Why Nigerians Have Not Enjoyed Dividends Of Democracy In 23 Years- Jega
A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega has said that Nigerians have not been able to enjoy the dividends of Democracy since the advent of the present democratic rule because of bad governance.
Jega, while delivering a paper at the retreat organized by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Ilorin, Kwara state on Monday said that Nigeria has been experiencing bad leadership since the return of the Civilian administration.
While lamenting that though Nigeria parades leaders but the country was in short supply of good leaders.
He said, “Nigeria has been on a trajectory of liberal democratic development continuously for 23 years, since 1999 when the military returned to the barracks, While every four years we have routinely elected representatives into the legislative and executive arms of government, there is consensus that these elements of liberal democratic development have not yet translated into substantive socioeconomic development that satisfies the needs and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of citizens.
“For the past 23 years, the country has been under democratic rule, but the so-called dividends of democracy have not yet been desirable for the majority of Nigerian Citizens. Unfortunately, there has been bad leadership, not that there are no good leaders in the country but they are in short supply while the Democratic institutions are also weak.
“In general, leadership at all tiers of the Nigerian federation has not been good; it has been essential bad and undemocratic; characterized by bad, rather than good, democratic governance
“Many national organizations and institutions have been afflicted/affected by this tendency towards bad governance.
“The basic things we require in good governance are good leaders that can be transformational and transitional if we are to achieve good dividends of democracy, “Jega said.
The Professor of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano whose paper was titled: “Importance of Personal Leadership Competencies in an Organization in Transition”, said that key qualities of leadership in a democratic context stated that the country needs a leader with good representation, responsible and responsiveness, integrity and honesty adding that such a leader must have cognate experience and competence who understands democratic governance and must be a leader who can inspire and motivate the followership.
“We also need institutions that can inspire good governance”, the former INEC chairman said.
In his speech, the Director General of, the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Professor Abubakar Sulaiman said that Nigeria cannot afford to fail its citizenry in its over two decades of democratic evolution.
He said the pessimism expressed by Western apologists about the survival of democracy in the country should be perceived as a motivation to consolidate on the gains recorded and not a setback.
Sulaiman, a former Minister of Planning said with 23 years of uninterrupted democracy, the country has proved its critics wrong, most of whom are of the Western world.
He noted that democracy is not akin to the Western world but customized and domiciled according to people’s environment, pointing out that Nigeria has its own brand of democratic system.
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