Nigeria’s democracy hijacked by thugs, drug barons – Ex-Ogun commissioner

A former Commissioner for Data and Technique in Ogun State, Dr. Niran Malaolu, mentioned that 25 years after, democratic rule has carried out little or nothing to assuage the pains of residents

Malaolu lamented that the nation’s democracy has been hijacked by thugs, drug barons and conscienceless looters who’ve continued within the lengthy army rule trajectory of misgovernance and high-level corruption and inefficiency.

He mentioned that the completely different army dictators who dominated the nation from January 1966 to 1999 democratised corruption, formulated unstable financial insurance policies, inspired a tradition of lawlessness, deserted agriculture for petroleum, amongst others and left behind a really dysfunctional society.

The previous commissioner and one-time Editor of the defunct Food plan Newspaper, disclosed this on Friday whereas delivering a keynote deal with on the second version of the Kunle Olubode Lecture Collection with the theme, “Democracy, Values System and the Constructing of a New Society,” in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.

He mentioned that Nigerians have needed to endure disastrous financial, political, and social turbulence of the army guidelines.

Malaolu mentioned, “Underneath the army juntas, corruption was democratised. Their horrible financial insurance policies created instability and disaffection. Agriculture, our conventional financial mainstay, was deserted.

“The juntas disdained science and expertise. They targeted primarily on exports of oil, which is prone to frequent fluctuations in costs and that has led to an unstable economic system.

“The jackboot regimes had been characterised by gross mismanagement, malicious incompetence, unbridled waste, and personalisation of public workplaces and public assets.

“The muse of the widespread poverty we expertise in the present day was laid by successive army regimes horrible financial insurance policies of the Nineteen Eighties.”

He regretted that years after chasing the army again to the barracks, the operators of the nation’s democracy have continued within the misgovernance of the army guidelines as “Our  political areas have been taken over by thugs, drug barons and conscienceless looters.”

Malaolu lamented that elections and democracy in Nigeria are replete with political thuggery, poll stuffing, poll snatching, and different types of electoral malpractice.

He careworn that, “Sadly, due to these anomalies, individuals who get into completely different political workplaces are not often the individuals’s decisions and, as such, they govern with out the care and wellbeing of the individuals at coronary heart.

“The individuals we gave energy to, in our democracy, are actually utilizing the powers to harass us, intimidate us and, worst of all, pauperise us.

“We will’t transport ourselves as gasoline costs are unaffordable. We will’t journey easily on the roads because the roads are usually not motorable. We will’t transfer safely about as kidnappers and bandits are lurking round.

“We will’t eat as meals costs are past the attain of the poor. We will’t do enterprise as taxes are suffocating us. We will’t protest as we’re focused as rebels. What’s our democracy for?”

Whereas proffering the best way out of this logjam, Malaolu mentioned that the nation should comply with put off current presidential system of presidency which is just too costly and encourages wasteful spending.

He mentioned that as an alternative of the presidential system of presidency, the nation ought to embrace a parliamentary system, positing that it will improve nationwide progress.

He argued that till Nigerian leaders undertake Gesellschaft society as posited by a German sociologist, economist, and thinker, Ferdinand Tonnie, issues wouldn’t transfer in the appropriate path, and the true definition of democracy wouldn’t come into play.

He defined that Gesellschaft society is one through which individuals come collectively and are organised primarily based on rational consideration.

Malaolu revealed that “Coming collectively primarily based on rational consideration is what our society has not been in a position to do or is afraid to do.

“If we do, then we’ll know that our present presidential system of presidency is just too costly and must be jettisoned for a parliamentary system of consultant democracy.”

He additionally posited that the recurrent expenditure of Nigeria is just too excessive to be sustainable, including {that a} society that always spends over 70% of its earnings on recurrent expenditure is sure to break down.

Malaolu concluded that individuals ought to collectively current a individuals’s constitution to the federal government, noting that the “Folks’s Constitution of Demand shall include necessities for a basic change in the best way our society is ruled.

“Such paperwork should deal with the individuals’s wants in several sectors together with schooling, well being, transportation, housing, and safety amongst others.”

In his goodwill message, the Olu of Ilaro and paramount ruler of Yewa land, Oba, Kehinde Olugbenle, inspired actual property surveyors and valuers to abide by the ethics of the occupation.

Oba Olugbenle mentioned that surveyors should at all times stand to guard the occupation no matter wherever they discover themselves whereas lamenting over the misconduct of some members on the compensation of Lagos/Calabar Coastal highway.

The State Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Property Surveyors and Valuers, Pastor Bola Orekoya, referred to as on the federal government and different stakeholders to begin participating professionals with regards to property issues and property valuation and cease utilizing politics or politicising every little thing.