It was Abraham Lincoln who defined democracy as a government of the people, by the people and for the people. That definition of democracy is popular throughout the world. Since this definition was propounded by the former United States of America (USA) president, no one has attempted to define it differently. But recently in Nigeria, that definition has taken a primitive concept.
As Nigerians yearn for dividends of democracy, the governments at all tiers remain as effective tools to enrich those who control it. Those who want to get to the root of worsening poverty, decrepit infrastructure and poor delivery of social services, must note that the larger chunk of the nation’s oil-based revenue has consistently been siphoned as salaries and emoluments to a handful of people in government.
Nigeria has been on the path of perdition because recurrent expenditure has consistently gulped more than 80 per cent of the budget, leaving too little for development. Modernisation and development programmes have been sacrificed on the altar of an ever-expanding government. Some of us who thought the present government, by pledging to uphold the rule of law, would make a difference have been thoroughly disappointed.
The bogus, clumsy and inefficient apparatus of government has become more bloated and sluggish under the current administration. State enterprises are still under corrupt government control. Those that have been used severally, who are bereft of ideas, are still being recycled as ministers and CEOs of state-owned enterprises.
The greed of our lawmakers has castrated the fine features that make democracy a virtue. Budget allocations are randomly increased for selfish reasons. For instance, President Yar’Adua allocated N67 billion for the operation of a 469-member National Assembly in the 2008 appropriation bill. The legislators promptly kicked against it and threw it away. Those whom the people have delegated to check financial recklessness and curb profligacy, later sat down and appropriated a whopping sum of N140 billon for themselves. When broken down, the cost per member was put at N298.5 million. In a similar act of profligacy and flagrant disregard for the monetization policy, a 360-member House of Representatives lavished N2.3 billion on the purchase of 380 Peugeot cars and went ahead to spend another N1.3 billion to purchase bullet-proof cars for its leadership.
Though some members of the House have tried to justify the profligate spending, we know that many public office holders have never hesitated to utilize political power as a veritable pathway to wealth. The oversight duties of these legislators have been abandoned and reduced to infantile probes and impotent investigations.
Is it not ironical that lawmakers allow public funds to be looted or mismanaged and later conduct expensive probes into rampant plunder of the till? The failure of democratic checks and balances is equally pronounced at State level. Several legislators engage party stalwarts in frivolous appointments. Others embark on fruitless oversea tours. Indeed, the legislature at various levels is no more than a rubber stamp in the hand of the executive. Contract inflation and fraudulent procurements have always been used by corrupt officials to rape public purse and enrich themselves.
The day of reckoning is already here with us. The fluctuation in the oil price is an indication in that regard. Let us see how the government will keep financing its bogus machinery. Let’s wait and see how the bloated apparatus of patronage erected over the years will not collapse under the weight of declining oil revenues. How will State governors implement the various budgets that rely almost solely on oil handouts from the centre? How will they deliver the basic social services which they failed to produce during the boom period?
The task before the people, therefore, is to rise and call lazy governments at all tiers to order. The civil society should move to hold public office holders to account. The legislature should be pressured to improve the integrity of public expenditure.