Democracy
Port Harcourt, June 11, 2024 (NAN) Some stakeholders in the South-South region have described the 25 years of uninterrupted democracy in the country as a mixed bag of enhanced freedom of speech and economic hardship.
The stakeholders who responded to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey said that though democracy enhanced freedom of speech, it had been marred with hardship.
They said that under Nigeria’s democracy, the citizenry had been faced with untoward hardship and soaring inflation
The stakeholders who identified faulty electoral process and wrong leadership as part of the reasons for the hardship in the country, however expressed the belief that democracy remained the best option for the nation.
Dr Darlington Orji, the Special Adviser to the Rivers Governor on Politics and Strategy, said that democracy provided freedom of speech and association in the nation.
He applauded the nation and its leaders for maintaining an uninterrupted democracy for 25 years, describing as “a plus”
Orji stated that remarkable developments had been achieved in different sectors of the economy within the past 25 years but that more efforts were needed to alleviate the suffering being faced by the people.
The governor’s aide said that deliberate steps should be taken to bring government and its dividends closer to the people.
“The essence of government is to bring services to the people, but Nigeria has yet to be at the expected democratic destination,” he said.
He urged government at all levels to cut down the cost of governance in order to have more resources to implement projects while serving the people.
He stressed the need for government to be committed to the electorate who voted them in as leaders and admonished the electorate to stop selling their votes so that they could hold their leaders accountable.
Orji said that the inflation rate, high cost of food and the slim income of the ordinary people were signals of hunger in the land.
He urged government to invest more in agriculture, reduce the interest rates on loans and make education available and affordable to the ordinary people.
Orji said that government should also provide good healthcare system and create the enabling environment for investors to strive.
“Nigeria is on the right track for choosing democratic rule, we are progressing, once the electorate hold leaders accountable, leaders will do what is right.
“The market prices will be controlled, jobs will be created, youth restiveness will be curbed to the barest minimum while crime will reduce and the economy will also be better than it is today,” he said
Similarly, the former Chairman, Labour Party in South-South, Prince Ruben, said that democracy in the country only succeeded in allowing freedom of speech and freedom of movement to the people but failed in its foundation.
He said that the foundation of democracy was supposed to be the electoral process especially the election itself, saying,” but we have a failed process”
“Democracy is not working because our electoral system is faulty and the reason is that the wrong people are appointed into positions of trust.
“Since 1999, the democracy foundation has been destroyed and that faulty foundation through our electoral system is causing the problem of Nigeria as a country.
“When the wrong people are in power, do not expect Nigerians to enjoy the dividends of democracy.’’
Ruben decried the rate at which the naira was falling and stated: “Nigeria’s economy is down, nothing is actually working”
He said that Nigerians were suffering, and that hunger had become the order of the day.
“Petrol is almost N1,000 per litre, prices of goods skyrocketed unimaginably, all these have made democracy dividends unachievable,” he said.
He urged the different tiers of government to consider the plights of Nigerians who were struggling to survive the current difficulties in the country.
“We may not see any improvement in the economic sector of this country, we need to go back and correct the faulty foundation from the electoral system.
“We must transmit our election results electronically, we must also enshrine our electoral transmission of results system in the constitution,” he said.
Ruben further said that Nigeria’s constitution should be reviewed to reflect electronic voting to eradicate violence, thuggery and snatching of ballot boxes during elections.
According to him, this will enable the county to elect good leaders and enthrone the needed change
Similarly, Mr Jimmy Aninege, a Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River, stated that the Nigeria’s 25 years of democracy had been greeted with both challenges and some level of progress.
He further said that the nation’s democratic dividends had been uneven with some sectors and regions benefiting more than others.
Aninege, a former Secretary to the Chairman of Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River, maintained that there had been uneven and non-inclusive economic growth.
He said that while there was an increase in GDP, unemployment and underemployment remained high, and poverty became widespread.
“This suggests that there is need for more investments in agriculture and infrastructure,” he said.
On enhancing democratic practice, the PDP stalwart said: “Nigeria needs to strengthen its institutions and tackle corruption, electoral fraud, and political exclusion”
Also speaking, some stakeholders in Akwa Ibom, have urged the Federal Government to improve the standard of living of Nigerians, revert the petroleum subsidy removal and tackle insecurity.
Mr Franklin Isong, the Director, Centre for Human Rights and Accountability Network, said that in the past 25 years, Nigeria had remained far from achieving the essence of democracy.
He said that the intention of democracy was to make governance closer to the people because democracy is the government of the people, for the people and by the people.
Isong urged the government to be sensitive to the plight of the governed by ensuring people-oriented policies for Nigerians to enjoy dividends of democracy.
He called for the review of the 1999 constitution to reflect the reality of time.
Also speaking, Mr Eyibio Okon, Secretary, Civil Liberties Organisation in Akwa Ibom, said that democracy had neither improved the lives of the people nor yielded any positive fruit in the past 25 years.
“If you have to measure all the indices, democracy has made the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer.
“I can comfortably tell you that democracy which ought to improve the wellbeing of Nigerians have only brought more hardships,” he said.
Okon, who is an Uyo-based lawyer, described the high cost of food in the country as a pointer to the hardship bestowed on Nigerians under the watch of democratic leaders.
According to him, democracy has thrown up opportunity for those who are supposed not to be in government to do things the way they like.
He advised the Federal government to cut down the cost of governance and appoint the right people into positions of trust.
Okon further called for the strengthening of the electoral process to ensure fairness, honesty and lack of bias.
He said that leaders would listen to the yearnings of the people if the electoral process was designed to make the people’s vote to count(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Reporters/JEO/AZU
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Edited by Jane-Francess Oraka and Azubuike Okeh