Double standards working against building united Nigeria – Kaze, ex-Reps member

By Cosmas Omegoh

Nigeria is building a leadership good at barking orders rather than growing enduring institutions that work for the nation.

That is the thought of Hon Bitrus Kaze, a one-time House of Representatives member representing Plateaus State (2007 and 2015) on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Kaze is of the opinion that Nigeria’s failure to grow strong institutions is the result of clinging to crippling primordial past.

What’s your take on Nigeria’s current socio-political institutions; strong men, strong institutions, which is better?

The truth is that our key institutions of public governance: economic institutions, electoral institutions, the civil service, to my mind are developing at a rather very slow pace. When we are talking about institutions, we are referring to key offices that have established a norm for acting and doing things in accordance with the law. Unfortunately, within the Nigerian context, what we know is that issues of tribe, religion and  region, and personal interest are playing out over and above the rules and modus operandi of governance and public service. Therefore, institutions of governance in Nigeria are rather too weak because they are not as developed as what we have in the Western world. There, there are a lot of things leaders and policy makers oordinarily cannot contemplate doing. But if we have strong institutions, such institutions will resist any attempt to compromise standards. I don’t think we have reached that level in Nigeria. That is the truth.

What can we do now to build stronger institutions?

Out there in the developed world, let’s say Israel or USA, what strengthens institutions most is love for country; there, they think their country first. They love their countries. Nobody thinks ‘I’m from this part of USA or Israel’ or ‘I’m black or white or coloured.’ There, they think of their countries first. Because of that patriotism, that commitment, that zeal, their love for their country is deep seated. They don’t compromise anything that will compromise the wellbeing of their countries. We need to attain that height in this country. We need to begin to see that Nigeria ranks first over and above tribe, region, and religion, over and above personal interests. Nigeria needs to rank first in our minds. If our loyalty is to our country, we will work in accordance with the law. In the countries I mentioned earlier, once there is any infraction, even if it was committed by the executive, the institutions concerned know what to do. They will not wait for any strong man to give them instructions to act. They know how to deal with the individual offender(s). At all times, there is a system on ground that recognises that the love of country ranks first. This is the direction we need to go now.

So, why then is it hard to grow Nigerian institutions?

Now, if you look at USA, for instance, you will find out that at some point, they sat down and negotiated how they wanted to develop. At some point, there were those who wanted their Federal Government to have more powers. But the farmers and the commoners preferred the states to have more powers. And so they sat down and negotiated how their governments should be run, what interest should be covered and how everybody should be protected. So, they came to terms with what they wanted. They meant what they said, and said what they meant. If you look at the Israelis, for instance, their love for state runs in their blood. Wherever they are, Jerusalem and the land of Israel rank first in their mind. But unfortunately, for us, our history is  neither like that of Israel nor USA. We were colonised, but we have refused to let the primordial past go. The primordial past of tribe, self, and region have refused to go away. We have refused to see religion as a personal thing. Even when our constitution tries to say one thing, we try to do the other. Our constitution says we have the freedom to practise any religion and to propagate any religion. But in practice, we seem to impose our wishes on those who do not wish to be what we are. So, we must come out of that cocoon – the cocoon of the past and live in the present.

Why then is it hard to get past Nigeria’s primordial past?

If you look at the National Assembly, it is the institution that makes laws; that I know. But it is not only in the National Assembly that we have primordial things happening. We see the same primordial stuff in the Judiciary, and the Executive arms of government. In the National Assembly, for instance, you go for oversight, you see somebody from a particular state as the chief executive of a government department, ministry or agency; during employment, he ensures that 70 per cent of those employed come from his local government. This is real. These things are there simply because our loyalty speaks more of our region, religion and tribe rather than to our country. What I am advocating is this: our loyalty should be to Nigeria first before everything.

How much are Nigerians’ primordial interests damaging the country?

It is sad hearing people say they are first  Hausa or Yoruba or Igbo before becoming a Nigerian. That is very unfortunate.

But I think one way we can change the narrative is this: we need to put our cards on the table and consider what will pacify the Yoruba; what will pacify the Igbo; what will pacify the Hausa/Fulani and every other group. We need to begin to ask ourselves: what will make every Nigerian feel belonged in this country? We need to identify those issues. Now, the truth is that we are a rainbow nation. We are of different colours; we have different opinions too. It is not impossible for us to identify those issues and pacify one another so that we can build a truly united country. It has been done elsewhere, and we can do it here. We can do that if we choose to do so. Now, consider this. Why is it that when Nigeria is playing a football match against another country, when Kelechi scores, no one says an Igbo man has scored. When Dansado scores, no one says, a Hausa man has scored. And when Bola scores, no one says a Yoruba man has scored. Rather, it is Nigeria that scored. My point is this: since we successfully demonstrate the spirit of unity in sports, we can as well use that to achieve an enduring unity.

How worrisome is it growing strong men rather than strong institutions?

To me, it is a short-sighted way of considering things in this country. Now, let us pause for a while and go back to history. Where are the Arthur Nzeribes of this world? Where are the Sani Abachas of this world? Where are the MKO Abiolas of this world? They were very strong men in those days. Consider money, power, and everything everyone needs, they had them. But when they passed away, what benefit did they leave for the generations to come? Therefore, to develop institutions is by far better. That influences humanity more positively than growing strong men. When you fail to build institutions and concentrate on human beings, that is bad. But when an institution is built, they take care of humanity and generations yet to come. When we build institutions, there is a guarantee that in the next 200 years, the lives of the people will be affected positively. That is why to me, concentrating on individuals is short-sightedness. That is why progressive countries keep building institutions rather than concentrating power around individuals.

So, what’s the way to go for Nigeria?

We need to let our leaders realise that it is by far better to see what a leader does than what he says.  Now, take for example, when President Muhammadu Buhari came to power, he said: ‘I belong to no body, but I belong to everybody.’ That was good. But when it came to appointments, particularly the heads of security agencies, unfortunately that statement did not come to fruition. Going forward, whoever steps into a position of leadership should not just speak, but demonstrate faith in what they say. They must demonstrate sincerity, truth and honesty to earn the people’s love. If a leader punishes corrupt persons without any form of bias, or ill feelings, or disaffection because of their circumstance of birth, Nigerians will queue behind such a leader. If someone from Katsina steals and is left out, and someone from Lagos does the same thing and is reined in, that is an abnormality. Sadly, that is what is happening in the land now.