Date Published: 06/01/09
TEN YEARS OF CIVILIAN RULE IN NIGERIA: A LOOK AT PROGRESS MADE AFTER GEN. SANI ABACHA
By Raymond Otu Ekuerhare
In traditional African societies, honey moon is not expected to last for long. After a while, the bride becomes a wife proper and she will go to the stream to fetch water like other wives. The same thing applies to governance .In the early stage of Nigeria’s nascent democracy , it was okay to blame the military for the decadence that was evident in all aspect of Nigeria, but after ten years , civilian administrations now own the problems and issues in Nigeria ,and it is appropriate to take stock of their stewardship .This is better done by looking at how Nigerians have fared under President Obansanjo’s Rule (80% of civilian administration) as compared to the most brutal military administration- The Abacha administration .
On may 29 th, 1999 a new civilian president, Olusegun Obasanjo , was sworn in . After ten years of democracy, my opinions about elections are reinforced. Elections are lagging indicators of the democratization of a country .It is a starting point and absolutely necessary but only gives a semblance of democracy and have to gloss on other tenets of democracy . A better measurement of democracy would be the level of implantation of democratic infrastructure on the structures of a country. These infrastructures ( essential for the pursuit of happiness ) are encapsulated in the freedom of electoral bodies as well as fairness and reliability of election results , freedom of the press , independence of the judiciary and legislative arms of government , standard of living/economic growth , tolerance for opposing views ,issues based disagreements , respect for constitution and a host of other factors . Without these pillars to stand on, elections to Nigerians will always represent a comatose liberty which is just a little bit better than a fat slavery dissembled in military dictatorship.
To measure how far we have come as a democratic nation, it is proper to look at how backwards we went during the infamous Gen. Sani Abacha’s administration . It is often said that every generation is equidistant from eternity .Implicitly, wholesale comparison of different administrations’ impact on the lives of the citizenry of a nation is not wrong, but it can be erroneous and misleading. A more reliable gauge will be a retail comparison of different administrations’ impact on people’s lives given the peculiar strength, weakness, opportunities and threat that are applicable to each period. A look at ,as well as comparison of a spectra of pocket book issues and other parameters between Abacha’s administration and civilian administration(s) will give us a proper bearing of progress made .
A chronology of the messed up economy inherited by President Obasanjo in 1999, showed that the economic crisis, started as a succubus, a nightmare so to speak, in the late ’70’s under then Gen. Obasanjo. It developed into a problem in the first quinquennium of 1980’s and this led to the passage of the economic stability Act (austerity measures) on April 1 st, 1982 by the Shagari administration. The economy became a crisis under Gen. Babangida, whose administration asked Nigerians to structurally adjust while it was engaging in extra-budgetary allocation under SAP programme. Nigeria economy became catastrophic under Gen. Abacha when Nigeria became a pariah in the comity of nations and an array of sanctions was uploaded on Nigeria.
Given the aforementioned timeline of Nigeria economy, it can be argued that ushering of democratic government on May 29 th, 1999 was the main catalyst responsible for the seismic shift in Nigeria economy from a catastrophic stage to a crisis stage. This is because sanctions were lifted; Nigeria was readmitted into the comity of nations. Investors were skeptical but had Nigeria on their crosshairs; there were green shoots, a resurgence of hope/optimism. It can also be argued that the leadership of President Obasanjo was responsible for putting a stop to the bleeding of the Nigeria economy. One fact is however certain; the fundamentals of Nigeria economy are better than what they were ten years ago.
However, fundamentals, GDP, statistics and economic jargons are not parameters for comparison on the kitchen tables of the average Nigerian households. Nigerians use a more realistic, human face measurement of progress by asking questions: What were the state(s) of the Benin/Lagos express road, federal road network in the east, the roads that PTF constructed etc when Gen. Abacha died? What was the state of the roads when President Obasanjo left office? What was Abacha trying to do when the then five political parties were clamoring for him to remain in office? What was Obansanjo trying to do when he was pushing for third term in office? How many hours of electricity per day did the average home receive during the period of Abacha’s death? How many hours of electricity were available when Obasanjo left office? What was the state of the refineries (availability of petrol) during these two administrations? Why were unsolved political assassinations (Kudirat Abiola, Alfred Rewane, etc) rampant during Abacha’s regime? Why were unsolved political assassinations (Bola Ige , Marshall Harry, Funsho Williams ) rampant during Obansanjo regime . How free and fair were the elections that were conducted under Abacha’s watch? How free and fair were those conducted under Obansanjo’s watch? Was failed banks tribunal used as an instrument of victimization against perceived opponents as well as corrupt bank executives? Was EFCC used in the same way .What were the cost/standard of living when Abacha died? What was the cost/standard of living when Obansanjo left office? Were telephone services better during Abacha or during Obasanjo regime? What were the security situations under these administrations? These are questions asked.
Gen. Abacha did a lot of evil things. His memories reinforce the dictum: The worst civilian government is better than the best military government. His death was one of the most cherished/celebrated moments in Nigeria; perhaps second only to 1 st October, 1960. Howevere , if after ten years of democracy, the net present value of the quality of life of the average Nigerian still brings back strong memories of the Abacha’s years , then there is something fundamentally wrong with our understanding of what democracy really means .
Raymond Otu Ekuerhare ,(MBA, Troy University,USA)
resides in Atlanta, Ga
