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mebewo@msn.com USA

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THE YEAR 2007 AND BEYOND:
THE IMPLICATIONS FOR NIGERIA

y honest question to Nigeria and the whole world is, do we want to build the Nigeria's political bridge through the 21st Century and beyond or back to even the immediate past? I would also like to ask Mr. President (Obasanjo) the same question in a very candid manner. If the answer from president Olusegun Obasanjo is that, he wants to build the Nigeria's political bridge to the future, I would, therefore, offer a little insight into what he should do. As his administration is gradually coming to the end, he needs to start thinking about who he wants to turn the baton to. Someone who will continue with his economic policies. He can do this by having honest conversations with his potential successors to sample their belief systems.

If the individual has a belief system identical to his, then he should support him to succeed him. We all have seen his economic policies, and we believe he means well for the country. We have seen his effort to usher in accountability and transparency in the Nigerian polity. If these policies are allowed to continue through subsequent administrations, Nigeria can become transformed into a modern economic power in this global economy.

I may have to use this medium to deliberate on the key concepts staring in our face as we approach the year 2007. Some groups and individuals have postulated the third term posture of the President (Chief Obasanjo) to stay beyond the year 2007 in office. The idea of running for the third term by Mr President is very wrong. This may not reverberate well for a smooth transition to the next administration. For one, many people will be forced to think that President Olusegun Obasanjo does not trust or believe that Nigeria has a single bright person who can continue with the rulership of a great country such as Nigeria.

Another angle of reasoning by political forecasters or even spectators may be that African leaders do not like to give up power easily after they have tested it. President Obasanjo may not be any different than other African leaders who prefer to hold onto power until they become dictators. Permit me to advise or think that this may not be the intention of our president. President Obasanjo has all good intentions for Nigeria, and he means Nigeria well now, and in the future. Any third term agenda at this stage of our democracy will set a bad precedent for the future of this country. Every bad leader will always use this moment in our history as a reference point.

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I have listened to many political jargons erupting out of the country as we move close to 2007. I have heard of some politicians telling the electorates, that it is their right to be elected into office for the second or third term. This is one aspect of our political rationalizations that often brings problems into our polity. No politician in any part of the world has the right to an automatic second term election back into any office. Election of any politician should be left to the electorates to decide. This decision should be guided by past performance of any politician, or even, any ordinary citizen occupying an office in the country. The electorates in Nigeria are very smart people. If they are given a free hand to vote and elect their leaders, Nigerians will do so very smartly and nicely. I believe the adoption of an Electronic Voting Machines can help us to improve in the way we elect our leaders into offices. These voting machines can prove a much better way than what we are currently doing.

The recent information coming out of our National Assembly has indicated that the House of Representatives has rejected the Electronic Voting Machine as part of the forthcoming election, without providing any cogent reason for doing so. Our Representatives should understand that members of the NPRC (National Political Reform Conference) who tested and recommended the machines for use in the next election, had a reason for doing so. Anything else, other than what we are doing now, can be much better for Nigeria. In the past elections, in some wards, data were presented to the populace without the people in the locality involved actually going out to vote. This is not equally the best method of electing our leaders in Nigeria. Our Representatives cannot unilaterally reject the Electronic Voting Machines recommended by NPRC without providing any alternative voting system for Nigeria on basis of the fact that Nigeria is not ripe for this voting method because there are many illiterates in the country. This reason for rejecting the electronic voting machines sounds retrogressive, redundant and dumb.

In the last election, how many illiterates were favoured by the methods used by our politicians in many wards? Most of these literates were not even given the chance to cast their votes, as some politicians and their godfathers brought in the clandestine procedures that helped to hijack the election process to their advantage. Either way, the illiterates are still cheated by the process used to elect leaders into our offices. Our Representatives should not use illiteracy as the basis for rejecting Electronic Voting Machines that should be used to elect our leaders into offices in the year 2007. Nigerians should not wait till all her citizens are educated before they start to use any recommended voting machines.

Nigeria is not a communist system. She should start to practice true Federalism. Some parts of the country can decide to use another type of voting system, while those who believe they have too many illiterates can continue with the status quo. By the present arrangement, some parts of the country are holding down the advancement of Nigeria on the ground that all parts should do the same thing, and grow the same way. That is why Northern politicians believe Niger Delta should develop at the same rate with those parts that don't produce as much resources in the country. This is a retrogressive ideology that will not help this country to register any significant development in the near future.

I am requesting our representatives not to speak for us on this issue, let them only speak for themselves. The best way to find out what Nigerians really want is to conduct a poll and sample their opinion about using Electronic Voting Machines. I bet you, most Nigerians would suggest the use of the machines which could prove a step better than the method we are currently using. No method is corruption free, but we have to be open to using different methods before we actually reject them. Electronic Voting Machines should be used in the next election. If it proves faulty, then we try to fix it. What method could be more faulty than politicians releasing data in wards that did not conduct election, and citizens were not given the chance to cast their votes to individuals they believe can provide good leadership to their community. Either way, our illiterate parents are still cheated out of the equation.

Bring on the Electronic Voting Machines to be used for 2007 election. Our Honorable Representatives maybe thinking in a narrow box of personal interest when they were deliberating on the electronic voting option. They might be thinking about their second or third term coming up. They are not thinking in terms of the generality of Nigeria. If an Electronic Voting Machine option is used, a situation where one person wins an election, another person is declared the winner will be eliminated. Our Representatives are scared of this. We can't wait till all are educated in Nigeria to use EVM. Let us give each zone the option to use the EVM or any other method of electing their leaders, as is done in the United States. Each section of the United States has the liberty to use any voting system to elect their leaders.

