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[email protected] Washington, DC, USA

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SOLUTIONS TO NIGERIAN PROBLEMS

am a fan Of Mr. Segun Fajemisin. His writings have been funny, witty and serious to the bone. I have not had the opportunity of responding to his articles because I am always in agreement with most of his conclusions. However, the conclusion I drew from his last article, dated August 21, 2003, is unique and it prompted this response.

Based on the reading of his article, I hope that I am not wrong in inferring that he intended the progressives to join Nigerian politics and rebuild the political system from inside out. It is what one would expect from most patriotic citizens of any country. But Nigeria is one of the rare places where majority of good and honest people usually run away from politics. It is my suspicion that corruption is so pervasive in the Nigerian body politics, so much so that upon entering the system most succumb to its allure. It has even become fashionable for most Pentecostal churches to urge their smart and capable members to shy away from politics. When capable and honest people shy away from politics, it leaves crooks and imbeciles in charge of the treasury. We should all share the blame for this sad state of affairs.

Now, to the issue of the Nigerian progressives. The reasons why Nigerians, not only the progressives, have no credible ideas are many. But the major reason is gross mis-education. I say mis-education because all of us proffer solutions to our problems by adopting foreign ideas and methods. Every successful country I know utilized its own unique genius, from its tradition and culture, to solve its problems. I will cite the examples of the Southeast Asian tigers. Although they borrowed ideas from outside their culture, at the same time, they look inward and utilized their cultures and tradition to become what they are today.

If we are truly looking for solutions to our problems we should re-educate ourselves and then look inside our culture, tradition, history and religion to fashion solutions to our problems. I also believe that Nigerians, progressives included, should adopt ideas from multiple sources in order for our multi-ethnic society to function optimally. Therefore, adopting American presidential system totally without modifying it with ideas from other countries, or without borrowing from some aspects of our own tradition was a gross mistake that, if not corrected, will surely lead to our doom. we can already guess the future of Nigeria from its present state of lawlessness, instability and disequilibria.

Another reason why Nigerian progressives have no credible ideas is that we have adopted the 'winner take all' American style of politics. A young progressive woman from Kenya re-educated me on this issue. She stated that traditional African societies have always created room for losers by a system, which allows losers or runners-up to be included in the affairs of their community. This is a win-win system; because all capable hands will be fully on deck to contribute to the progress of the community. Other democratic countries such as India, Israel and Germany also adopt this system. In those countries, perhaps due to the multi-party system, c! oalitions are formed where losers and winners join together to contribute to the good of the society.

The 'winner take all' system adopted by Nigeria is a recipe for disaster. It leads politicians to engage in destructive conduct in order to emerge victorious. Thus, to lose is not an option, especially after investing so much into running for elections. Therefore, they will try to win elections by 'any means necessary.' in a system where someone gets six votes and someone gets four, it is patently unfair for the person with the six votes to get all the power. The most equitable and fairest thing to do is to devise a system where the winner of the four votes will be made part of the system and contribute to the overall good of the society. In a multi-ethnic system like Nigeria, neglecting! the winner of the four votes, is not only dumb, it is suicidal.

In conclusion, Nigeria should adopt the German system of election financing with few modification to allow for our unique tradition, culture and history. Based on my limited information, the German government finances its politicians 100%. No outside or private financing is allowed. All the aspiring German politician has to do is to garner the support of her party and gather some signatures from the electorates. The German electoral financing system allows people with good idea but with no money to serve their country. If Nigeria had adopted this system, the Uba and Ngige scandal could have been averted. Moreover, victorious politician will have no need to engage in nefarious and unpatriotic conduct to recoup electioneering investments. Adopting the German election financing model will also enable progressives, women, youths and minority candidates to win elections and participate in rebuilding our fatherland, thus, making Nigeria a better country than what we currently have.