Most often, we hear the elders say “In those good old days “. The younger generation might be wondering what makes the 70s and 80s good. Decades without G.S.M, without internet, for them it ought to be the dark ages. Yes, those days were without these technologies yet very good. I call those eras the golden age. They were eras that witnessed good governance. They were eras we had everything good- good public schools (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary). We had public schools that could compete academically with any school in the world; there were good roads, hospitable hospitals, potable water, and constant power supply. There was no epileptic power supply, and should there be any reason for power outage, the public would be notified. In those days government and public servants were responsive and responsible not profligates.
Talking about good schools, I remember with nostalgia my school that was tucked in a remote part of the town. Nevertheless, we had laboratories, libraries that were well equipped. We had teachers that were teachers not cheats, committed, devoted and diligent. The teachers that understood that teaching is a 24 hour profession in and outside the classroom.
In those days, the hospitals were hospitable. For those of them that were graduates then, companies, government, army, navy and all manner of employment waited for them while yet in school and they had multi-choice.
We took all these things for granted for we felt it was our rights. And suddenly, specifically in the mid eighties, things were no longer at ease.
There was a downward slope and things started degenerating gradually but steadily until this time. Here we are and good governance has become rare.
We now applaud, praise and give national honour to people for doing their jobs as if they have done what Napoleon could not do. I begin to wonder if a mother or father should be given an award for playing his/her role as a parent. Should he/she be given a national honour for fulfilling the obligations nature bestowed on him/her by default? We were not talking about good governance then. Then, governance was governance- to satisfy the needs of the people and promptly too, but because the decision makers have abdicated their responsibilities and are playing politics with the lives of people that is what gave rise and prominence to good governance.
The U.N popularized and provided yardsticks for measuring good governance.
According to them, for governance to be adjudged good, it must be consensus oriented, responsive, accountable, transparent, participatory, driven by rule of law, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive in its decision making and in how these decisions are implemented. Good governance is centered on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the basic needs of the masses. The questions are; what are the needs of the masses? And what do the masses consider as good governance?
Good governance defined from Nigeria masses’ perspective is the ability of government to take and implement decisions to meet their basic needs- housing, good roads, good schools with facilities, hospitable hospitals, constant power supply, potable water, jobs with or without rule of law, equity, inclusiveness, accountability, consensus and transparency. Nigeria masses are not greedy, they are not troublesome, and they don’t care whether you have trillions in your personal account. They have not reached the level of asking questions of accountability and all these appendages to good governance.
They are at the lowest level of Maslow’s Hierachy ofneeds- basic needs. So, all they are saying give us the basic needs. Those other characteristics are abstraction; theirs are focused on concrete things that you can see. For them, roads; passable roads, good schools, hospitable hospitals, constant power supply, security, jobs etc are the parameters with which they measure good governance-nothing more, nothing less. Among the yardsticks, they are only concerned with responsiveness.
Responsiveness is the ability of the processes and institutions to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable time frame. The masses have also re-defined their responsiveness to exclude reasonable time frame.
For them, anytime is time as long as it is done. That has been the reason why Nigeria’s government is waiting for godot to provide good governance to the people and the masses seem unpertubed. However, there is need to remind government at every level that responsiveness and timeliness go pari-pasu. Tunde Fagbenle in his article “It is all about good governance†in the Punch of Sunday, 10 March, 2010 harped on the essence of time. He said that 50 years is a long time, it’s a damn long time. He made reference to Malaysia under the leadership of Abdul Razak Hussein who within a very short period of time turned his country into a modern state and first world and some states governors in Nigeria who within four years made serious input towards development. Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State was among the governors mentioned for turning the once-mega trash city to mega-modern city even though still evolving.
I cannot agree much less with Tunde in the case of Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State but for other State governors mentioned especially those of the South-South, I have my reservations about them as examples of good governance on the ground that good governance embodies effectiveness and efficiency. These twin terms entail that processes and institutions produce result that meet needs of society while making the best use of resources at their disposal. Are the South-South governors, indeed and in truth, making the best use of resources at their disposal? When you visit the remote areas of South-South States, is there any transformation in terms of the state- of -the- art public schools, hospitals, roads, jobs there? In 2012 alone, The Naira land Forum revealed that out of 8.8 trillion accrued to the three tiers of government from the Federation Account between January and December 2012 from the statutory and VAT allocations, apart from other allocations such as derivation (for oil-producing states), excess crude account, domestic crud account, Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Refund and Foreign exchange differentials, South-South States received the highest allocations; with Akwa Ibom receiving N217,776,188,886.07, followed by Rivers State which received N177,488,261,117.17, Bayelsa State got N115,743,144,031.67, Delta State got a total of N156,052,071,645.19, while Edo State got N68,169,040,433.24, Cross River State N63,894,575,941.74. Have they transformed every hamlet to modernity and better living with these resources? How much is at their disposal in relation to their output in the State? I travelled to one of the South-South states early this year, all the infrastructural development was concentrated within the state capital. That is window dressing and the “Ebe Ano†kind of development.
What actually precipitated this write-up was a visit to Otta in Ogun State at the week-end. The once impassable road called Otta road is undergoing massive transformation. I exclaimed “O wise and upright Governor!†A Daniel has come to judgement.
For many years, that road has been a nightmare, one of the worst roads I have ever plied in the country. It was while avoiding the road that we were double-crossed by armed robbers in another not so good but better road than Otta road. The dare devil robbers made away with our car and all the books, documents and other valuables in the car. That car was my husband’s mobile library.
Last Saturday, I passed through that road, lo and behold, construction was in progress, I heaved a sigh of relief and exclaimed wow! It was simply unbelievable. That immediately reminded me of a story of a woman in my place whose husband died and there was nobody to help her cut down the bunch of over-riped palm fruit from the palm tree for her to sell and make some money, since a woman cannot climb the tree according to tradition.
After a long desperate search for help, as she was contemplating on what next to do, a man eventually agreed to assist her unconditionally, without raising any issue. As soon as the man said, Yes, I will help you the woman quipped for accepting to assist, even if you do not cut the bunch down, I am comforted, satisfied and content with your acceptance. Like the woman, the new Otta road with drainage system even though not completed, I am satisfied, content and comforted that Amosun âhas come to judgement.
It has been said times without number that good governance is not about sharing money to the masses, it is not going to local or international media to advertise what the government has done or is doing; it is about the people living within the community, whether they are in opposition or not, to attest to the good works of the government. Good governance like a good product does not need advertisement; it speaks for itself. It is like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Like Fashola’s good works in Lagos speak for itself. Even though it has not yet fully evolved, both the young and old, men and women, Nigerians and foreigners alike; those in parties other than ACN can see it, feel it, touch it, smell it, taste it and attest that he is making good and serious efforts at providing good governance. It is not good governance on pages of newspapers. It is good governance life and direct, loud and clear. Everyone that passes through Lagos gives him accolades. That is good governance.
Mrs Grace Igbokwe PhD
Lagos