The Decline of Democratic Civility
BY EUGENIA ABU
I was travelling in the Gambia many years ago when a taxi driver in whose car my friend and I were riding stopped suddenly and asked us to disembark. He had taken umbrage to the suggestion by my friend that the then Gambian President, the self-styled herbal curer of HIV aids, Yahaya Jammeh was a strange man who had built a tower in self-aggrandisement. I had previously explained to my friend that a poisoned arrow of words aimed at the president of a country was not what tourists did. The taxi driver forgave her after much pleas and we went on our merry way.
While she was entitled to her opinion, my friend had been an ungracious tourist displaying a high level of incivility. Her approach, her language, and her bombastic nature got the goat of the taxi driver. A debatable issue in democracies is around what is advisory and what is mandatory for citizens. So, should we insult a president in traffic or even closer home should we insult each other in traffic? It is certainly cliché but still a much needed one, to say that one must treat a fellow world traveller the way they wish to be treated. And certainly, with freedom comes responsibility.
In Nigeria, a president, and it does not matter which one, is cannon fodder for citizens and whoever is giving them a commercial ride. From regular taxi drivers to the new app drivers, there is no limit to what you can say about the leadership of Africa’s most populous nation or anyone for that matter. It is unlikely that a Nigerian taxi driver would be so offended by a tourist insulting their leader that he would pull up and politely ask him to disembark. Often, they would in fact join in the fray and invent new invectives and give the tourist some sneak peek to undo his nation’s leader.
Many years ago, when I was still active as a national television anchor, I had taken a ride from the famous Balogun market back home. I was in disguise, sunglasses, face cap etc. If you did not know me prior, I was unrecognisable. The taxi driver had spent 3/4 of the ride completely stripping my fellow anchor. He was travelling with his brother and had pleaded that he rode along which I obliged. Upon arrival, I identified myself. He knew the game was up and ran for dear life. He did not know my colleague well enough to disembody her so badly.
Professor of law and author Stephen Carter in his famous article, ‘The Etiquette of Democracy’, posits that his point is not to tell us how to speak, “my point is to argue that how we speak is simply one point on the continuum of right and wrong ways to treat one another. And how we treat one another is what civility. As Carter rightly puts it, saying hello to a stranger on the street or driving with a bit more care are acts of generosity. Moving into this new cycle of democracy, what has happened to us traffic wise cannot be explained. And it has been a long time coming. It is time to ponder whether our road rage, reckless driving, drunk driving, over speeding, overloading, juvenile driving and use of cell phones while driving is meant to be on the rise within a democratic system. Is freedom stripping us of discipline on our roads?
It is on the streets of Nigeria that the driver of a car clearly marked National Assembly tried to take with him the leg of a pedestrian before my very eyes, it is on the streets that a four-year-old child of a friend was knocked down dead by a drunk driver while taking a walk with her father in their estate. It is on the streets that young adults play a dangerous game in Abuja driving round and round at a designated location and smashing expensive cars. It is on our streets and roads that we lose our young and old. The report “Burden of Road Injuries in Sub-Saharan Africa” classifies Nigeria as having the highest road injury and death rate [52.4 per 100,000 people] of any country in the world. Of the many causes of road accidents in Nigeria, poor vehicle maintenance, fatigue, and bad driving habits rank very high.
We seem to be disinterested in civility as we make our way on our roads. We are often dismissive, rude and foul mouthed at the slightest obstacle in our way. We are impatient with each other, and an otherwise decent individual suddenly changes in traffic. Is enforcement good enough? I doubt it very much. Are our traffic wardens well placed, well paid, and respected enough to do the job? Not at all.
We now return to traffic and democracy beyond traffic manners and courtesy to other drivers. After 25 years of democracy, what do we bring to the table in traffic as citizens. Most times, it’s a lack of discipline and a truly disrespectful behaviour towards other drivers. Can we look towards best practices to get where we should be, so that my British friend Dr Arnot does not say all the time that he thinks he might die in traffic in Nigeria between his office and his home, ten minutes between each other? It sounds extreme, but when you see the traffic democracy especially in urban spaces in Nigeria, it is truly insane. What about corruption in the system and implementation and enforcement by traffic agencies?
Conceptualised by Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, and Nigeria’s first Corps Marshall, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is a brilliant initiative, and subsequent Corps Marshalls have stepped up the game. Other African nations have come to study it. All car papers are now fully digitalised, but there are other agencies in the business of road safety. Has that reduced traffic congestion or even Nigeria’s statistics for injuries and fatalities?
There is still so much to be done as we celebrate 25 years of democratic dispensation. Some studies have indicated that efficient democracies have better traffic management and fewer traffic fatalities, but that’s conversation for another day. More recently, scholars and practitioners in urban planning development and rural infrastructure development have averred that in our cities, towns, and hinterlands, there isn’t a more democratic space than our streets and sidewalks.
As described by urban planner Ken Clark, buildings are exclusive as homes, but the streets are inclusive, collectively ours to window shop and people-watch. But then cars and traffic have taken over that democratic space. So, town planners, architects, and city administrators are now pushing for more space on the street for humans, for coming together, for eating al fresco, for long time no sees and of course for suya and street food. These scholars are pushing for complete streets, a typology that establishes and solidifies the uniqueness of the street as a democratic public space, where pedestrians matter and sidewalks and nature exist while ensuring that our environment is not designed only to take place behind the wheel.
Dutch Traffic Engineer Hans Munderman in the 1960s posited that overabundance of signs, raised curbs, and myriad traffic signs. He considered this a power structure ruled by people behind the wheel, a kind of vehicular dictatorship. Can you see a Nigerian city fitting into this? Engineer Hans felt this vehicular dictatorship was unsafe for everyone and hoped to recreate a street where motorists would be forced to rely on eye contact and the awareness of others. Some cities across the world are doing this described as “shared spaces” in literature on a limited scale.
Traffic democracy in Nigeria can be better, traffic management can be better, being respectful to other road users is courtesy, and civility is part of democratic growth. In the next couple of years, would Nigeria improve her ghastly traffic road accidents narrative, or can technology make a difference to our shared spaces? As we celebrate democracy day 2024, please keep an eye on your driver, be more civil if you drive, and be kinder to your fellow traveller.
EUGENIA ABU A former Executive Director at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Mrs Abu is a veteran Nigerian Broadcaster and award-winning writer. She is currently the Managing partner/ CEO of The Eugenia Abu Media. She is on the board of several international and national organisations, including the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, and Veritas University. Mrs Abu is an external advisor for the On Nigeria programme of MacArthur Foundation
