Keynote Address by His Excellency, Alh. Aminu Bello Masari, CFR
at the 2024 Democracy Day Anniversary Lecture, Held at the State House Conference Centre Abuja
THEME: “25 Years of Enduring Democracy: The Prospects for
The Future”
Protocols:
Permit me to start this short address with two things.
The first is to express my profound gratitude.
By Allah’s special mercies, I have been lucky to be more than an ordinary participant in our democratic journey in the last 25 years, serving first as a parliamentarian, then as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and until recently as a two-term governor of my state.
Many are called, but a few are chosen.
I thank the Almighty for His special favour in my life; I thank Nigerians for giving me the opportunity to serve at the highest levels; and I thank you for finding me worthy of delivering the keynote address at one of the activities marking a major milestone of our democracy. Thank you.
The second is to extend my heart-felt congratulations to all Nigerians on the 25th anniversary of continuous civil rule in our country.
A quarter of a century is a major milestone in the life of any organism or entity, be it an individual, an organisation, or a nation.
So, congratulations are in order. I hereby extend my warm felicitations to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to other Excellencies here present, and to all Nigerians across the nooks and crannies of our country.
It is easy to take for granted how far we have come in the last 25 years and the challenges that we have confronted and surmounted in the process.
That is the nature of human beings. But an occasion like this should also allow us to take a pause, look back, then look forward.
Many may not remember now, but we started the 4th Republic on a note of anxiety and uncertainty.
When we set out on this journey in 1998/1999, some Nigerians entertained doubts that democracy would endure for long.
Very clearly, Nigerians were tired of military rule, but there was also a sense, even if not loudly expressed, that the military might soon be back.
Those who refused to participate in the process at that time and those who entertained doubts at the beginning of this republic were not just being risk-averse or unduly pessimistic.
They were relying heavily on our previous history with democracy.
Recall that our First Republic lasted under six years, our Second Republic was for a little over four years, and our Third Republic didn’t really take off.
Combined, our experience with democracy as at 1999 was around 10 years, out of 39 years as an independent country.
So, it wasn’t unusual to have doubts, secretly or openly, and to entertain the fear that democracy might be jinxed in Nigeria or that the Fourth Republic might suffer the fate of its predecessors. It wasn’t a baseless fear.
That sense of doubt and fear still lingered in 2003, when we had our first post-transition election.
The reason for this is simple: things usually start falling apart after the second cycle of elections.
Our First Republic didn’t survive the rancour and violence that followed the 1965 general election.
Neither did the Second Republic survive the turmoil that followed the 1983 elections.
But we successfully broke the jinx in 2003, and here we are marking 25 years of continuous civil rule.
We have broken other records in this journey. We have conducted consecutive seven cycles of elections.
Recall that we had only two cycles of elections each in the first and second republics, and only one election cycle in the Third Republic, which was even annulled.
In this republic, we have had transition of power from one president to another three times: in 2007, from President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua; in 2015, from President Goodluck Jonathan to President Muhammadu Buhari; and in 2023, from President Muhammadu Buhari to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
We didn’t have such a privilege in the three previous republics. We have also had two presidents who served out two terms of eight years and we have also had the transfer of power from one party to another.
We didn’t have any of such in earlier republics. Overtime too, our elections have become more competitive, as we all can see from the results of the 2023 elections.
Our democracy can thus be said to be maturing in both age and temperament. It has been tested on many occasions, and it has stood firm.
I will like to refresh our memory about two major moments of trial for our democracy.
The first is the Third Term Saga. As part of the constitutional amendment process in 2005/2006, there was a proposal for a third term for the president and the governors.
This was in the build-up to the 2007 general election. The proposal and the moves to get it passed shook the country to its foundations.
Though they didn’t say so openly and some of them continue to deny it till now, but the sitting president and most of the state governors wanted the amendment.
The advocates argued that more time would be needed to deliver sustainable development. Those opposed to it felt that it was immoral for the proponents to be the beneficiaries and that it could lead to life presidency and possibly dictatorship.
I was the Speaker of the House of Representatives then and I was privileged to be in the front row as history was unfolding.
On 6th May 2006, the Third Term Agenda was defeated. The country heaved a loud sigh of relief. It is important to remind ourselves that this major test came at a time when the Fourth Republic was still in its infancy.
The republic was just seven years old at that time. The second test came also early in the day. This was the uncertainty that followed the sickness of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and his failure or inability to transfer power to then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.
The uncertainty and the heat generated could have given the military an excuse to strike. And there was indeed some clamour and whispering in some quarters for that. But the Armed Forces exercised the needed restraints.
The political class, with the National Assembly in the lead, deployed political sagacity to fashion out the doctrine of necessity, and the gridlock was resolved.
As we mark this important milestone of our democracy, we need to specially appreciate and acknowledge our armed forces not only for continuing to protect the country, but also for allowing our democracy to grow.
It was not unlikely that during those trying periods some politicians and other disgruntled people were winking at or encouraging the military to take over. But they refused to be dragged in.
