It is imperative at this moment in the history of our nascent democracy to really differentiate the sheep from the goat. With the raging democratic topsy-turvy that is ravaging the country through the apparatus of the unconstitutional, parochial and hand-crafted political gimmick called Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), one deems it necessary to know the relevance of the forum to the democratic process and good governance which are the hallmarks of every true democracy.
In President Obama’s State of the Union address of February, 2012, he pointed out vividly what is expected of government to its people even when he recognises that government cannot solve every problem of a nation. He said the people expect government to “put the nation’s interest before party”. He went further to add that “they do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can, for they know that America moves forward only when we do so together and that the responsibility of improving this union remains that task of us all”. What is expected of good governance is far above governors’ forum. It is far above partisan ideology and structures, and it is also far above personal interest, greed and power tussle.
I will always recognize and draw affirmative with Governor Adam Oshiomhole’s assertion sometime ago in an interview, of what the common people needed from government in respect of the ever-increasing economic policies that sometimes fail to translate into practical reality or meeting the aspirations of the common man and woman in the street. The people need food on their table and every policy that does not deliver as its end-product on the above has deviated completely from its aims and objectives. So, such policy is a fallacy.
Nigerian people need plenty. We need clean water and air devoid of carbon monooxide particles that are detrimental to us. We need good and durable roads. We need good education, sustainable power, and cleaner environment with natural green. We need infrastructural development, science and technology. And above all, we need employment opportunities for our teaming young boys and girls that continue to roam the streets every day. Peace can never be achieved in an atmosphere of total neglect. A hungry man, they say, is an angry man.
Accordingly, the recent uproar and hullabaloo of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, to me, is a distraction and shouldn’t be so. By now, our governors should be thinking about consolidating and restoring on their gains and democratic dividends based on electioneering promises. On the scale and gauge of measures in terms of performances, it is incredibly discovered that many of the governors have actually performed below average, but are busy wasting up on a project called governors’ forum that indeed has no bearing on the ills of the nation.
For me, gathering a political momentum that does not make a governor famous or to be reckoned with does not lie in his ability to champion a course that impact on the citizenry. Every prayer and thinking of a good government should be geared towards achieving reasonable protection and provision for the electorate who are already and rightly incarserated and engulfed in greater expectation. We dash the political hope and aspirations of innocent citizens, the strength and continuity of our hard-earned democracy when dignitaries in the capacity of governors are seen singing war songs against one another not even against the common enemy of the nation which is corruption, in the name of a forum that does not even exist in the constitution of the country.
About 105 years ago, American governors came together to form what they called America Governors’ Forum, which we copy today with the aims of striking some socio-economic and political deals of competition among the individual states of the union. The initiative was geared towards achieving economic development, capacity building and solidifying the political structure of the union through collaboration, unity and diversification. For this number of years till now, the forum has achieved tremendous milestones. Every approach to issues bothering on governance is addressed diplomatically,  taking cognizance of heirarchical structure of governance.
Our NGF should focus on building bridges of unity in the country through partisan politics and to concretize our young democracy. It should not be used as an avenue of antagonizing and showcasing power.  This is completely uncalled for. Today, every state in the Union of America has at least one thing it relies upon for its sustainability apart from federal allocation.
Let this cold irrelevance and unprofitable war be stopped and let the Governors’ Forum pendulum be turned on the direction of proffering solutions for the nation’s insecurity, infrastructural decay and economic development indices problem. Let peace be still!
Tordee, a social commentator and public affair analyst resides in Port Harcourt.