The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI), branch, in a statement signed by its chairman, Professor Ayoola Akinwole said, “The Nigerian state cannot, as of today claim it is democratic because it exhibits such facades of democracy as a plurality of parties and elected representatives.”
“These facades have in fact belied or give a wrong idea of undemocratic government, government in the interest of particular classes or sectional groups rather than government in the interest of the entire people. The open display of flagrant disrespect for the Nigeria naira during the parties’ primaries is no longer news, even at a time when our universities are under lock and keys; and millions of Nigerians cannot afford good meal twice a day, and when the standard of living for average Nigerians is below one dollar”, the union explained.
The statement reads: “A country whose political dispensation intentionally excludes her best brains and intellectuals to the exclusive of money bags is obviously far from being truly democratic. We all know that the highest paid university Professor in Nigeria is the Professor at bar, that is, a professor who has spent 10 years in that cadre. As of February 2022, the monthly take home of Nigerian Professor is ₦416,000.00k, totalling ₦4,992,000 per annum. Assuming a professor is so prudent and saves 20% of this amount, such will have saved ₦998,400. It will take such a professor over 100 years to buy the presidential nomination form of the ruling party and over 40 years to buy the form in the main opposition party. It would take 50 years to buy gubernatorial form in the former party and over 21 years to do so in the latter. Obviously, the exclusion strategy of the political elites is clear. The slogan is simple -‘NotoAcademicsinNigerianPoliticalOffices’
“Excluding the best brains in our society from participating in politics will never do the country any good. It is a strategy of handing over the country to those individuals who have looted the country in the past. If this practice goes unchallenged, Nigerians are in for not just another regime of poor governance but extreme corruption and looting. The bastardization of democracy in Nigeria characterized by the absence of liberty and equality has thus led to the various crises we now experience, which in turn led to insecurity and instability in the country.”
According to ASUU, “Disappointingly and unfortunately, twenty-three years after the return of democracy to Nigeria, the Nigerian citizenry are yet to enjoy the benefits and dividends of democracy.
“For instance, the basic social amenities enjoyed by the citizens of other advanced democracies are still elusive and far-fetched in Nigeria. There is still an epileptic power supply, inadequate and dysfunctional health care system, dilapidated road networks, dysfunctional educational system occasioned by poor funding and neglect by the government and ruling class. Similarly, the twin principles of liberty and equality on which modern democracy is founded are relatively absent in the Nigerian democracy. The absence of liberty can be exemplified in the incessant molestation of the citizenry by the ruling class and their agents. This is epitomized in the use of security operatives and the armed forces to brutalize Nigerians who embark on peaceful demonstrations (which is the universally accepted means of expressing grievances) as was the case during the “EndSars” protest in October 2020 and during the recent protest by the Nigerian students who were calling on the government to pay attention to the education sector and resolve its difference with the university unions in order to reopen the Universities in Nigeria, closed since 14 February 2022. Again, equality, which is a fundamental human right and enshrined in the Nigerian constitution is far from being implemented in the Nigerian democratic space. Equality calls for equal access to the justice system and benefits accruable from the citizenship of the Nigerian state. For instance, equal access to education is not guaranteed, which explains the high rate of illiteracy and out of school children in Nigeria.”
Stressing that the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government lacks democratic leadership style, ASUU noted, “Given the prevailing level of corruption and loss of hope in the future, political leaders in Nigeria have shown lack of willingness and the capacity to protect lives and properties and they have successively failed in promoting productive activities that can boost the Nigerian economy. We use this opportunity to tell the government to do more than pay lip service to democratic culture and values.
“With the emergence of flag bearers for the different political parties, nothing will change in Nigeria except we substitute this system with the one that will give more opportunity for equitable distribution of wealth instead of leaving it in the hands of the few who are used to oppressing the people by giving them tokens. The public institutions can still work effectively alongside the private initiatives. We need to rebuild the Nigerian nation to accommodate more access to education with democracy, security and economy as the educational content”, the union added.
The Union urged Nigerians, “both the ruling class and the entire citizenry to engage in soul-searching and initiate policies and adopt attitudes that will save Nigerian democracy from imminent danger of collapse.
It stated further, “We urge the ruling elites to shun corruption, greed and primitive accumulation as well as desist from fanning the embers and cinders of disunity and violence. We also urge the government to do the needful by providing the citizenry with the basic physical and social infrastructure as well as provide employment opportunities in order to reduce poverty and crime. Most importantly, the government should take the education of the citizens seriously by declaring state of emergency on the education sector, provide adequate funding and honour the agreements it reached with the Labour Unions so as to ensure stable education system, which will contribute to the growth of the economy and stability of the country.
“The citizenry should not allow themselves to be instruments in the hands of desperate politicians who are hell bent on destabilizing the country for their personal gains as against the general well-being. We urge the opinion leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders and all social influencers to prevail on the government to invest in the education of the citizenry and in other basic social amenities capable of raising the standard of living of Nigerians.
“That our democracy may thrive, a large mass of middle class should be created as well as social and economic equity so as to enable the people to exercise their civic duty conscientiously without being induced by pecuniary gains, due to chronic poverty, what has been derisively described as “the politics of stomach infrastructure.” Modern democracy begins with the middle class and where the middle class is too small, democracy cannot go on well, but in advanced nations the middle class are much, so democracy has to be supported. Thus, poverty is synonymous with the challenge to the success of democracy. Large middle class always supports democracy. People are easy to manipulate during elections because they are too poor to refuse to be manipulated. The economic context of the third World country constitutes the impediment to the success of democracy.
“Until we improve our economic situation, democracy will not prosper. The only antidote to this is to have large percentage of middle class sufficient to support democracy. Build public institutions instead of giving money to people. No amount money given freely will ever eradicate poverty in Nigeria.”
