(Being an excerpt from Telling it as it is, the autobiography of Chief Ayo Adebanjo)
Chapter 13: Random Thoughts
This concluding chapter is a reflection of my thoughts on various issues ranging from politics and governance structure to building enduring political institutions, among other issues.
…On Colonialism and Successive Governments in Africa
Several years of colonialism have left me with the conviction that the white man has not been fair to Africa, particularly to Nigeria, because the awkwardness we are having in Nigeria today was planted by the colonialists. It was them who deliberately handed Nigeria over to the northern people, in spite of their inadequacies. This was because they believed that by handing over to the north, they would still be able to control the territory even after their departure; it was only for their own self-interest.
Let us consider, for instance, the population of the north which they said was higher than that of the south. Nigeria is the only country in the world where the more you go from the forest area through the savanna, to the desert area, the higher the population!
I think with continuous educational progress, (but it’s unfortunate that they are now canceling the study of history, particularly in our country) and with the production of historical facts, Africa shall rise again, because there has been the dampening of enthusiasm after the death of Kwame Nkrumah, who championed the African nationalist spirit. He was firm with his statement that ‘Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.’
We must make our research known to the British. The British have maintained a prominent role in not affirming the real independence of our country. Go to countries such as India, Singapore, Malaysia, etc., you’ll see a positive attitude to development. The British left a lasting positive legacy in those places. In Nigeria, we have not been lucky to have the right type of leadership since independence. That is the reason we have not got it right till today. We’ve been unfortunate. After independence, the first military coup, for instance, those who took part never got those of us in the south involved.
I’ve read books, about socialism and communism and what brought about the Berlin Wall, the Cold War in the East Germany, and how Germany came back together to become a united country. We should do more research and build our political system.
It is unfortunate that in Nigeria, our political leaders are not talking about philosophy, ideology, and what we want to become in 50 years. What we have now are people who want to remain in office forever without taking into consideration the suffering of the people.
Nigeria needs to redefine its political philosophy for leadership. This is the time for restructuring and true federalism. It is the time we began to discuss seriously, the problems of leadership in Africa. In Ghana, what Nkrumah and Nyerere did was their own land, to fight against the enslavement of Africans in their own land, reclaiming for the whole of whites, and then in South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Kenya, and so on.
We should not put ourselves in a position where people would say, ‘What is the situation with Boko Haram in your country? What is the position of Niger Delta militants? What about Biafra agitators?’ It is the degree of political independence that we have that will reflect on our trade policy. Whatever industrialisation we have in the country today was done after independence in 1960. We have to decide on how to shape our destiny. That’s why I quarrel with all those who are misusing the opportunity today.
…On the Military and its Role in Truncating Political Development in Nigeria
When we are alarmed about the degree of corruption in Nigeria today, this can be put squarely at the doorsteps of the military.
Lack of courage from some politicians who wanted to be in power at all cost without struggle also contributed to it.
If our regions were educated to the extent that they can vote in the right way by observing and making a return to the rule of law, can we say that those of us who have military men as presidents? Does that mean that once you’re a military man, you become born again? Does that mean that those who are transitioning for civilian rule are not capable of ruling ourselves?
The partisan nature of the January 15, 1966 coup led to the pogrom in the north.
It must remark that Gowon was the best of the military rulers. He brought Awolowo from Calabar Prison and made him the second-in-command under his government as Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council and Minister of Finance. Many other military leaders under him were corrupt, but he himself was not.
On Buhari, I am disappointed that he has not disappointed me, because I warned him not to do those things I accused him of. As a democratic leader now, I expected that he would do those things I had accused him of before his election; but he is yet to change his man stand.
Under his watch, the cost of running Aso Rock, the official seat of government, is astronomical. It should be reduced by at least 25% if his government’s mantra of ‘change’ is to be taken seriously.
…On Party Supremacy
The principle of party supremacy is fast disappearing in the country.
One of the causes of crisis in the AD was the personalization of the party by Tinubu and some of his colleagues, which the leaders objected to. Under the principle of party supremacy as we had in the UPN, the governors assumed the overall control of the party and refused to revert to its leadership. This led to elected officers and government appointees being at cross-purposes with the governor.
Unfortunately, that trend cut across all the political parties in the country. This was what made political office holders to become dictators as they failed to obey party leadership. The scenario became so bad that some large expenses practices might overwhelm us. Until this is removed from the party system, Nigeria will still never get out of crisis.
The issue is whether we’re restructuring into democracy with party supremacy, and wherever this does not exist, acts contrary thrive.
