Ezekwesili to Nigerians: Resist Monopolistic Democracy

Segun James

Nigeria’s former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has asked Nigerians to fight against monopolistic democracy that was being practiced in the country at the moment.

She stated this at the inauguration of the Office Of The Citizen (OOTC), a concept worked out by #FixPolitics.

According to Ezekwesili, who is also the founder of #FixPolitics, if the citizen took his rightful place as the ultimate power in the political equation in the country, there would be a phenomenal shift in political engagement in the country.

His words: “The apathy and lethargy of Nigerians are what made the political class monopolist of our democracy. Now that monopoly will gradually be broken up and what we are doing today is to further accentuate the quality of engagement that citizens must have to break the democracy from being a monopoly in our country to be truly competitive.

“A competitive democracy is what leads to better quality governance. We now know that without quality governance, we are not going anywhere with development.”

Ezekwesili defined monopolistic democracy as a situation similar to a marketplace monopoly, adding that citizens must actively participate in governance to break the political elite’s monopolistic tendencies.

“Monopolistic democracy exists in Nigeria and some African countries because citizens are not empowered to participate actively in democratic processes. The reason we have monopolistic democracy is that we have citizens that cannot engage,” she said.

The Chief Executive Officer, the School of Politics, Policy and Governance, Mrs Alero Otobo, said the institution would give community organisers more power to sway voters.

Speaking on citizens’ awareness ahead of the 2023 elections, she said there was the phenomenal shift.

In her address, the Coordinating Chair of #FixPolitics Work Study Group 1, Mrs Bolatito Adeniyi-Aderoju, reminded citizens that, “by voting, we give authority to leaders to manage our collective resources.

“So, we must seek to choose leaders the way we choose football teams; elect leaders with competence, capacity and character. We need to vote in all elections, especially, elective positions close to the people, like local government chairmen and councillors.