By Abiodun Komolafe
Approaching the midpoint of a momentous year already defined by dramatic twists and turns, a critical mid-term review and scenario planning for the remaining months is not out of order. To be meaningful, any such exercise must anchor itself on how we interpret – in view of our immediate realities – the very concept of a social contract within a democracy.
Look across the board and answer this question unpretentiously: Is our kind of democracy serving the purpose for which it was originally intended, and how far has it gone in solving our problems as a nation?
Without doubt, much of our current national disconnect stems from a fundamental defect: we are operating a democracy while remaining acutely unaware of the unwritten rules that anchor it – chiefly, the social contract between the leaders and the led. Worse still, even those benefiting most from this democracy seem to doubt its ability to engender true development. Tragically, we remain a people who base vital decisions on the sentiments of religion, ethnicity and gender, rather than on merit or national interest.
You do not “rule” in a democracy; you govern. The distinction is fundamental, yet it remains one of those unstated boundaries our political class routinely crosses. That said, Nigeria’s erosion of quality is largely due to the collapse of what we might call quality control. Standards are down across the board, in every facet of national life. The country whose personnel and structures were once greatly admired by African nations that obtained independence after us is now a thing of the past; we have moved away from being a shining beacon for others to emulate. This is tragic, and it is a key to understanding why over 139 million people are trapped in multidimensional poverty in a major oil-producing nation that should, by now, be a post-COVID one-trillion-dollar economy. How indeed are the mighty fallen in the heat of the contest for modernity?
Again, the current administration must remember the profound warning written by Italian political philosopher Antonio Gramsci from his prison cell: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” Sad that Nigeria is living through these very symptoms today, manifest in the terrifying realities of kidnapping, terrorism, banditry and economic stagnation. We are, quite literally, living in Gramsci’s “age of monsters.”
To regain quality, the social contract must be reinforced in favour of the overwhelming majority and their families. We must return to the standards we once held during what now looks like a golden age. The “Nigerian factor” must never again be used as an everyday excuse. The self-depreciation must stop. Nigeria must now insist on quality control, making international best practices the baseline for all operations.
Anyone in doubt about the efficacy of this approach need look no further than Singapore. When Singapore was shoved out, kicking and screaming, of the Malay federation in 1965, no one saw it as anything more than a predictable basket case destined to live on international charity until the end of time. The country had no natural resources worth thinking about, and even had to rely on Malaysia for drinking water.
Singapore today enjoys one of the highest standards of living and a highly balanced economy because it had a leadership that benchmarked its development against the best in the world, and even beyond. The results are beyond reasonable doubt. Singapore now boasts the most efficient and admired sea and airports in the world. Even the veritable Port of Los Angeles uses the Port of Singapore as its benchmark, sending its officers there to study operations and burnish their own skills.
The same goes for human capital development, where the country has some of the best nursery, primary and secondary schools, alongside outstanding universities. Nigeria must now insist on benchmarking everything against international best practices; otherwise, we will transit “from tragedy into farce.”
In reality, true self-development requires those at the helm to take the bull by the horns. Nations like China, Malaysia and India succeeded because they committed to a vision. They refused to succumb to the policy somersaults that plague others; and, predictably, they are now reaping the rewards of that discipline.
Out of higher standards of quality will come a more equitable and just society based on shared prosperity, in line with the central ethos of the social contract. This is how that society becomes more productive, turning productivity into the engine room of a balanced economy that will eventually drive out poverty. After all, there is no gain without pain – just as there can be no Easter Sunday without the sacrifice of Good Friday.
A focus on production would increase revenue and boost incomes, serving as the essential first step towards escaping the poverty trap. This is “old hat”, a concept exhaustively analyzed by development economists over the last 50 to 60 years, many of whom have rightly earned the Nobel Prize for their work. Therefore, the path is well-known. Unfortunately, it is a path that cannot be taken by an “Aristocracy of Labour” fixated solely on short-term personal aggrandizement.
We know from economic history that shared prosperity is a magic formula to incentivize the population into attaining higher levels of production. It is also true that higher levels of production generate more funding for education, health and both social and physical infrastructure. The gains are huge, meaning that equity, like quality, can only be achieved if it is based on a vigorous interpretation of the social contract.
Propriety can only be achieved in a country striving for higher standards of quality, equity and social justice – all propelled by increased production. Propriety cannot be ascertained in a dog-eat-dog economic framework. It can only come about through guaranteed minimal standards, an acceptable quality of life, and the aspirational desires of the overwhelming majority of the population.
History has a way of masking harsh contradictions … Had Nigeria not sadly jettisoned the Lyttleton Constitution, we would have achieved all of this 66 years ago. Under the Lyttleton Constitution bedrocked on production, our country was on its way. On October 1, 1960, Nigeria possessed one of the most promising emerging economies in the world. Fast forward 66 years, we have slid drastically down global rankings. The facts are incontrovertible. Even if the principalities and powers of entrenched interests prevent us from returning to the structure, tone and core argument of the Lyttleton Constitution, we must go back to its accompanying ethos and norms. In an unstated way, these values had the development of a social contract as their operating driving force.
A powerful historical example comes from Edward Gibbon’s classic, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Instructive for us is Gibbon’s observation that the collapse of Rome coincided directly with a sharp decline in the standards used to select those who ended up in the senate. When that body was filled with the nation’s best and brightest, Rome was unassailable. But when the quality of its leadership deteriorated, the empire’s strength eroded.
By contrast, what successful nations like a resurgent Vietnam have realized is that institutional quality is central to sustainable development. This is why quality matters! Imagine, for example, the likes of Wole Soyinka or Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in our own Senate. With such quality people, our trajectory would inevitably transform.
May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!
– Abiodun Komolafe
Email: ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk.
Mobile: 08033614419 SMS only.
