Unfinished Greatness
Dr. Joe Abah
There is a depth of disillusionment and frustration with Nigeria’s perennial inability to fulfill its true potential that has led many to a pessimistic and defeatist response to national issues. New ideas and initiatives are often viewed with cynicism and the pre-emptive evaluative judgment of “It will never work” is passed on new initiatives before they even commence. Unfortunately, the pessimist is often right, and it doesn’t work. When an intention is announced to tackle a problem, many commentators say “Talk is cheap! I know it won’t be implemented.” When people start giving testimonies that things appear to be changing, the refrain is often “That is not enough! Is this what we should be celebrating now when others are sending probes to Mars? Anyway, I know it won’t be sustained.” And when eventually the optimist points out that the new initiative has actually been working successfully for a while now, the next statement is “That is not our problem now.”
Even the greatest optimist cannot fault this pessimistic and defeatist view because it has been forged by very many examples, over very many years, of poorly designed initiatives, lack of intellectual rigour, poor preparation, poor implementation, endemic corruption, lack of ambition, policy somersaults and lack of sustainability. How then does an optimist offer a compelling and credible, solution-focused, alternative narrative without denying the challenges in the environment or the unenviable track record of failure? It is not often that a book review includes a review of the book’s Foreword but, in discussing this tension between justified pessimism and informed optimism, the Foreword by Nigeria’s former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, succinctly and intelligently sets the context for the whole book.
Although Dr Kayode Fayemi’s book is a collection of essays, there is a coherent narrative thread running through the whole book. In the words of the author, “the book offers the perspectives of a firm believer in a Nigerian national agenda of unity, freedom, justice, and equity.” Those perspectives are offered in the knowledge that national development is not
necessarily a linear process or a one-off activity that if you just undertook you wouldn’t need to make any other effort. My boss, Jim Boomgard, the President and CEO of DAI once said:
“There is no ‘silver bullet’ in development, no single sector or region or discrete problem that if we just got right, everything else would fall into place. Development is a messy combination of systemic problems that play out in unique contexts all over the world. Failures typically outnumber successes (and often blur into one another) and the emphasis must always be on learning.”
The first chapter, which shares the same title as the book, tackles the question as to whether we need strategic demolition to remake a nation. It recognises that there is a wide range of opinions as to how Nigeria can be remade, ranging from decentralisation to devolution and even to agitations for outright secession. Fayemi lists several challenges bedevilling Nigeria’s nationhood, including overcentralisation of power, a revenue sharing formula skewed in favour of the federal government, and a predominantly youthful population that have only ever heard tales of a Nigeria that once lived up to its part of a social contract, but have never actually witnessed it. Several people blame our inability to fulfill our potential on what some term “the mistake of 1914” but Fayemi argues that calling Nigeria’s amalgamation a mistake would itself be a mistake, because the peoples that now make up Nigeria have interacted and traded with each other before the map that we now have was drawn. The United States, the richest, most powerful nation in the world, is similarly an amalgamation of several peoples, some of which had their own flags and defined territories before that amalgamation.
He, also, rightly in my view, questions those that blame all our problems on colonialism and posits that “Though now operated by Nigerians, the post-colonial state has been as alien and as predatory as its colonial predecessor.”
Fayemi posits that leaders must take responsibility and move away from the interminable blame game that tries to shift responsibility to others, including colonialists. The Kenyan Nobel Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai supports this view when she said: “Fifty years down the road, we ought to be doing things differently. You cannot blame corruption in Africa on colonialism. You cannot blame colonialism for the excessive lifestyles that African leaders assume. You cannot blame it for the mismanagement of the economy or the fact that we have not invested in education. Yes, colonialism was terrible, but we out to be moving away from that by now.”
Fayemi asserts that whatever defects Nigeria currently has can be corrected without having to collapse the whole structure. He offers his perspective on why Nigeria has not fulfilled its undeniable potential when he says “It appears to me however that the fundamental challenge is that all along, we have been placing the cart before the proverbial horse. Before we can think of development, we must first solve the problems of nation- building, because you cannot develop what you do not have.” He argues that there is a need to recompose the Nigerian state and make it derive its legitimacy from the people. This theme of restructuring reverberates throughout the book. While many have taken the term ‘restructuring’ to mean different things, he simply describes it as a way to reimagine our country to make it work effectively for everyone.
As we go into the political season, the focus of many Nigerians will be on which persons or groups will gain power and control over the rest of us. As we focus, rightly, on extending the longest continuous period of democratic rule that our country has ever had, let us also be mindful of the Jean Jacques Rousseau quote that says: “Before examining the act by which a nation elects a king, it would be proper to examine the act by which a nation becomes a nation; for this act, being necessarily anterior to the other, is the real foundation of the society.”
As Dr Fayemi said, we can correct the defects we have without having to collapse the whole structure. However, the need to reformulate our union will not go away and must be addressed if we are to move forward. Governance problems are unique, in that, left unattended, they only ever get worse, never better.
To examine the act by which Nigeria becomes a nation, it is my opinion that we need to set in motion a process that culminates in producing for us a totally new Constitution. That process must start with a patriotic dialogue about the kind of country we want. Although our current Constitution is said to have been modelled on the Constitution of the United States of America, the American Constitution has a certain endogenous legitimacy that the 1999 Constitution lacks: it was not handed to the American people by a military regime. The opening lines of the U.S. Constitution says: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union… do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” It is imperative that Nigerians have an honest dialogue that leads to a more perfect union. The fact that “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” did not actually “give to ourselves the Constitution” constitutes a fatal flaw that cannot be cured by constitutional amendment. We need a new Constitution.