A very serious implication of the year 2007 election has to do with the Nigeria's Foreign Reserve. The pragmatic approach of president Obasanjo to the management of our economy with transparency and accountability has resulted in the ballooning of our Foreign Reserves to about $25billion (Twenty five billion dollars). This part of our life is at stake. We can quickly look back at the past immediate administrations including the interim administration of Abubakar Abdulsalim where he used a few months to almost empty our Foreign Reserve. This can happen again if we are not careful about who we elect in 2007. If IBB wants to contest, you must look at his past records, see if he responded to the Aputa Panel to defend all the allegations of mismanagement, corruption and assassination of political opponents. See if he is the one to be in charge of our Foreign Reserve in 2007 and beyond.

Another issue to think about is the key to the Excess Crude Oil account, which has climbed over $6 billion (Six billion dollars). Who do we want to past the key of the lock of this account to? Look at past records and decide. We should not allow anyone, not even president Obasanjo to influence the choice of who succeeds him. Let the people choose through popular, free and fair election, because his reasons for the choice of who succeeds him may not be in line with the reasons for the choice of their president by the Nigerian masses.

Another issue that may act as a stumbling block to the future of Nigeria is True Federalism. Federalism is a time-bomb staring in our face that may help us to implode after Chief Obasanjo has left office depending on who succeeds him. The lack of development in Niger Delta and the absence of true federalism are the twin pair that will bring problems to the generality of Nigeria in the next few years to come. Remember that most Niger Deltans have realized that lack of true federalism makes it possible for all the resources from oil and gas to be concentrated at the center of government to be left to the vulnerability of our corrupt leaders to siphon at their will and discretion, time and time again. A time is coming when the whole of Niger Delta will not stand this type of political arrangement again.

Our Northerners, especially Mr. Umaru Dikko must understand that Nigeria has gotten enough agitation from MASSOB (the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra), they don't need another one from Niger Delta. When two entities start agitating for self-determination at the same time, that is when the fun will stop and the end-game will start. No one wishes our great Nation this scenario, and no one wants to be regarded as a junior partner in his own country forever.

The security of Nigeria will also come to play in the year 2007 and beyond. Currently, the situation is getting worse by the day. No bank is safe from the claws and fangs of the armed robbers. The situation in Nigeria emanated from inter-party and intra-party maneuvers to un-sit each other. Now, it is becoming a national and regional problem. The next president will inherit a cage of gunpowder, as far as the security of all Nigerians is concerned. I do not know how secured our senators and Representatives are, but insecurity to one section of our country is insecurity to all sections of our country. No one is secured, even the President of Nigeria. Our Parliamentarians must address the issue of our security as a national emergency.

Another aspect of our life that is abhorrent to most Nigerians is the issue of official corruption in the Nigerian Police Force. The idea of our Police constantly harassing citizens on the road to collect N20 is very abhorrent and dishonest. An individual who constantly collects bribe while on official duty on the highway is not interested in the security in the Nigerian population. Such police officer is only out there to earn a living through collecting tokens from any Nigerian he sees on the road. The problem with this behaviour is than police officers who are used to collecting N20 from passers-by, will always believe that every Nigerian owes them N20. If one passes by without giving them this money, through reflexes, the police can shoot at this innocent citizen with little or no consciousness.

Corruption beclouds people's sense of judgment and honesty. Corruption breeds insecurity to everyone including those who indulge in it. If any section of Nigeria is insecure, no police officer in Nigeria is secured. Insecurity anywhere is insecurity everywhere. Police corruption on the highway brings insecurity to all Nigerians including our Police. Above all the image of our great Nation is tainted each time a police officer collects bribe while on official duty. See the impression the British MPs had when they recently visited on a fact-finding mission to Niger Delta, and our police officers began to ask them for bribe before they could perform the job they are paid to do. The British officials did not have to apologize for making an honest observation about the activities of our police officers. That's the same experience we have with our police as citizens of Nigeria. None of us likes this kind of treatment, as they are using their position to trample on our rights to live a life with happiness, free of harassment by the police we are paying to protect us.

People use the argument that the Police is not well paid. But think about the people they are extorting money from. Some of them are not on anyone's payroll or voucher. No education, and sometimes with rented motorcycles to make daily living to feed their families. Sometimes, they become preys in the hands of our men in uniform who will look for one reason or another to take money from these people. This is very wrong. The main reason from my observation, why the police indulge in extorting money from us is, officers in uniform are trying to live their lives beyond their means.

Think of an officer who collects money all day from people on the road, filling his pocket, and constantly going to the bar or liquor joint to drink and eat pepper-soup while on his official duty. Most of the time, these individuals get drunk before the day is out. Sometimes, out of drunkenness, they take frustrations on the passers-by. On very little provocations, they shoot and kill anyone they have misunderstanding with. Sometimes, they take their frustrations on each other, as it has recently happened, where a police officer, shot and kill a colleague over a bottle of beer. This is a total dishonour to our uniform. Tell us why the government wouldn't make laws against police drinking while on official duty? This would reduce the number of accidental discharge against innocent people on the road.

Let our citizens send a message to our National Assembly against officers drinking while on duty. This will reduce extortion rates on our highways. My observation is to make Nigeria better not to chastise the Police since our country is still in denial about Police corruption and misconducts against our citizens. You should all be mindful that in a democracy, the civilians should be in control, and they ought to tell our uniform men and women how to be governed. This is a Democracy, our Police should adjust to life in a democracy.