DEEPENING DEMOCRACY: Nigeria and the African Peer Review process

On Thursday 17th December, the public presentation of Nigeria’s Country Review by the African Peer Review Panel took place at the state House in Abuja. The report is the external validation of the review process organised by the continental secretariat of Nigeria’s Country Self Assessment Report.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is the self monitoring and control mechanism of NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa’s Development) through which African countries agreed to look over their own shoulders to ensure that they are doing the right things. The process involves monitoring four domains - democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development.

The element of democracy and political governance is particularly important because the promotion of constitutional democracy including periodic political competition and opportunity of choice, the rule of law, citizen’s rights and supremacy of the Constitution are the keys to good governance.

The venerated Professor Adebayo Adedeji presented the report. He lamented the paradox of the Nigerian syndrome of poverty in the midst of plenty. Our country, he explained, is rich in material and human resources but 70% of our people are wallowing in poverty.

The core problem he explained is that we have been unable to transform our economy. The result is that we continue to export primary commodities. What is even more alarming he explained is that since 1980, Nigeria has been undergoing a process of de-industrialisation.

The report shows that Nigeria has laws and policies that should move us forward but we do not implement them. Our capacity for effective governance is therefore very poor. Nigeria spent 24 months carrying out this extensive peer review but governance in the country remains scandalous.

One of the cardinal objectives of the APRM is ensuring accountability, efficiency and effectiveness of public office holders and civil servants and promoting the struggle against corruption in the political sphere.

The Chairman of the APRM Council, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur drew attention to corruption which the report identified as a worm that has eaten deep into the fabric of our public life.

Indeed, throughout the ten years of the Fourth Republic, the regime has defined the fight against corruption as one of its cardinal objectives. In addition to the various laws providing for punishment against corruption already in the statute books and institutions such as the Code of Conduct Commission and the Public Complaints Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have been created and added to the institutional edifice against corruption. With all these institutions in place, corruption has continued to gallop in Nigeria.

Yayale Ahmed, the secretary of the government declared that Nigeria is a frontline country in the APRM process because we have NEPAD offices in all the 36 states in the country and many state governors were in attendance at the public presentation. The Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan assured the audience that we will be focused on implementation.

Based on that reassurance, we were treated to an exquisite luncheon at the banquet hall of the State House.

As we enjoyed the great meal that the great majority of our poor compatriots would never see in their lifetimes, we were asking ourselves what the 37 NEPAD offices in Nigeria were doing, how their work relates to Vision 202020 and the Seven-Point agenda and how the implementation of the Action Plan that emanated from the review process articulates with our budget process.

Although I have been a member of the APRM Council for some months, I have still not been able to get a clear articulation of what, if anything, is happening or will happen on plan implementation. Opening offices tells us nothing about action and results. The major indictment of Nigeria in the report is that we have laws and policies that we do not implement.

One of our greatest weaknesses as a nation is that the possibility of citizen intervention to question or protest against policy development and implementation is almost non-existent because the public has no right of obtaining information on what is going on. It is therefore necessary to promote a law instituting a freedom of information regime in Nigeria. Such a bill was passed by the previous Parliament but President Obasanjo refused to sign it into law. Four attempts to pass the bill under the current Parliament have failed so far. Our parliamentarians are determined to keep us in the dark on how our country is being ruled and ruined.

The purpose of the APRM is to create the context and generate the information for governments and citizens to engage in strategic interventions aimed at improving good and democratic governance. Empowering the people is the most important point of entry in this regard. As I have repeated so many times, Nigerians know that their governments will not empower them, they must empower themselves.