By Clement Ofuani
MON, JUN 01 2020-theG&BJournal- “If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.” With those words, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2015 presidential election, General Muhammadu Buhari captured the imagination of ordinary Nigerians as the man to change the economic fortunes of the nation. But is corruption really the problem? In capturing power, the President inherited the same weak legislature, weak judiciary and dependent press in addition to weak federating units. These are structural problems that continuously deliver misery.
Just six years after independence, an early morning martial music heralded the death of democratic governance in Nigeria. The coup leader, Major Nzeogwu announced that they were opposed to “those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds.” This was joyfully received by our people who had lost patience with the contentious style of the political process.
But, the subsequent military coups of 1975 and 1976 and 1983 were still predicated on fighting corruption. As Nigeria’s population grew without a matching growth in the GDP, poverty, misery and disillusionment turned the euphoric promises of independence into an illusion.
Four years after the historic electoral victory and inauguration of the anti-corruption President, corruption perception had expanded exponentially according to Transparency International corruption perception index. As a matter of fact, the Nigerian went into a recession shortly in 2016. The last economic recession in our country was incidentally under the administration of the same General Buhari as a military dictator thirty years earlier.
Looking back over the last sixty years since independence, it has become clear that the first six years marked the best period of consistent steady economic growth with minimal social distortions. For instance, according to World Bank reports, the annual growth rate of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was fairly steady compared to the wide fluctuations of the latter years that oscillated between high growths and depressing declines.
The military coup of 1966 did not just end the predictable economic growth; it also marked the end of a democratic constitutional order founded on the principle of federalism. The subsequent centralization of power made state capture riding on the back of tribalism and populism alluring. State governments which replaced the regional governments were made weaker and more subservient and dependent on the central government. Centralization of power with control over crude oil revenue completely altered the nation’s economic structure. We became a mono-cultural economy that imported every consumable product while neglecting agriculture and manufacturing.
Centralization of power made the central government less accountable and more wasteful. Flush with oil money, we embarked on projects of doubtful viability which were run without regards to commercial principles. The incentive to assume responsibility was eliminated as the States queued up monthly for revenue allocation from oil money abandoning their comparative economic advantages.
The clamor for restructuring of the federation and restoration of the principle of federalism has met with ferocious resistance from tribal champions despite clear evidence pointing to a failed state. Can we continue in this mad rush to destruction?
We can no longer continue to avoid the need to restructure the nation and restore the federal system that had delivered steady growth in the past. We can no longer allow tribal champions to feed on our misery. We can no longer afford their strangulating hold on power.
A return to a federal system of government as negotiated by our founding fathers will clearly restore competition and innovations and engender national growth again. This is the time to turn the tide of underdevelopment.
Clement T. Ofuani writes from Abuja, Nigeria
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