…On Selfless Leadership
We cannot talk about this without putting all the blame on the military. The individuals should allow succession to come from the electorate, as with a disciplined system of governance.
It is only when we see Nigeria being ruled by the right people that I will be happy. We need leaders who worked for independence and who understand what it takes to be free.
What is the problem of leadership in Nigeria? We must be led by patriotic leaders, men and women of strong character.
…On Corruption
It is a thing of regret that all the things we fought for in this country are gone.
country have been demolished. At the time we were fighting for independence, up till the time Balewa was there in the First Republic, we were accusing the government of corruption over 10% contract bribe. With the situation in the country today, however, where political office holders are engaged in corruption on a massive scale which pales into insignificance the level of corruption in the First Republic, one is tempted to conclude that they were indeed saints! Those of us who were accusing the Balewa government of corruption should now apologise to them, going by the current trend.
Having said this, it is important to emphasise that the arbitrary forced retirement of civil servants under the Murtala/ Obasanjo military regime in 1975/76 promoted massive corruption in the country. Under this draconian action, top civil servants, mostly permanent secretaries and even judges, were retired merely through radio announcements. This action unwittingly destroyed the security of tenure which characterised the civil service hitherto. This made corruption thrive, as civil servants now engaged in corrupt practices while in employment as a way of securing their livelihood after retirement.
One way to fight corruption is by going to the roots. If the civil servants who are accused of being corrupt by amassing so much wealth, so that when they are retired suddenly they will have something to fall back on, have job and social security, even in retirement, I do not think they would be predisposed to corrupt tendencies.
That is why judges have been paid handsomely well; that is why also, even when they retire, they are paid their salary for life, just to show them that there is no reason to be corrupt.
When the salary you earn cannot guarantee you a future, you have to find other means. There are so many things that are wrong with government that encourage corruption. Take the issue of non-payment of pension and gratuity that is so prevalent in our country today. This never occurred until the military came into power.
When Chief Awolowo was Premier, no file that came to him for action would spend two days on his table. The ministers knew this. That’s why all the wonders you read about Awolowo as Premier of Western Region were possible within seven years (1952-1959). This was made possible, to a large extent, by a dedicated and incorruptible civil service which we had at that time.
Still talking about corruption, it is regrettable that the electorate also corrupt their leaders. Rather than insisting on the implementation of their party’s election manifesto, the electorate now pester them with various demands for personal needs, like payment of children’s school fees, financial assistance for burial, marriage and other mundane things.
Again, by the time the voters themselves accept bribe as an in-ducement, they are no longer sending the contestant on an errand. He has already bought their votes, and so, by the time he gets elected, he no longer feels obliged to implement the election manifesto which constitutes his social contract with the people.
These are all the things that encourage the people to be corrupt.
When we talk of corruption in Nigeria today therefore, it is among the leaders and the followers. After all, it takes two to tango.
And one way to minimise corruption in this country is to make elective positions less attractive. Pay the legislators only sitting allowance. It’s only those who genuinely want to serve that would go there.
A situation where a councillor who barely has basic education earns more than a professor in a university is unjust and inequitable. If we make public office less attractive financially, it will make those who want to serve genuinely to emerge.
Again, the amount of money demanded from politicians, beginning from the level of primaries, is scandalous. It does not make for a level playing ground for all contestants. Ab initio, it is designed for those who have deep pockets. When you ask a councillor or a chairman of council to come and deposit two or three million naira before he can contest a party primary, or even a governorship candidate being asked to produce 10 million naira, how would you now say he should not find a way to recover his money if he gets elected? It is impossible. This is merely laying the foundation for corruption, because, in the course of contesting the primaries, contestants spend a lot of money to influence voters, to the extent that only the highest bidders get elected.
The statutory deposit to qualify for election is also very high.
And people expect such a candidate to be clean when he gets into office! Even Buhari himself, who confessed that he had to borrow money (27.5 million naira) to contest the party primary one would have thought that would be one of the first things he would look into when he got into office. As long as such a position exists in any political party, this would always predispose to corruption and prevent less endowed candidates from being elected.
….On the Ideal System of Government
Parliamentary system of government is my way any day because all those who were in the assembly with us, were all beneficiaries of the old National Assembly. Nobody can deny
the fact that the presidential system of government predisposes to corruption.
Under a parliamentary system, the prime minister is first among equals. So, the presidential system is not only too ex-pensive, it is too powerful for the kind of system we have in the country today.
…On Political Reforms
As stated earlier, one major political reform I want for this country is a reduction in the amount of money demanded from political office aspirants.
