistresses on 1st October 1960
as well as since its return to civilian rule on 29th May 1999, which
is 17 years today. It is very important to point out that the assessment of any
tenured civilian government is properly done or started at its beginning or
foundational stage; which is also why every democratic government is
mandatorily made to pass a fundamental test of input (foundation) and output
(outcome) legitimacy.
It is saddening and disastrous that the present central Government
of Muhammadu Buhari cannot be correctly measured or rated in any way as it
concerns international best practices in matters of public governance and its
fundamentals. As a matter of fact, its failure is a triple digit one. For
instance, the Buhari Administration brought gangsterism and mafiocracy into
public central governance in Nigeria and have them gravely institutionalized.
It parades the largest number of doyens of corruption, yet it claims to be
"fighting corruption".
Corruption under the Buhari Administration has also given birth to
a twin in the persons of legitimized or codified and open source corruption. It
budgets and squanders N500M in each of the last two budget seasons on "Aso
Rock Computers" and we have kept wondering what type and quantity of
computers that are installed in Aso Rock every year that gulps N500M and made
annually replaceable. This is also owing to the fact that e-governance or
e-public service; just like e-security and e-intelligence
is the cheapest form of conducting governance or securization affairs in the
world. The N1billion (N500M for each of the two years) "spent on Aso Rock
computers" in two years can comfortably build 20 modern public secondary
schools for the educationally denied Alamajaris (Alamajarai) of the north at
N50M each.
The Buhari Administration is also the most indebted Federal
Government in Nigeria and has borrowed and misapplied more than other any past
federal government in Nigeria. To its disastrous credit, it has borrowed over
$20 billion since its inception in mid 2015 and another $20 billion is already
penciled down for borrowing between now and end of the forthcoming 2018 fiscal
or budget period. The huge loans have no miniature or minutest positive impact
on the generality of Nigerians in terms of power energy, economy, health,
education, industrialization, direct foreign investments, income per capita,
security, safety and welfare and provision and delivery of social services and
other tangible and intangible democracy dividends including key infrastructures
to Nigerians.
The human rights records of the Buhari Administration are nothing
to write home about and worst in the history of non civil war Nigeria since
1960. This is in spite of the Government’s assemblage of most of the country's
leading human rights activists who have now become defenders of human rights
abuses and abusers. More innocent and unarmed Nigerians totaling over 11,200
have been killed extra judicially or murdered or tortured under the past two
years of Buhari Administration. This is far more than those killed under
any other government in Nigeria since 1960 and even 1999.
The Buhari Administration has also grossly bastardized Nigeria’s
democratic civil space and militarized same in the form of diarchy style
of government. The Administration is the most misleading and lying government
in the history of Nigeria. Its foreign direct investments profile and
performance is at ground zero with allied industrialization policy, economic
growth and development negatively immeasurable.
The joblessness and unemployment level under the Administration
has soared irremediably. The rates of brain drain, human and material capital
flights, rural-urban drift or migration and urban refugees have
reached an alarming stage and the number of Nigerians moving illegally and
legally to overseas is roundly alarming and deafening.
The health, education, shelter and recreation and other social
development sectors and policies under the Buhari Administration are in
tatters; likewise security sector and policies which are confusing,
misdirected, misleading, awkward and militantly frightening. Counter Boko Haram
insurgency operations have become a conduit pipe through which billions of
dollars worth of secured loans are diverted and pocketed with their allied lies
and falsehoods capable of competing triumphantly in the Olympic Games of
falsehood and propaganda.
Leading government corruption practitioners and other regime
criminal citizens in the Administration are protected and given
corruption and criminal sanction waivers. As matter of fact, the beginning of
wisdom for any doyen of corruption in present Nigeria is his or her express
identification with the Buhari Administration in the form of "defection to
APC".
Conclusively speaking, it will take a calendar of months to talk
and discuss inexhaustibly about the Buhari's Government basket-loads of failure
in governance. Which is why we said before that the best way to describe the
present central government in the country is that it is "first of the
firsts in failed public governance records or measurements in Nigeria since
1960".
Signed:
For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of
Law (Intersociety)
·
Emeka
Umeagbalasi (Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies)
Board Chairman
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Email:
info@intersociety-ng.org
Website:
www.intersociety-ng.org
·
Obianuju
Joy Igboeli, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Mobile Line: + 2348180771506
·
Chinwe
Umeche, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program
Mobile Line: +2347013238673
·
Ndidiamaka
C. Bernard, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Int’l Justice & Human Rights Program
Mobile Line: +2348067557308
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