Nigeria: Who are the Progressives?

In 2015 Nigeria will have another general election; various activities have been developing by political parties and individual politicians in order to record necessary successes during the polls. The question is who are the progressives in terms of leadership quality and good governance in the current Nigeria democratic project? Giving an insight into what qualifies someone as progressive, Mr Oyejide Titus, a retired Senior Manual Training Instructor in the service of old Oyo State said some people could be regarded as progressives because they are good at helping others; at assisting people or the whole country. “If we want to clarify what is called progressive, there are some people who called themselves progressives. Personally, I will called them personal progressives, in the sense that there is none of them who did not look after his or her personal gains. Though, the people we can call progressives in the Nigerian politics are progressives, because the populace realises their impacts,” he said. Buttressing his position with the emergence of another democratic dispensation in 1999 in the country, Mr Oyejide observed that some politicians in the South-Western states comprising Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos and Oyo states reasonably and duly implemented the programmes laid down by their parties, while there were some politicians who regarded themselves as progressives but failed to implement projects that can impact citizenry positively. His words: “there were some leaders who called themselves progressives but people within their areas did not feel their impacts.” Tracing the concept of progressive from Action Group (AG), a political party led by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, former Premier of the defunct Western Region to the present All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr Oyejide noted that the states that were controlled by AG till APC in always do things in common. “What is operating in Lagos will be operating in Ibadan, the same thing in Osun state, Ondo state and Oyo state. For instance, there are no other states in South-West that can favourably compare to Osun state in terms of development,” he stressed. He continued: “the progressives believe in one thing, when they want to implement a programme. They will ensure that the populace will actually benefit from it. Take for instance all the roads the government in Osun state is tarring. The government did not go to Kaduna or Kano for workers. They employed our people; the Carpenters, the Bricklayers, the Welders and so on. It is one of the ways the populace enjoyed the impacts of the government. What we really need in Nigeria is that any government that wants to embark on any project must have task force that will oversee all the projects to ensure that they execute them according to the specification. If we don’t have task force, the projects would not be executed as at when due and to how it was expected to be done. But with the fear that task force is coming to inspect the work, there is tendency that the work will be executed properly.” Speaking on the failure of the government at all levels to carry citizenry along in project planning and execution, which usually resulted to adverse effects on the people, Mr Oyejide observed that there is no time that people will desire for development without effects. “We cannot all be happy at the execution of all the projects, because development is not stagnant. Some local governments in the past built Lock-Up Shops besides roads. Now, we want further development, they are trying to destroy them because we want further development. In this wise, they have stepped on the toes of many people. The same thing will also happen in cities. When the citizenry want development that could be reasonable, that could prove that the government in the area is good, we cannot go scot-free. People around the area must be ready, should be ready to make sacrifice,” he emphasized. He added that governments in some cases implemented projects that would afford them opportunity of getting personal financial gains rather than considering what the citizenry want by involving them in planning and execution of such projects. “They want to do these for the people. So they will be saying, you will be hearing. But, before the beginning of the execution of the projects they have known the kind of profits they are running after. Though, there is no person with clear mind and thought. If they want to do it, they should do it in such a way that people will say perhaps we derived such benefits from the projects. There is no person that would like to do something without expecting something from it. Nothing goes for anything, he pointed out. Referring to former Premier of the defunct Western region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo as a politician who sets pace of progressive politicians in the country, Mr Akib Abiola, senior former aide to late Chief MKO Abiola noted that there are very few progressive politicians in Nigeria, but they cannot be compared with the late sage in terms of projects execution and programmes implementation for the people. His words: “Awolowo studied in the United Kingdom and saw development in UK, and the government helped to transform the lives of its citizens. He saw how every human being supposed to live and he came back home and tried to replicate and duplicate the wonderful life in the Western World to his people. He realised the importance of education, communication and development in moving men towards civilisation and economic independence. But the Army and the Hausa’s that came to the Western World and lately most of the politicians, saw the development in the Western World as a way to permanently create two classes in Nigeria, the haves and the haves not. They want the majority to remain poor so that they can oppress them and they can feel important about themselves. They have forgotten that if they expand the pie, everybody can still have a piece”. We do not have any politician in Nigeria today that can be compared to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Our so called progressives are opportunists, he emphasized. He however stated Buhari, Tinubu, Femi Fani kayode, El-Rufai, former director of Economic, Financial and Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the governors of Edo, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Lagos and Ekiti as progressives; they are working tirelessly to better the lot of the people around them. “The governors in South-west are progressives but they need to initiate more programmes that would create full employment in the region, better housing, better transportation, better health care, better roads and better education. They also need to invest heavily in food production in the region. They don’t need to wait on the federal government. They can be the trail blazer like Awolowo was in his days. Awolowo did not wait on the federal government; he did what were necessary to uplift his region. We can be the frontier and the pioneer again.” The ruling party in South-west is doing better than their counterparts from other states. I will give them a B+ compared to F for their counterparts. I am giving them a B+ because there is room for improvement, he pointed out. Using project implementation as yardstick of determining the real progressives in the Nigerian politics, a member of the defunct Nigerian Democratic Movement (USA), added that if the projects are geared towards the benefit of the poor and are done with transparency and accountability, then such a politician is a progressive. If the project has value added and it is designed to help the people then it is progressive. Any party or politician that put the interest of the poor, the youth, the elderly as the core of their agenda is a progressive party. Democracy is not designed to help the rich but to help the poor and the least fortunate in our midst. The rich can vent for themselves. In his reaction, Mr Seyi Odetola, a London based Public Affairs Analyst said the contestation is clear on whether there are progressives in the Nigerian politics. His words: “the contestation is clear: our leadership selection process is flaw, our constitution is flaw, our service delivery is flaw and the outcome could not be any better.”