BIG SOCIETY

When are we going to start the struggle? We must start the fight to attain that inclusive pluralistic society that so evades us? It is not fine receiving reports from them telling us how great our GDP is, thereby massaging our egos, fuelling our arrogance and trying to confuse us, to make us feel good about ourselves. It is a veneer used to fool us into thinking that we are doing something right, that we are coasting along and the envy of the world is upon us, but this is not true. Any success that we record as a nation is purely transient and is only enjoyed by the few who will do all in their power to maintain the status quo they profit from.

                                                         

The truth is that Nigeria (and, in fact, most of sub-Saharan Africa) operates a feudal society albeit that we have the trappings of a nascent democracy as this is what the modern world demands. Our leaders practice a very extractive system of government. What does that mean? It means that a very few of us – an elite group – enjoy the profits of the whole nation. The rest of us are left idle in the sun and in the rain. There are many examples of such extractive societies throughout history: the Romans, the Ottoman Empire and, more recently, the Soviet Union. This is why those great nation states eventually failed.

Extractive societies like ours create exclusive monopolies. We give out licenses and do not track the budgets or audit the accounts of federal government. It is for this reason, for instance, that the NNPC is not audited and is shrouded in mystery, whilst every top government official and petroleum trader, license holder or generator supplier are supper rich and fly around in private jets. The rest of us wallow in abject poverty.

We must force a change in our style of government. We must break the fold and make our society more pluralistic, more inclusive, because it gives us a voice. It enables us to say no. It enables us to stand up for our rights and challenge the excesses of this elite group. We must not forget that this is not going to happen without a fight. These guys will protect their incomes. We should be wary of this and not blindly jump into the bandwagon that are the opposition parties, as more likely than not these parties are made up of members of the same elite that are just temporarily excluded from the booty. We must identify credible opposition because it is necessary if we are to make any progress. It means that you and I must get involved. We cannot sit back; there must be a peasants’ revolt. We must protect our collective interest by creating strong institutions, which will listen to our petitions and ensure that the rule of law is protected and judges cannot be used as guardians of a single mega party. This is why the West has continued to flourish and attract people from all over the world.

We must ask our opposition what their manifestos are. They should declare their clearly defined budget, which will act as a goal for the party. They should state the infrastructural projects that they will engage in and where the funds will come from. In this government, the NNPC will be treated as another arm of government and its operations transparent for the world to see. Our salvation depends on this, lest we witness the crumbling of our nation state.  It will continue to be Boko Haram in the Northeast and fighting for autonomy or cries for resource control from other parts of the nation. We should be wary of the same exclusive club agitating for these interests only because the existing membership is fully subscribed and the waiting list too long.

Unless we have a solid structure where there is equity, we will never have big society. There will never be freethinking and thereby a sustainable society where growth will take root. We will never attain a united state which implies good infrastructure, and an industrial base which will open up the country and elevate us from peasant farmers and traders. We must fight for this balance by getting involved, ensuring that our society is inclusive and pluralistic, with checks and balances in constant flux to keep adjusting where loopholes have appeared and need to be corrected. This is the only way that we can end up with strong institutions, as anything else is a mirage that will disappear as quickly as it has appeared and make our thirst and hunger even more deadly.