We call on our armed forces to continue in that professional and principled path. There will always be challenges in a democracy, but the system also has adequate inbuilt mechanisms for resolving such challenges.
We have faced other key challenges, chief of which is lingering insecurity and the threat posed to the security of life and property by terrorists, bandits and insurgents in different parts of the country.
But we have also made progress in many other areas in the last 25 years. Look around Abuja and go around the country, and compare the level of physical, social and human development in 2024 to that of 1999.
It is easy to take some of these things for granted. This is not to say we couldn’t have done much better, especially in the management of our economic and social affairs, and in terms of making the country more secure. We could and should have.
It is on this note that I will quickly turn to a few issues that should be on the front burner as we contemplate the future of our democracy. I will make five points in this regard.
The first point is that we need to pay serious and continuous attention to the shifts in the perception of Nigerians about our democracy. It is easy to think that our democracy can continue to weather the storms because we have had 25 years of unbroken civil rule.
That might be misleading. Democracy can continue to endure only when the people think it is desirable and thus worth keeping and defending.
According to a 2022 survey by Afrobarometer, 70% of Nigerians polled prefer democracy to other forms of government. That is the good news. But 77% of those surveyed are not satisfied with the way democracy works in Nigeria, up from 57% in 2017.
This should get us worried. We need to understand why our people are gradually losing faith in democracy, and we need to consciously strengthen their faith in democracy.
The second point, which is related to the first, is that we need to put more effort in delivering the benefits of democracy to the vast majority of our people.
Democracy as an idea is great. But people cannot eat it. Scholars such as Amartya Sen, the Economics Nobel Laureate, talk about the instrumental value of democracy, which is about how democracy should serve as an instrument for or a bridge to a better life for the people.
Our people call it the Dividends of Democracy. People do not want democracy for its sake. They want democracy to translate to material benefits for them.
They want concrete dividends from democracy. We thus need to redouble our efforts to eliminate poverty, reduce inequality, deepen human capacities and expand opportunities in our society.
My third point is that we need to pay special attention to the needs and mindsets of our youths. The youths constitute an overwhelming majority of our population today.
It is projected that by 2050, Nigeria will be the third most populous country in the world, with a preponderance of young people. Nigeria can become a global economic powerhouse if we harness the full potential of our youths.
To realise this benefit, the so-called democratic dividend, we need to create the enabling environment for our youths, and by extension our country, to thrive.
Most of our youths are not satisfied with the system today, and they are checking out of the country in large numbers, mostly because of lack of opportunities for them to actualise their dreams.
Let’s create the opportunities for them to stay back at home and contribute their quota to the development of our country.
On a related note, more than half of our population today are under the age of 25. This means that most of our citizens were born after 1999. This group includes a significant number of people of voting age today. I call them critical voters.
It is important to pay close attention to this group of citizens. On one hand, they can be called the children of democracy. They should be natural defenders of democracy.
But on the other hand, they have no memory of how bad the alternative to democracy could be, and they may not be keen about defending democracy.
Our task as leaders and elders is to sustain the faith of our youth in our country and our democracy.
The fourth point I want to make is the need to redefine our concept of local governance. We need to ensure that there is adequate and effective governance where it matters the most: at the local level, which is where most of our people live.
One of the reasons why local government areas are not functioning effectively is because of the constitutional confusion about their status.
On one hand, the local government areas are supposed to be autonomous of the states and are all listed in the constitution.
But the same constitution creates joint accounts for States and LGAs, puts the LGAs under the supervision of the states, and mandates the State parliaments to make laws for the LGAs.
My considered opinion is that we should redefine the functions and structure of local Governments and remove the confusion enshrined in the Constitution on their status.
This doesn’t mean that we are going to abolish the Local Government Areas. But we should allow each State to decide how many administrative units it wants to have based on its resources and needs.
We should also allow local governance to be adapted to local realities, rather than aim for uniformity across the country.
My last point is a passionate appeal to my fellow politicians and the populace.
We all need to continue to do our parts in strengthening and deepening our democracy. Politicians need to be more sensitive to the needs and the feelings of the people.
We need to continue to remember that democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people. It is not just the government of the politicians by the politicians and for the politicians.
In representative democracy, elected politicians merely hold power in trust for the people. We therefore need to prioritise the needs of the populace ahead of our own needs.
We also need to become better democrats. We need to fully imbibe the culture of democracy. We need good winners and good losers.
On their part, our people also need to be more patient with the country. While 25 years of civil rule or 64 years of independence is a long time, it is just a speck in the life of a nation.
Most of the countries that we are eager to compare Nigeria to today went through their challenging moments too. They were totally different from the countries that we know 200 years ago.
Nation-building takes time. We also need to be more patient with democracy, which by its nature is slow and complex. Democracy is about process, which may make it difficult for issues to be addressed or resolved with immediate effect.
It is not without challenges, but democracy is still the best form of government. We need to stay faithful to it.
I want to conclude by praying for democracy to continue to grow in our land, not just in years but also in quality, and for the overall benefit of the mass of our people.
Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for listening. God bless.
Whatsapp: +2348187780299 Email: [email protected]
