82-year-old Adekola Akinleye is an alumnus of Atlanta University in the United States of America, where he bagged both his Master’s and doctorate degrees in Political Science. Having served as a Director in the Federal Civil Service, he was the Secretary of the Fuel Shortage Tribunal set up by the military administration of Ibrahim Babaginda to investigate the causes of fuel and allied products shortage in Nigeria in the 90s. In this interview with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI, the octogenarian assesses the challenging journey of the Nigerian project in the last 63 years, among others.
Today, Nigeria clocks 63 years. In your own assessment, how will you describe the country’s journey from the pre-independence era till now?
From the period of our independence till now, believe me, I have not seen much change in the affairs of the country. It is like we have been crawling and crawling, taking a step forward and two steps backward since independence. All our governments since independence haven’t delivered much progress for the country. It is really a pity. It just means that if I have to sum up the problem that we have been having since independence, I will say it has been a problem of leadership. This is because our leaders have failed us. From Shagari up till Buhari, Nigeria has had it so bad. It is just a pity. One just hopes that the present dispensation will mark a change for the better. I think that is how I can just sum it up.
But looking at the great promise the country had during the pre-independence era, would you say it has become a paradise lost for the country?
You see, I don’t want people to misconstrue this submission. When I say it is a problem of leadership, I know what I am saying. Or tell me that leader that Nigeria has had since independence that we can boldly say really met the aspirations of the people. Who among them? Is it Shagari, Gowon, or Muritala, who tried, but unfortunately didn’t stay long? When you look at the whole journey thoroughly, it sometimes appears like the country has been cursed. This is because each time we move closer to having a progressive president, something will just happen. Obafemi Awolowo was almost there, but Obasanjo intentionally gave the mantle to Shagari. But during the period of General Gowon, Nigeria was richly blessed. We had money. In actual fact, people used to make a mockery of the country that we were very rich but didn’t know what exactly to do with the money. Now, we are down in a serious debt crisis with over N80 trillion in debt stock. But this was a country that once had so much that did not even know what to do with the money. So if you trace the political history of the country, you will see that the country has been cursed. Hopefully, the present government will do us better. We can only hope.
But if you were to look at the journey critically, at what point exactly did we get it wrong?
I don’t think we have ever got it right since the beginning of democratic governance in this country. We have never got it right. From my summation of the situation, you will see that there has never been a time we got it right. I think it is because we have not had the right leadership. As I said, Muritala was there briefly. He started well, just like Bola Tinubu now. We just hope that the new president will live long to meet the aspirations of the people. I just hope that it won’t be too late.
You schooled abroad, if you were to compare the way the federal system and is being run in Nigeria with the way it is done in the advanced countries where we copied the system from, what would you say are the differences?
You see, we borrowed the system that we are using, but the inputs we have made into this borrowed system have been wrong. And again, it is still a leadership problem. In those advanced countries, whenever there is a scandal in government, whoever is responsible, even before he stole, would have quit the scene and leave it for someone who is better. But in Nigeria, our leaders would rather stay there and die. We have no etiquette, no courtesy, or shame. If you look at all the leaders that we have had, you will see that each one has left office worse than his predecessor. For instance, when Muritala left there, we thought probably things would be better. But things never changed. And it has got worse since then. But in overseas, there is nothing like that. They don’t dwell and wail in scandals and corruption like we do here. We simply borrowed a system that we could not manage. Our culture, in this country, is a lot different from that of the people we borrowed the system from. See what happened on January 6 in the United States [the attack on the US capitol of 2021]. Do you think that such a thing can happen in Nigeria?
The system is a lot different abroad, such that a Prime Minister had to quit the scene when criticisms against him were growing. But here, tell me the leader that we can say really did the work for which he was elected? We have been very unlucky. The military regime that came in the 80s further destroyed the entire thing. And even since we transited into the civilian regime, we have not been better off. Or have we been better off? Has there been any change for the better? It is now that I think we can have the desired change. So we have to fine-tune our system to be in conformity with what is happening in the Western world. We have been made to believe that Tinubu studied abroad and since he came on board too, he has brought in some key people. We just hope that there will be improvement and that the Nigerian factor will not still affect some of the changes he has initiated since he took over.
However, some observers have argued that it is the system and state of the Nigerian society that is producing the bad governance that we have been getting. Those of this school of thought have been quick to say that there is no how a saint can emanate out of the Nigerian polluted system. What is your own take on this?
Well, I have talked about the system. I have said that we copied a system that we rarely understand. Nigeria is very rotten; I am sorry to say this, but it is a fact. It is my country. For instance, look at the quality of leadership that we have had at the helm of affairs. The quality has really been bad. But can we get good leadership out of the rottenness that we have in Nigeria? That is the question. What we had is simply a succession of bad governments that try to portray themselves as good government and do everything to remain in power. That is what gave rise to ills like vote-buying and all other suppressive mechanisms as the bad leaders try all means by hook and crook to perpetuate themselves in power. I think this has been our major problem.
The implication has been the declining state of voting in Nigeria. For instance, as we speak, what is the voting percentage in all our elections? In fact, I don’t think we have had up to 40 per cent at any election. I mean the voting population. And this is because a lot of people are despondent. Many of them are very tired of the system, especially when they have consistently seen how electoral corruption renders their votes valueless.
Again, the North-South dichotomy has also reared its ugly head simply because our leaders have been grossly inexperienced and failing to deliver the type of governance that the people actually want and deserve. Over the years, we have seen the kind of leaders that the North has produced. In the South, we have had Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, and now, Tinubu. But there can be no way the country can be ruled without carrying the North along. We can just hope that the South can this time deliver the much-needed change of fortune.
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