To make matters worse, Prof Misawa articulates, the legislature has not passed any laws to curb such daunting issues. And it is the legislature, as an institution, that should look into such issues as they arise, analyze and find solutions to them. It is important, he says, to find solutions to structural issues that affects legitimacy of government as soon as they become visible, by enacting laws to curb them.

The first solution Professor Misawa offered against such problems concerns the people. He called on the people to make efforts to change their perception of government so they will interact appropriately with it with the aim of finding solutions and encouraging development.

The state has to be legitimized, and this is critical.  Not even some African states less developed than Nigeria have this problem.  Nigerians have such relentless urge to keep attacking the government, seeing it as alien to them, though it is supposed to be their property working for them and their welfare. Even the Sudanese are not talking about functionality of the state.  They are not constantly attacking it as a structure or entity they hate or dislike.  People usually protest policy or decision not the institution itself.

The second solution is Nigerian leaders need to articulate a vision and make people understand where they are heading.  They not only articulate but clarify it for others to internalize, making it easier for the people to legitimize the government and work towards achieving their leader’s vision. They have to inspire the people towards a common interest.  That will help its heterogeneous population find reasons to make them feel energized towards a common goal that unites them.  Every nation has a common item, team, city or just something people cherish that tends to draw them together.  Nigeria needs to develop that.

Finally the leaders have to genuinely work towards eliminating some common problems that are simple, to allow people freedom from basic necessities.  Such issues include electricity, adequate supply of water etc.  Such basic issues have been elusive, and add to the frustrations of the people against their government. 

 

(c) The Optimist Voice. Al rights reserved

 

NIGERIA NEWS

Governance Issues and Solutions

Hadiza Wada, DBA

October 31, 2009

Perceptions of legitimacy and credibility are the two key issues that continue to undermine Nigeria’s democracy.  Any nation that faces the problem of legitimization by its people will face a lot of huddles in its tasks.  That was the conclusion of Professor Buba Misawa of Washington Jefferson University, Pennsylvania.   He made that comment at a conference on governance and development held today at College Park Maryland under the auspices of The Optimist Voice.

Nigerians continue to undermine the government, he disclosed.  And no government succeeds without commanding some degree of credibility from the governed. The process has to be legitimized for development to happen.  In the U S for example, there are people who may not like Obama, but that does not mean they undermine the government.  These are two different issues.  They want things to work, they want development to happen and they are for it.  They can protest their likes and dislikes in some other way, but not in undermining the government, not believing in it, or the process. 

Another serious problem Mr. Misawa raised is the notion that someone has to be from a person’s village, state, tribe or religion for them to accept him and legitimize the position.  That is a mindset without any legitimate basis as far as institutionalized positions are concerned.   Once again many nations are heterogeneous yet that is not how they view issues of legitimizing a government, or its process.  As far as issues of state and governance are addressed they are content.  Many people actually do not even know the name of their representative.  All they care about is the system should work and it hardly fails because they work with it and support its functionality too.  And in the rare event that a representative fails them, the press rush to it, and the people in that constituency take action right away.

Another major issue is problem of challenging elections, and allowing that to drag on forever.  Mr. Misawa disclosed that there were about 1200 petitions filed during the last election alone.  Some include missing names on ballot, boxes without serial numbers, rigging etc.  And to date courts are working on these enormous amounts of petitions and announcing various verdicts.  This means the whole duration of that election cycle (four years) people are in court over legitimacy of their various governing bodies.  That is very counter productive.  The laws have to restrain such difficulties. Clear definitions of what is petitionable, duration within which to work on election petitions, etc are essential.  Other difficulties were in built, such as putting name on the ballot last minute, like the situation with Atiku, providing grounds for him to add to the petition problem by claiming he was not given enough time.