Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
Babatunde Fashola, the minister of works and housing, has tasked the opposition party with coming up with answers to Nigeria’s problems, saying he can’t remember the last time a rival budget to the one proposed by the ruling party was produced and detailed.
During the annual lecture of The Niche yesterday in Lagos with the theme: “2023 Election and the Future of Nigeria Democracy,” Fashola claimed that democracy was only concerned with the populace’s participation in electing a leader or group of leaders.
To be fair, I must acknowledge the generalizations such as we will do this and that, but very frequently that is where it ends. He also said that the federal government has heard enough criticism of what the All Progress Congress (APC) was not doing or getting right. “But when I ask, can you recall an opposition party offering a credible and alternative solution to what the party in government has done wrong?
Democracy does not ensure that the leader or those leaders will fulfill our expectations or, for that matter, are able to do so. Conversely, what do we actually anticipate from the people we elect, what were their campaign promises, and what have they done for us?
He continued by noting that elections are only one step in the democratic process and that all parties must participate in the creation and administration of government. He asserts that both the government-in-waiting and the opposition, acting as a watchdog, have crucial roles to play in enhancing the process.
“If you listen to any of the several Morning Shows, the problem will come up and you will hear the genuine critiques, but you will not get any credible answers to the question, what are the alternatives?” he claimed.
The choice must be made between decreasing waste, scaling back government, boosting taxes, and ending some initiatives, projects, or policies. But who is ready to have these debates in real politics.”
Fashola emphasized that as the general election for 2023 approaches, Nigerians should concentrate on how the new administration will address the revenue issue the nation has experienced with fuel subsidies without causing social unrest, which the two dominant parties have not yet resolved and about which the other contenders are silent.
Why, after conferring with their constituents, the Nigerian people, has parliament, which represents all of Nigeria’s citizens, not taken a bipartisan stance on the issue and said that they have your permission to do this or that regarding the subsidy?
“Why can’t we have a voting mechanism that reveals how each legislator voted to demonstrate that the decision was made after consulting with the voters and to encourage them to elect the representative again?
“Why isn’t it a requirement that our elected officials reside in our district so that they can relate to us and bring our issues to the government’s attention? Is this kind of active representation less significant than the sporadic treats distributed by inactive representatives during seasonal meetings? Election victory is possible without inflating our issues. We can achieve this by providing dependable service and thoughtful solutions. Election victories are possible without exposing our nation to the world.
“We can achieve this by valuing Nigeria’s potential rather than by escalating her existing divisions. In order to bring out the best in us and our nation, elections and democracy must serve as a feast of options.
Alhaji Tanko Yakasai stated earlier in his statements that returning to a regional system of governance, as is being clamoured for, will no longer help the situation in Nigeria.
He claimed that returning to the regional system of government would not solve the precarious condition the nation was in or the variety of problems it was facing.
Yakasai also made the plea for Nigeria to adopt the French Presidential system of governance.
He claimed that the French style of administration stood out above the American Presidential system in Nigeria because it made it simpler to remove underperforming regimes.
