Democracy: Is everything alright?

The last one week has been full of activities in all states in commemoration of the democracy day; day set aside to mark a return to political pluralism in 1999. It is noteworthy that the journey that brought us to where we are today was indeed turbulent. A careful look at the historical political developments in the country shows how military coup d’états intermittently thwarted previous attempts. Since the return to civilian regime in 1999, it has been 17 years of unbroken democratic rule, an experience that in fact calls for celebration.

But the question is: does democracy day call for celebration when the standard of living in Nigerians have remained unchanged? As for me, the celebration is only necessary if it would distil the gains of democracy and expectations of Nigerians.

Going by the definition of democracy, a leader in a democratic government must be responsible and responsive to the people. If these are indicators of a democracy, it means we are only hearing the voice of democracy but what we feel is several distance away.

That democracy brought some level of development in the last 17 years is undisputed. But, the failures are too many and to put it mildly, what the people want to see are economic dividends – jobs for the unemployed, good roads and not ‘death traps’, functional hospitals and qualitative education.

Unfortunately, many people keep pretending that everything is alright. Sometimes I am tempted to think that our religious beliefs could be an excuse for inaction. I mean an excuse to avoid doing something about an issue in question; to discourage initiative and innovation or to bury a problem that calls for serious attention.

We must all rise to the challenges of our democratic journey and stop pretending that all is well.

Anyone who is keeping an eye on Nigeria knows that all is not well, given the signs of the time. In Nigerian democracy, court orders are disregarded by governments and its agents.

What about youth empowerment? A report published on the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicates that unemployment rate was recorded at 12.1 percent in first quarter of 2016, up from 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, reaching the highest since December 2009. This is alarming and it calls for concern. My fear is that if this trend continues, the army of jobless youths can become easy recruits for terrorists and militants.

For us to get it right and change our history, we must ensure we have a government that defines democracy in its proper perspective. At the level of political parties, internal democracy must be jealously safeguarded. Imposition of candidates is a deadly virus which must be done away with immediately. Self-serving politicians must also retreat and disappear from the scene.

Politicians should learn to place national interests above self interests. It is unfortunate that when they embezzle public funds, they fleece such to Switzerland; when they want to buy property, they go to London; when they want to invest, they carry their investments to America; when it is time for vacation, their choice is South Africa; when they want to go shopping, Dubai becomes the destination; when sickness comes, Indian Hospitals and German hospitals tops the list. But when death finally knocks, they are brought back to Nigeria to be buried in their villages that probably has no good road as a result of bad attitude to their people during their life time.

I don’t think Nigeria is a cemetery. It must be emphasised that Nigeria is our home - the only country we have and we must collectively place it above every other interest and work it to become the modern destination point. Apart from this, Nigerians also expect equal opportunities for all.