Traditional Leaders are well grounded within the society and their families and family tree traceable.  And because they stay in authority for comparatively long duration, they tend to grow acceptance and trust.  Their family reputation and honor, which usually matters more in such systems are well guarded, which usually means people can rely on those vested with some authority as birthright to fulfill that trust or else put their family to shame and ridicule from the resulting inability. 

In traditional societies there are standardized processes that take care of every age group and his or her needs as they go through their life cycles.  No age group feels neglected or trapped.  Whether young children, adolescents, and the old all have a special place and role that is specific to that age group, and as such they feel useful, needed and of specific importance to the wellbeing of the community.  Such processes, for example, ensure that the old are not neglected because they can no longer fend for themselves.  There are various processes of introducing young boys and girls to different responsibilities as they go through life.  At very early age, the grandparents play a significant role in their care as the parents are usually busy with house and community chores.  They get initiated into various roles and groups as they draw near to adulthood, in preparation for marriage.   That is very important in keeping the balance in community life., the absence of which may be responsible for the way in which the youth today are feeling more and more hopeless and becoming more and more uncontrollable.

Drawbacks

There are two obvious drawbacks to the system that one can see. One very obvious characteristic that acts as a drawback to traditional authority is the feeling of indispensability of the administrative authorities.  That is almost a given, since one does not move around with the possibility of being voted out if he acts contrary to his responsibilities.   The second drawback is that sometimes people chosen for a lifetime or at least long term do not feel that they are there to serve their community, but that the community is there to answer to all their command and orders.  In short they are the rulers and the people the peasants.

Aside from the above two drawbacks, there are many more positive reasons to take a closer look at the traditional system the nation had used for centuries, which are local and African in nature in an effort to find and extract some of its merits, so our law makers may find ways of incorporating them back into the present system. 

 

 (c) The Optimist Voice. Al rights reserved

 

NIGERIA NEWS

Traditional Versus Modern Governance

Hadiza Wada, DBA ...November 27, 2010

Nigerians owe it to themselves to launch a series of serious studies on the merits and demerits of traditional authority in governance, so we could harness and use those aspects that will help enliven our leadership, governance, and administrative experience as a nation. This past October 2010, Nigeria celebrated half a century of existence as a nation bearing the name Nigeria, but is yet to realize the best way to administer itself.  As a nation, we tend to pick up and throw away systems, styles and ways when they do not work.  Most of the time, we tend to believe we can copy exactly other forms of government from other nations with some extreme variance to our way of life, and expect it to work the same way for us.  So we experimented with Parliamentary style (from the British) and we told ourselves consequently that it may not be the right fit, and we moved onto the Presidential system of government.  But have people seriously considered working hard on finding some indispensable aspects of our original and traditional system of governance that might be the catalyst in establishing and maintaining a successful blend of both local as well as foreign systems of administration and governance?

Historical records tend to show that our experience as a nation under traditional authority has been more peaceful, socially and politically.  The area where one may argue demerits may include rapid economic development.  Economic development usually exists at a modest rate in traditional settings.  Innovative techniques, research and the ever vigilant nature of invention present in modern market economies are not known to be a part of traditional societies. But most especially socially, the traditional authority type of society tends to divide itself into certain acceptable strata that mingle and network very well, bonding the community in peaceful coexistence.

The society’s expectations under traditional authority are usually clear and very well defined over the years, while responsibilities are concretely demarcated, so that confusions, rumors, and all such uncertainties and vices that tend to breed chaos and disorder rarely surface.  No one is left in the dark about the place to go, and probably even what to expect, from an individual delegated some segment of authority towards taking care of some need of the people.  Sarkin Ruwa is an authority on issues relating to rivers, wells and all other sources of water.  Not only do they deal with common day to day issues, when someone is missing at sea, for example, that’s the person people go to, to help them either by tracking the person or else providing tips on how best to track and locate someone lost at sea.  Expertise in any given area of authority run for generations usually within a single family tree, so that all questions relating to an issue could be answered by those vested with authority on the issue.