Professor Tunde Adeniran is a former Minister of Education and chieftain of the Social Democratic Party. In this interview with AYO ESAN in Abuja, he speaks on sundry issues as they affect the nation. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of Nigeria at 58?
An assessment of Nigeria at 58 comes with mixed feelings of great memories tinged with sadness. The yearly independence anniversary of our nation usually evokes in one, a sense of joy and nostalgia, especially those of us who were privileged to witness that momentous event on that historic first day of October 1960, when our country was granted independence by the British. It was by that symbolic event that the country stepped gloriously unto the global stage and joined the League of Nations as it were, as a sovereign state. It was really a watershed in the annals of our history as a country was widely celebrated.
The joyful part of it derives largely from the fact that, in spite of itself, and having to weather the storm and turbulence of the arduous task of nationhood for five scores and eight years, Nigeria still stands strong as a united nation-state, and as the giant of the African continent, bearing on its broad shoulders, the collective hope and aspirations of the entire black race. It must be said and appreciated that it is a no mean feat that the Nigerian Union that was forged in 1914 is still standing and waxing strong even after surviving a civil war that almost pulled the country under.
The annual independence anniversary which is a national holiday, takes us down memory lane by reconnecting our mind, especially those of us who were old enough at the time to appreciate and have it stored in our sub-conscious, the essence of that historic event on that fateful day when the British flag, the Union Jack, was lowered and the green-white green flag of the new nation and pride of Africa was hoisted aloft at the grounds of Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.
The tinge of sadness of the yearly ritual borders on the ugly pictures that readily come to mind when one looks back at the great measure of enthusiasm and the high hopes which Nigerian compatriots had at independence, as well as the great promises that the nation bored at that point of stepping onto the global stage as a new independent nation-state, and juxtaposing the status, state of affairs and well-being of the country as it is today with other countries with which the nation attained independence at the same time, or those countries such as India, which was just a little ahead of Nigeria in 1960.
There is no gainsaying that our country is embarrassingly lagging behind on almost all indices and parameters that may be employed for the measurement of growth and sustainable development. The summary of my assessment on Nigeria, therefore, is that as a potentially great nation, her capacity for true greatness was undermined, its steady journey towards sustainable growth and advancement was derailed and its destiny nearly aborted. In summary, the country is a nation of unfulfilled dreams and arrested development, occasioned by poor and uninspiring leadership. Sustainable development and growth have largely eluded us because in the past 58 years, we refused to optimally harness the full potential of our productive forces to move the nation forward. Considering all of these, therefore, my submission on Nigeria at 58 is that the country, sadly, has underperformed. But all hope is not lost.
Looking back to Independence Day in 1960, what was your expectation about Nigeria and how far has your expectations come to reality?
Recalling the great, highly inspiring and very confident declarations of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, on that fateful first day of October 1960, about the country stepping gloriously unto freedom and self-rule, and the fact that all Nigerians who were witnesses to that momentous occasion looked into the future of the country with high hopes, we all had high expectations that the country would in a short while from thence, make real progress and swiftly proceed to attain a pride of place on the global space. That was the general atmosphere and the spirit that pervaded the entire national landscape at that time. But for all the high hopes and promises of greatness, which the country had at independence, alas, it was not to be that the country would be allowed to attain its manifest destiny of greatness, no thanks to the short life of the first republic, the negative impact of the civil war, which the young nation was plunged into shortly after the attainment of independence as a result of the ineptitude and inexperience of the young military officers of that era in political engineering for nation-building, and the very destabilising effects of the long years of military rule, which derailed our journey of nationhood by not allowing the country to undergo the essential growth processes, the learning curves and the various nurturing stages through democratic evolution.
Considering the state of the nation today- the high level of insecurity and spate of genocidal terror – which have threatened our national stability in no small measure; the precariously poor and unstable state of our economy; low level of technological advancement; the growing social inequality and lack of justice; embarrassing standard of our education; poor health-care facilities and its attendant health tourism outside our shores; pervading hunger and excruciating mass poverty amongst our people; social infrastructure deficit; poor national integration and harnessing of our diversity; the low level of zeal and patriotism on the part of the citizens towards the Nigerian project, among several other critical national maladies, it is quite safe to assert that my expectations about Nigeria at independence as well as those of the generality of Nigerians have not come to reality.
There are abounding evidences and signs in almost all sectors of our national life that we have only experienced retarded growth and achieved below our ‘’installed’’ capacity of what we are naturally wired to achieve. The truth is, we have generally underperformed in relation to our potential and untapped prodigious natural and human
resources.
INEC just concluded two governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun. How would you rate INEC’s performance?
All over the world, credible elections are known to be the hallmark of democracy and open society. Without Nigeria working towards the attainment and entrenchment of a desirable political culture of free, fair and transparent electoral processes which will culminate in credible elections and also safeguard the will of the people as expressed through their votes, our country will continue to be far away in the national quest of building a modern society and we will have to always contend with poor public governance and arrested development because the wrong people will always get to positions of authority through the subversion of the people’s will.
To do a dispassionate rating of INEC vis-a-vis its performance in the two recent governorship elections, the one in my home state of Ekiti and the other in Osun, I must say that I am greatly alarmed and worried that there is serious threat to our democracy, going by what we saw in the two elections, especially with regard to the new ignoble culture of vote-buying, which has become the latest dimension of credibility deficit in our elections.
I have respect though, for the leadership of the Commission and I believe in the capacity and integrity of the Chairman as well as in his commitment to delivering on his mandate in the larger interest of the nation. I see him as a patriot who would always do the right thing to move the nation
forward.
However, the negative verdict passed by the local and international observer groups that participated in the recent Osun election, especially the re-run, cast a thick cloud of credibility deficit on the outcome of the election and the preparedness as well as the genuine commitment of the Commission towards delivering credible elections in
2019.
The joint verdict of the Observer Group from the European Union, the UK and Canada on the re-run election was, indeed, an emphatic indictment of our electoral system. The reported cases of harassment and intimidation of voters by the security agents of the state, as were alluded to by the local and international observers largely impacted negatively on the acceptability of the result based on global best standards and practice. Nonetheless, I hope that things will get better going into the general elections. As such, I wish to call on the Commission to, in the interest of the nation, buckle up for the herculean task ahead of it in the 2019 general election. Majority of Nigerians consider that the Ekiti and Osun elections were negative pointers to the imminent dangers ahead, thus, the Commission has to work hard and more transparently, to allay those deep and genuine fears of the people going into the 2019 general
elections.
Read the full text of this interview online.
