Dr Fidelis Allen is an
associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Port Harcourt and the Secretary of the Local Organising Committee of the 30th Annual International Conference of the Nigerian Political Science Association kicking off in Port Harcourt today. He spoke on the essence of the conference and other burning political issues in Nigeria in this interview with Opaka Dokubo.
Excerpts:
What is the take home for Nigerians for the conference?
Political Scientists will be gathering to discuss the problem of elections, the security challenges that Nigeria has faced. Nigerians should expect to hear from political scientists in this country regarding the political processes, regarding elections, regarding the security challenges in different dimensions, regarding the state of democracy in Africa. There must be a way out of this situation and that is what political scientists, as we gather, will be interested to do.
Is politics just an academic discipline or a vocation?
Well, we call some people politicians because they’re actively involved in seeking power in order for them to be able to convert their intentions to reality in terms of what they have to offer. But really, politics is everybody’s business.
In our clime, people see politics as a vocation. You see a youngman and you ask him what are you doing and he says “I’m a politicians.” It’s something that you don’t welcome. You don’t admire. You give the impression that it’s a vocation, it’s a profession but I know that in some other climes, people can be in politics on part time basis just to be able to offer something to society, just to be able to contribute. But now you see people who want to be in political office, maybe as law makers for four years and they want to have person. For me its so ridiculous.
But for those who call themselves as politicians, what do you do as a politicians? Do you govern the people in the interest of the people or you do that in your own interest? We see politics as a means of survival and it is this impression that we have that has created problems of governance, corruption and the rest of them. People just see politics as a means of lining up their pockets and helping their families. I don’t think that that is the right approach to politics.
Politics is about representing the people and doing for the people what they desire, solving the problems in society and any of us should be able to do that. But I think that there’s a problem some where when it comes to our own clime where people see themselves as professional politicians.
This morning, the Prime Minister of Britain has resigned because Britons have voted to leave the EU. That is credibility. It’s not about self. It’s not about you. It’s about what the people want. So, even if you disagree with them, you still have a responsibility to respect the opinion of the people and the desire of the people. That is what politics should be. It’s not about self. It’s not about lining up your pocket with public funds. So I think we need to properly conceptualise politics. We haven’t done that well with those who are in positions of power.
What quality of individuals should be in politics in your opinion?
I have said that everybody should be interested in politics but if you talk about the individuals who seek power or political position, anyone with appreciable academic qualification with moral status, with integrity with desire to help solve society’s problems can be in politics. This should not be limited to those who have no employment. I mean you can be and I as an academic should have the opportunity to serve this country without losing my job. But there are laws that hinder those in public service like us. In some climes, even lawmaking is part time so you don’t have to see yourself as a professional politician who has gone to the National or State House of Assembly to make money through making laws.
So, we need to adopt a system that will offer the best and not restricting them to contribute to the political development of this country. The essence of governance is to address problems in society. Those in government have a responsibility to solve problems, not to create more problems. We need to see a situation where government is solving problems but I see a situation where the politicians themselves are creating so much problems.
Do you think that restructuring this country will solve our problems?
Well, Nigeria is in principle actually a federal state. But most federal systems approaches are completely different from our own approach. We, for example, have a centralised federal system. Though federal, we have vestiges of a unitary system. For example we have a centralised security system which means that even though we’re a federal state, the component units don’t have the constitutional power to provide security agencies that are available.
So, a governor is the chief security officer of the state, in our own federal system, he has to depend on the federal authority to be able to utilize services provided by the security agencies. That for me is some kind of contradiction.
Well, many are actually saying that this is not good enough for this country because Nigeria is highly heterogeneous and it’s difficult to operate a federal system that has this posture or orientation.
In the area of revenue generation, that is also a problem for many who are saying that the centre should not come to control certain revenues coming from the extractive sector. They are saying it is wrong for the centre to collect-revenues coming from the extractive sector only to distribute.
So, if you give responsibilities to the states and say well we will collect the money and share, for some scholars that is a contradiction. There must be some kind of fiscal federal component when it comes to revenues in certain areas like the extractive sector.
We are seeing a lot of agitations, a lot of arguments against the kind of federal system that we operate. So, I think that there might be need to look at these issues very critically and see what is workable but I believe in a united country- Nigeria. But we need to do that in a way that is very responsive to the different ethnological units that we have in this country so that no group really feels excluded from the political process, no group feels excluded from access to basic amenities and opportunities in this country and every one can have a sense of fairness and a sense of justice. That is crucial.
What do you think of the relationship between the legislature and the executive at the national level and how that may affect the general well being of the country?
Politics is about interest, we all know that but our own politics has been fundamentally about interest. There’s nothing wrong about the legislature disagreeing with the executive and there’s nothing wrong with the executive disagreeing with the legislature. In a normal democracy, there should be checks and balances. In a normal democracy, these conflicts should be there, especially if they are on the grounds of public interest. There’s nothing wrong with that. Where you find the legislature and the executive working so smoothly without any disagreement, I think there’s a problem. So, that the legislature and the executive have issues, for me, that shouldn’t be a problem. I think that we should allow the political process to play out and people can be in conflict. We should just watch and allow things to happen. If people have done the right thing, what they have done will speak for them.