The book’s second chapter continues with the theme of restructuring. It argues for a restructuring of the politico-administrative system to allow for a greater degree of decentralised and devolved power that births a more workable federal arrangement. It also proposes the adoption of certain justiciable rights, similar to the American Bill of Rights which formed the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The chapter also highlights the need for a national dialogue as a precursor to restructuring.
The third chapter is on the fascinating topic of ‘Intellectuals in Politics.’ Fayemi lays the foundation to the chapter by making references to the concept of the philosopher-king espoused by ancient Greek philosophers like Socrates, Pluto and Aristotle. He takes the position that “You need the enlightenment of the intellectuals and the raw talent of the grassroots politicians to be able to coagulate a workable political practice that serves the nation.” Coming to this realisation must have been a chastening experience for Fayemi, given that he lost his first re-election bid as Governor to the now infamous “stomach infrastructure” phenomenon. After eventually winning his re-election in 2018, I had privately asked him to reflect on his experience. With characteristic intellectual honesty, he said “Our administration was said to be too bookish.” However, he saw his re-election as a rejection of the short-termism and immediate gratification that came with ‘stomach infrastructure.’ While clearly not being a fan of ‘stomach infrastructure’, he did admit that every politician must acknowledge the place of populism and that “substance matters but symbols cannot be ignored.”
This is a realisation that any intellectual with political ambition will do well to bear in mind, particularly as the last decade has seen a global wave of populism and a disdain for intellectualism. The author makes clear that he is not suggesting that every intellectual goes into partisan politics but proposes that our politics requires “a new breed of enlightened, thoughtful, knowledgeable politicians with integrity and character, who are courageous, broadminded, balanced and are capable of living beyond their close circle to set a new path to our national rediscovery.”
Fayemi’s reflections on the issue of intellectuals in politics continues into the fourth chapter in the book where he tackles the recurring theme of restructuring and autonomy, drawing on lessons from the life of one of Nigeria’s founding fathers, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. Here, Fayemi, reiterates the point that a nation’s theory of development can only be derived from the consensus that has been forged on key national questions on issues such as identity, religion, participation, justice and the overall management of diversity.
Perhaps no intellectual in politics has been able to connect with the masses in the way that Mallam Aminu Kano did. His political philosophy was emancipatory politics, focused on the need to improve the lives of the ‘Talakawa’ (the ordinary citizen) through ideas, ideology and education, rather than through ‘stomach infrastructure.’ In framing the quest for national integration around the life of Mallam Aminu Kano in Chapter 5, Fayemi focuses on another theme on which there is a consistent thread throughout the book: the need for exemplary leadership. One is reminded of the Chinua Achebe quote from the book ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’ that “The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.” Leadership matters. Exemplary leadership matters more, as it is the connective tissue that binds the leader, including the intellectual-in-politics, to the ordinary citizen.
Chapter 6 emphasises the need for the media in Nigeria to continue to draw on its long tradition of promoting the imperatives of unity in diversity and democratic rule; and Chapter 7 tackles the thorny issue of the role of religion in elections.
Chapter 8 reflects on turning the adversity occasioned by Covid to opportunity. The lockdown in 2020 brought into very stark focus the fact that there are virtually no safety nets for artisans and people who can only earn their daily bread by setting forth each day. Fayemi saw the Covid crisis as an inflexion point that we must take advantage of to realign our country’s long-term priorities and reset our development agenda.
Chapter 9 focuses on national security challenges and recognises that, apart from the physical insecurity occasioned by ethno-religious violence, militancy and insurgency, there is also a pervading feeling of a lack of safety in the populace. This has been compounded by widespread kidnapping, drug-fuelled crimes, internet fraud, child trafficking and the rising wave of ritual killings in the quest to get rich quick. Fayemi draws on his deep knowledge and experience of the security sector to offer ideas about tackling many of these issues.
In Chapter 10, Fayemi returns to the issue of restructuring, in reviewing 20 years of democratisation in Nigeria. As an activist that was at the forefront of the struggle for a return to democratic rule, his assessment of successes and failures makes very interesting reading.
Without going as far as I did in calling for a totally new Constitution, he recognises that: “If the United States, a nation forged out of common purpose and common consent, perpetually seeks to make a more perfect union, it is evident that the task of nation-building will be far more difficult in a state created without the consent of the people and imposed by colonial power.”
He reiterates the need for devolution and decentralisation, based on honest national conversations and resolutions. Fayemi alludes to the fact that his political party, the All Progressives Congress, included ‘restructuring’ in their manifestos for 2015 and 2019 and says that they have been working towards it. One cannot but wonder whether this “working towards it” is the same “working on it” phrase popularly used by Nigerians when they want to avoid any attempt to pin them down to specific timeframes about any topic.
The postscript to the book returns to the issue of envisioning a new Nigeria that was the subject of the first chapter. It emphasises Fayemi’s support for Azikiwe’s postulation that the political union of Nigeria is destined to be perpetual and indestructible. He offers a proposal about how Nigerians can come together across political biases to forge a country that works for all Nigerians.
Overall, the book makes a compelling argument for the need to restructure Nigeria, and for decentralisation and devolution predicated on an honest national dialogue. It also highlights the imperative of intelligent, people-focused leadership anchored on personal example. It is unapologetically optimistic about the future of Nigeria as a coherent entity founded on unity, freedom, justice and equity. The book is a useful contribution to the debate about the future of Nigeria at a time when many Nigerians and lovers of Nigeria are wondering whether and when Nigeria would ever fulfill its undoubted potential. Unlike many publications that focus only on setting out the problems, Fayemi’s book goes further to outline practical suggestions for tackling some of the thorniest issues in our polity today. I have enjoyed reading the book ‘Unfinished Greatness’ and would recommend it to all.
