By Angela Adeboye
Whatever happened to the Occupy Nigeria movement and the
strikes over the removal of subsidy on petroleum products in January 2012?
People gathered, raised their voices, downed their tools and some days later,
the labour leaders cut a deal and called the protests off. Those who lost their
lives might have done so in vain. Over two years later, the issues remain and
no one appears to be asking why? In my article of 15 May 2014, I argue that we
are the government and it therefore behooves us as citizens to demand
accountability from our leaders. The current administration, under President
Goodluck Jonathan, has highlighted good governance as one of the cardinal areas
of its Transformation Agenda and since good governance depends solidly on
accountability a discussion on the nexus is well timed.
We acknowledge the efforts of the current administration in
real sector development, particularly in the promotion of agriculture; the
evolution of a robust, dynamic and modern financial services sector; the
privatization of power assets for increased efficiency in the sector; the
pursuit of industrialization to improve our competitive advantage and the
creation of Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company to deepen house ownership in
the country, amongst many other areas of evident improvement. However, a review
of recent events detract from the achievements of government and raise many
questions that should be answered for the sake of accountability. Permit a
caveat at this point: this piece is not an attempt to bash the government of
the day but to highlight areas for improvement using examples that we can all
relate to.
How does accountability or the lack thereof affect
governance?
The missing crude oil funds saga earlier this year left many
wondering about the accountability of our government. Most incredible was that
the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget Office and
NNPC could not agree on revenue realized from crude oil sales. This saga also
revealed that whilst Nigerians remain under the impression that kerosene is not
a subsidized product in this country and continue to pay full price on the
commodity, the NNPC claimed to have made payments towards kerosene subsidy of
over 8.49 billion US dollars during the period. Furthermore, the fuzzy mathematics
of strategic alliance agreements and crude oil swaps which mask quantities and
trade terms amidst limited monitoring and audits do very little to engender
confidence in the NNPC. Who determines when to remit proceeds to the government
and what accounts to credit? What penalty is in place to deter corrupt
practices or sanction erring executives? What measures are in place to ensure
that the Auditor-General’s Office and all other related parties adequately
audit the activities of government?
The abduction of an unknown number of school girls from the
Chibok community in Borno State on 15th April 2014 begs many unanswered
questions. Weeks into the incident, the government was unable to confirm the
actual number of girls that were originally taken or had managed to flee their
abductors. Today the figures are still conflicting. For almost three weeks, the
government did not acknowledge the crises until international media raised the
alarm. In contrast to this occurrence in Nigeria, when hurricane Sandy occurred
in the United States of America, the president joined a top Republican critic
within two weeks, to visit the victims. Sadly, the political rally in Kano got
our leader’s attention the day after the abduction and only 90 days and 11
parent-deaths after the incident, was Malala able to persuade President
Jonathan to meet with the parents of these abducted school girls. Whilst there
may have been compelling reasons for not visiting Chibok, it is my opinion that
the delay in meeting with the people of Chibok took away immensely from the
four hours that the President eventually spent at the villa with the families
on day 99 of the abduction. Had our governments (state and federal) swung into
action immediately, the situation would have been very different. The abductors
would not have gone far, the parents would have been comforted, perhaps some of
the 11 would have been spared and Nigerians would have had faith that something
is being done to rescue the girls. How should our government react in times of
crisis? What is the responsibility of government towards its citizens? What
strategy do we have in place to deal with current and future insurgency? Why
should the voice of foreigners be more persuasive than the voice of the people
who elected the government?
The use of public infrastructure for political promotion
detracts from its efficacy. The Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) is supposed
to provide an unbiased opinion of the news on a daily basis. However, this is
scarcely the case as one must watch other news stations such as Channels TV and
CNN, as well as read newspapers just to deduce the truth and catch the whole
news. Being on the editorial board of a media network myself, I understand that
perspectives from various quarters shape the news. However, the NTA is for all
Nigerians and not simply the ruling party. The government is made up of various
political parties and as such, the views and perspectives of all quarters must
be heard and aired. NTA should not be used as a weapon in the hands of the
government to distort facts. The police and the army are also culpable in this
misuse of state machinery for personal and political agenda. Upon viewing
footage from elections in Ekiti, I wondered how anyone still made it to the
polls to vote as the presence of the police and army were grievously
overwhelming. The Maiduguri airport was said to have been closed for security
reasons, yet the same was reopening by the Federal Government to allow Ali Modu
Sheriff to land his private jet for political purposes.
The Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment which left many
dead and many more wounded brings into question our love for power. On 15th
March 2014, I recall driving past the national stadium in Abuja around 5pm and
seeing multitudes dressed in white shorts and shirts. Later on, I learned that
these young people were at the national stadium for a recruitment test into the
Nigerian Immigration Service. Over 500,000 job-seekers nationwide had paid an
application fee of N1,000 each, yet there was no proper process in place at any
of the centres for an exercise of this scale. The Federal Ministry of Interior
had embarked on a process that did not involve the Nigeria Immigration Service
and had, with a consultant, arranged a sham exercise which resulted in over 18
deaths and scores injured. Despite President Goodluck Jonathan’s cancellation
and refund order, nothing was done. More saddening of all, was that no official
was punished. The Minister kept his job, the erring firm was not prosecuted for
the lapses and deaths. We have all moved on and almost forgotten this
unfortunate incident. Compare this to South Korea where the Prime Minister
Chung Hong-won resigned following a ferry disaster that killed an estimated 300
people on 16th April 2014.
At the recently concluded World Cup in Brazil, the Super
Eagles were jostling for an appearance fee in addition to match bonus payments
and as such boycotted training sessions all together. Their Ghanaian and
Cameroonian counterparts also did similar things to catch the attention of
their governments over delayed payments. Notably, the teams that behaved in
this manner were African. It saddened many to see that rather than doing all in
their capacity to win the trophy, the Super Eagles were most concerned about
what was in it for each of the players. In his argument, the captain Joseph
Yobo said that the government does not fulfill its pledges and the team could
therefore not risk their payments. So many things worry me about this. Why have
we reduced national pride to monetary exchange? There are many countries where
being on the national team is enough pride, and money is hardly mentioned. Why
has our government become so untrustworthy that it takes an international
disgrace to settle internal disputes?
The five examples discussed above reveal a disregard for
measurement and monitoring systems, flagrant abuse of power, a shortage of
sanctions for erring officials, a complete departure from empathizing with
citizens, an insensitive disposition to the poor and a particularly absent
system of accountability – personal and collective. We continually turn a blind
eye to corruption, we operate double standards and we simply undervalue human
life. High ranking officials celebrate mediocrity – they publish reports to
brag about their achievements when quite often these are accidental and most of
their work is left undone. Our doctors embark on strikes without due regard for
critically ill patients and emergencies, armed with the knowledge that their
salaries will be paid – work or strike. The consequences of limited
accountability are evident in our society today: an increasing divide between
the rich and poor, a perpetuating cycle of corruption, deepening decadence and
the total distrust of government by citizens.
How can we move forward?
Individual
accountability
Each one of us must become accountable. We must be good
stewards of all our resources and time. We should not cheat each other or our
employers. It is by being responsible and accountable that we can demand the
same of our government. Let us remember that we are the government and our
leaders are a reflection of society. Therefore, until we consciously submit to
doing right, living right and becoming accountable, not much will change in
society. In addition to personal accountability, we must place a demand on our
leaders to be transparent and accountable to the citizens. We must stop
negotiating deals with self interest and must think about national good for
change to happen.
State accountability
Our government owes us a duty of accountability. Our leaders
are stewards who are called to diligently stir the affairs of our land and
ensure that the rights and welfare of citizens are protected. Our government
must close the loopholes in our system. They must make things transparent,
commit to measuring themselves against the expectations of the people and
institute punishments for erring officials. The success of our government
depends on the willingness of our leaders to do right, become accountable and
commit to taking decisions in the best interest of the majority of the people.
Our government must institute performance measurement which goes beyond the
rhetoric of achievements but involves a comparison against expectations within
a set timeframe.
Collective Action
The ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaigners continue to depict
the strength of unity. For over 100 days people have gathered daily in Abuja to
demand the release of the Chibok girls in captivity and increased action of
government towards the rescuing of these girls. It is remarkable that many of
the campaigners are neither from Chibok nor from Borno State, yet the pain of
one part of the country is being shared by many whom themselves have never been
to Chibok. We must unite in fighting what is wrong and demanding
accountability. We must never divorce ourselves from the problems in Chibok or
other parts of the country. Like these campaigners, we must be concerned for
our fellow citizens and stir the government towards doing right.
In the words of Jim Yong Kim, the President of the World
Bank “we need to be fighting poverty in areas where the legal framework for
combating corrupt and illicit behavior is imperfect and institutions of public
accountability may not function well or even exist at all.” If I may add to
this, we must fight the poverty that is beyond money, one that is in the minds
and hearts of the people. We must fight the deficit (poverty) of accountability
in order for good governance.
It is therefore important that citizens hold the state and
service providers accountable to deliver on their mandates and thus become
responsive to the needs of citizens and all beneficiaries.
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