In Nigeria as in many African countries, many politicians never retire; even when they are old and are no longer useful in the system, they always prefer to die in the corridors of power.
A few politicians only go back to their original trade after their exit from politics. Three readily examples come to mind of those who after serving meritoriously, decided to move on with their lives. They are former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Akinwumi Adesina and ex-Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Arunma Oteh. While Okonjo-Iweala currently chairs the Board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the African Risk Capacity (ARC), Adesina is the President of the African Development Bank and Oteh is the Treasurer and Vice President of the World Bank.
The recent nomination of a former senator in Osun State as a commissioner has elicited debate about Nigeria’s ex-political office holders who refuse to go back to their professions.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola had on Tuesday April 18 forwarded the name of Mudasiru Hussein alongside others to the State Assembly for confirmation as commissioner.
Hussein, who was elected into Senate between 2011 and 2015, was also a two-term member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives.
But Hussein is not the only Nigerian politician who has left a high political position to a lower one with the aim of remaining relevant in the system. Ejaife Odebala, current chairman, Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State also falls into this category. He was a two-term elected member of the Delta State House of Assembly, a commissioner for almost four years and governorship aspirant in the state.
Unlike in some other places in the world where professionals who ventured into politics go back to their trades after their tenures in government, Nigerian politicians after they leave office continue to hang around the seat of power and refuse to engage in other meaningful jobs. At best, they become overnight contractors and consultants.
In advanced democracies where governors contest for higher positions as Senators or President, the reverse is the case in this part of the world; after serving two-terms as governor, an average Nigerian politician contests for senatorial seat not necessarily for service but as ‘pension’ to remain relevant in politics. While a school-of-thought considers the development as a ‘demotion and retrogression’, another school-of-thought disagrees, insisting that politicians who have tasted higher political offices and taking responsibility at a lower level would bring their wealth of experience into such positions.
To professional politicians, politics is seen as an end in itself and not a means to an end.
This was vividly captured by a former lawmaker and one-time Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Florence Ita-Giwa who recently defected from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to her, she joined the ruling party to remain relevant in politics, expressing regret that she had been ‘idle’ in the opposition party.
“APC offers me a stable platform to continue my political carrier. I don’t want to be watching my country Nigeria on television; I want to join hands to work to make Nigeria Great again. In all those years I held no position in the PDP, so I could just wonder away,” she affirmed.
What then is responsible for the upsurge of professional politicians in the country? Analysts have attributed the development to pecuniary reasons and the paraphernalia of office.
They cite the remuneration packages attached to political positions to include: Annual Salaries, Accommodation, Vehicle Maintenance and Fuel, Personal Assistants, House Maintenance, Domestic Staff, Entertainment, Utilities Allowances, Leave Allowance, Hardship Allowance, Wardrobe Allowance, Newspapers Allowance among others.
In a chat with BDSUNDAY, an Abuja-based political analyst, Taiye Odewale, submitted that Nigerian politicians strive to hold on to public offices not because of genuine service to their community but to the fact that politicians now see politics as the fastest means to financial empowerment.
He said: “Politics in this part of the world is one of the easiest ways to immediate fortune. If you are a politician and you are lucky to stand for election and you win at whatever level – be it from counsellorship level to presidency – definitely the person will have a sudden turnaround in terms of material wealth far above his or her peers who remain in their profession. His peers may improve on the average but his own will be a catapulted one. And he won’t want to drop back to their level.
“And you know, we have a very wrong value here. Anyone who succeeds in winning election into public office is already rated very high in the society. He will not want to go back. For example if the person came from the classroom like Ibrahim Shekarau (former governor and Minister) did in Kano, so you expect him to go back to the classroom as a secondary school teacher?”
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
