The people and the choices they make

The elections have come and gone in most parts of the country and I believe it is time to take stock. It is all about making the right choices of the people who should represent or lead us at various levels.

Decision-making is a critical factor in human life and development. Everyone is made or marred by the choices they make at various points in life. This is why serious establishments select good thinkers who are well exposed to make up their boards to facilitate decision-making at every point.

I believe that one of the major setbacks of our democracy is that we do not have the luxury of picking out intelligent people to choose our leaders for us. It is an all-comers affair and, unfortunately, the masses in this part of the world are not really enlightened. No wonder a great wise man once said that democracy is the worst form of government because the foolish majority decides for the wise minority.

A lot of curious things happened in the just-concluded elections that should agitate the minds of well-meaning Nigerians. We saw cases where a candidate that most people acknowledged to be intelligent, upright and visionary was rejected by the same people at the polls because he did not share enough money. The same people would go ahead and vote for another candidate who is known to be fraudulent and untrustworthy. We saw cases where outstanding and well-qualified candidates were ditched and the polls favoured near-illiterate fellows who know their way around the electorate.

These are the reasons why our political space is brimming with criminal desperadoes who have nothing to offer to the people. Many such people who are in power have crippled the state machinery basically because they do not know the first thing about governance. Fortunately for these frauds, they know how to twist the people around their little fingers and win elections right after having broken every pact they had with the people at their first coming. The same people who have given out their mandate because they were given free wrappers, aprons, bags of rice and other trivia are the ones that will complain of bad governance tomorrow.

There is no magic that will make a wrong formula or process to produce a right answer. For as long as the people are willing to sell their votes to the highest bidders, we can never get it right. For as long as we still have this mentality of making the political office seeker pay us upfront, we cannot expect good governance from them.

The way I see it, our people have gone deep in this belief that it is only during electioneering periods that they can get their own share of the national cake. That means our democracy is in trouble. The people own democracy and it is up to them to shape it to what they want. They are the ones that give the politician instructions and not the other way round. They are the ones that should call the shots and the politicians should rise and obey them, knowing that the mandate belongs to the people.

If, for instance, a dubious politician carries bags of money to his constituency during elections and no one accepts his money, he will realize that the game has changed. For such a man to aspire for another position of authority, he will see the urgent need to appease the people by embarking on projects that the people need and carry them out to their satisfaction. This is the only way such a people will experience true growth.

Unfortunately, what obtains in our clime is that the people will fall over themselves scrambling for anything the politician comes with, mainly because of the pervasive hunger in the land. This singular factor gives the politician an undue advantage over the electorate and I cannot help feeling that they deliberately keep the masses in this state of hunger for their selfish ends.

Another factor that seriously undermines the people in a democracy is lack of enlightenment. There is no conscious effort on the part of our leaders to address the issue of qualitative and relevant education. There is hardly any school subject that is programmed to specifically instil pride of being and patriotism in the learners. History is one subject that should fill this gap but it has been systematically wiped out of our curriculum. Even when it was taught, it was mainly foreign history. The Nigerian child would be told of great warriors and kings of other climes that have no bearing with his own country.

There is an urgent need to package our history and make it part of the curriculum. Let the children know who our heroes and villains are. That is how to equip posterity to be judges. That is also how the children can prepare their young minds to choose the right path in the future. 

Another urgent issue is to make voter education a continuous exercise, not only during elections but at all times. The government should see the need to raise the awareness level of the electorate to pave way for credible polls and, by extension, good governance. I wish to implore our leaders to invest in the people intellectually so as to enable them take their rightful place in a democracy. Good governance will guarantee a better society for everyone. They may be benefitting from the mass ignorance and hunger now but tomorrow, that same mass ignorance may consume them or their pampered children.

NNENNA IHEBOM