Secondly, under the present unitary system, our President is the most powerful in the whole world; and, of course, as it is said, ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts abso-lutely. To avoid this therefore, federalism is imperative.
Thirdly, our constitution is lopsided. Why? It favours the north against the south. It was under the military that they created more local governments in the north than south. And it was under the military that the allocation of revenue from the Federation Account was based on obnoxious conditions, namely landmass, number of local governments (which were arbitrarily created), among others. So, ab initio, the south is already short-changed.
Fourthly, the source of the massive corruption we are now talking about in the country is the constitution. There is too much money and power at the centre!
The implications are seen in the emergence of such pressure groups as the Egbesu Boys, Niger Delta Avengers, Biafra Agita-tors, as the voice of the minorities who feel they are not being fairly treated within the Nigerian federation.
If you are in a club and you feel you are getting some advantages there, you won’t want to leave that club; but if it’s otherwise, you will begin to ask what you stand to gain from your continued membership.
I believe the government should listen patiently to all these agitators.
We all believe in economies of scale. We are a big country and there’s a big advantage in remaining united. Coming together is an advantage to all of us, but if staying together is not beneficial to any part of the country, they would rather opt to stay alone. That’s why we are having all these claims of marginalisation all over the place.
I don’t support the Biafra agitators who are clamouring for the state of Biafra now. All they need to do is to join forces with those of us who are canvassing for a restructuring of the country for fairness. For where there’s no fairness, there can’t be peace, equity and justice. And where there’s no peace, there can’t be progress.
It is the cause of the people’s agitation that we should look into. That was what late President Umar Yar’Adua wanted to do through the amnesty programme. If there’s any defect in that programme in the Niger Delta, rectify it and there will be no more Biafra or Niger Delta agitators.
The amount of money spent on military operations in that area would be used to make peace and we will have progress.
On the cost of running government generally, we need to scale down on a number of areas. For instance, the federal constitution makes provision for the appointment of special assistants, but we can step this down on the ground that we cannot afford it. Nobody will quarrel with that. The constitution that continues to draw us backward, you are following it; yet you say you want a ‘change’.
Also in the case of ministers, even though the constitution stipulates that there must be at least one from each state, the President can say he can afford not more than 24 ministers and nothing would happen.
The sum total is that we return to federalism. This entails devolution of powers, state police, among other components, as obtains in other multiethnic countries practising the federal system of government. Each state or region must be homogeneous or contiguous.
All these problems had been solved before independence, but it was the military that brought us to where we are today, having set aside the independence constitution when it first seized power in the January 15, 1966 coup.
The confusion that is being introduced by those who don’t want restructuring is unnecessary. What we are asking for is that the country be restructured back to federalism instead of the unitary system the military imposed on us.
…On the Legislature
Although, going by the constitution, the legislature is independent, the ruling party has the power to control what goes on there. There are policies you expect your members in various agencies of government to implement.
Our constitution needs a surgical operation, not a mere amendment.
The reason why people in government now cannot do anything to change the system is because they are all beneficiaries of the inequities within the system.
The military used landmass as the basis for revenue al-location, without any concern whatsoever as to whether the land is yielding any revenue or not.
That’s why we agreed that revenue allocation must be based on derivation.
We agreed at the 2014 National Conference that the 13per cent derivation fund given to oil-producing states is too small.
The other states did not agree with us initially on this, but we defeated them by saying that, ‘by the time the mineral in your state is discovered, you will also be a beneficiary. It was at that point they agreed. We also recommended that 5% must be given to states to develop their mineral deposits separately.
The Buhari government should revisit the 2014 constitutional conference recommendations with a view to implementing most of them. With the implementation of those recommen-dations, I don’t care who the president of the country is.
…On Education
It’s such a pity that the legacy the AG left behind in free education has totally collapsed due to bad governance. The situation is so bad that successive governments, instead of rectifying the system, encouraged people to found their own universities for selfish ends. Obasanjo founded his own; Atiku and Babangida also. Having ruined public schools here, they send their children abroad or to very expensive private institutions here in Nigeria which the ordinary man cannot afford.
I had an experience here recently when I told a visiting gov-ernor, ‘your children can’t go to that public primary school there, because I walked him down this area up to our community primary school.
On one occasion when I visited the school myself, the teacher told me that it was by sheer luck that the wall did not collapse on one of the children recently.
It has become so dilapidated. That didn’t happen during the Awolowo era in Western Region.
The people who are elected to take care of us don’t feel obliged to, because of the way they get into office. So, the earlier people begin to vote for candidates that they know can deliver the better for them.
and then