allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Brookings Report, Ogbulafor And Other Matters (Page 1 of 1)

A German poet, Neitzche, said in one of his poems that every nation needs an elite that can set a pattern and curb the thoughtlessness of the masses. Never has this suggestion been relevant to Nigerian situation than now. However, for this to happen, the game of politics must not be abandoned to thieving elites who have no worthy political orientation. The political turf must attract honest men and women whose self ambition must not overcast the good of the majority. In Chinua Achebe's The Trouble with Nigeria, the bane on Nigeria's growth is traced to the leadership that has failed to "ginger and rally the citizenry because of its lack of sincerity, patriotism and commitment to projecting common good"

Achebe's diagnosis of this deeply etched malaise was amplified recently when Brookings Institution in its report classified Nigeria as a "critically weak state." Since then, Nigerians have been reacting. Some alluded to subsisting neo-imperialism that sneers all times with jealousy on Africa's largest democracy, after all didn't such a report earlier predict the rapture of Nigeria in just a little over a decade? But does Nigeria really have a weak economic and political base? A simple analysis will suffice. Often forced down our ears in the last eight years are the much touted economic accomplishments. However, these same indices of growth have kept unsettling the mind on account of explicable contradictions. For instance, the banks keep declaring billions yearly as profits yet they are perennially engaged in public offers. While these banks also grow in geometrical fashion, firms and industries in real productive sector keep dying. Last weekend on the NTA Network programme, Weekend File, it was reported, for example, that out of five hundred and ten registered industries in Kano State, only hundred and two are in operation. Even such economic activities normally categorised as the micros are all ebbing. It is a lot easier to understand whether or not Nigeria has a weak economic base if we realise the number of Nigerians that go to bed daily with empty stomach.

The state of the polity is not significantly different. Yes, Nigeria has democratic structures but its strength is told by the colly-wobbles within these structures. For instance, the political structures are so strong to the extent that all electoral contests, even party internal elections are settled in law courts. If it has become the sole duty of judges who as human can have biased predilection to determine victory where ordinarily ballots should at very instance of casting, then the essence of balloting is under serious denudation. The level of internal democracy in Nigerian political parties can only be commended by those who benefit from heist. Internal democracy is a feature of a democratically engineered political party, ever willing to submit to free competition. It is such a political party whose other features are cohesion and stability that conduce to sustainable democracy. Since political parties are hubs that turn the wheel of democracy, it becomes clear why it is the internal inclination of political parties that determines the ambience of governance when in power.

Price Vincent Ogbulafor has just emerged as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party. To me, his election can pass for the best in the recent history of the party .He emerged through an unofficial colligate system. Besides, in the unanimity of 26 out 27 of PDP Governors lies the credibility of this process- with each governor representing a minimum of hundred delegates. This runs against a hitherto pattern of one man dictating it all. Despite its shortcomings, it is a clear departure from the will-o' the-wisp that elective convention of the party had become. It is an assurance that things can get better. If the governors will also allow the elected local government chairmen in their states to form an uninfluenced consensus on who becomes a state chairman and such replicated at local government level with the councilors given a free hand, it won't take long before the best is achieved. The task of leading Nigeria aright falls squarely on the PDP. This is a party that controls over two third of elective structures at the states and the centre. It is just about the only party that has existing structures in all the electoral wards in the country. With over twelve million followership, PDP is no doubt a melting pot. That Nigeria accelerates to the class of high fliers depends largely on how well the PDP gets it. With a president who does not affect patriotism and whose style of leadership is popularly yielding, his political platform therefore needs a complementary leadership with an in-depth touch of honesty and level headedness.

Price Vincent Ogbulafor, the fifth national chairman of the party, has a historic opportunity to prove to the world that the size and fortunes of PDP do not abhor democracy. That the rule of law, due process and anti-corruption take firm root in the polity will also depend on the disposition of PDP to lead by example. In that previous administration with erudite Audu Ogbe as national chairman, the PDP came very close to the vision of its founding fathers. It became not just the people's party but moved to ease the failings of government in meeting the primary aspirations of the people - eking out a living. The paradigm of popular democracy manifested in free trade of ideas which the leadership promoted. Though many argue that the free vent almost affronted party cohesion, a comparison with gag, solipsist organcism; that grave yard silence of the cowed and the subsequent exodus of the party founders that ensued; the better era is easily deduced. Under Ogbe-Ogbulafor , the PDP National Secretariat was a home to all members. Under them the secretariat remained a civil institution that did not need all the police formations in Abuja to hold an ordinary NEC meeting. Many Nigerians may not know but it is true that Prince Ogbulafor largely foiled the July 10, 2003 abduction of the governor of Anambra State, with his prompt, unconditional condemnation of that illegal removal on the network service of the FRCN. That earned him the wrath of the powers higher than him. It is same pro-democratic leaning that made him unfit in the design of those who hatched the third term fiasco, to continue as national secretary. He must join hands with Yar' Adua to halt the thieving elite manipulation that holds the nation at the jugular. Every power has its source from the divine and Ogbulafor has been acknowledging this. A political party should be the fermentation pot of Government policies. The synergy between the two is bound to unleash the laden manifestoral goals into abundance for the people. The founding manifesto of PDP reads in part, "effective strategy to eradicate poverty and commitment to saving the present and future generations of Nigerians from hunger, poverty and disease." Unfortunately, Nigerians have never been visited by such an unkind fate. With zero infrastructural base, Nigerians in their millions go to bed hungry. With damming revelations from the ongoing public hearing on the energy sector for instance, we now know when and how corruption was institutionalised. This new national chairman of PDP, therefore, has a golden opportunity to prove that each time the Catholics kneel to say the prayer against bribery and corruption in Nigeria that God is not deaf. Its time to prove that when Catholics admit before God that the nation has squandered His gifts and blessings, "through acts of injustices, bribery and corruption as a result of which many of our peoples are hungry, sick, ignorant and defenceless", that God must have made him a pilot in this crusade.

•Nwachukwu Ngige, former head of publicity, PDP national secretariat.

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