TwoCents | THE FAMED NIGERIAN POLITICAL STRUCTURE

When one gets into a conversation that leads to talking about the problems of Nigeria and proffering solutions, sooner than later, you realise that in analysing one problem, there is another problem that is connected to the initial one. Before even getting to the part of solutions, you realise that Nigeria is a myriad of problems interwoven and interconnected to each other like a spider's web. Corruption as it stands seems to be the biggest problem Nigeria is facing today. Corruption in Nigeria is a hydra. It is multifaceted and multilevel. From the head down to the tail, it's all infested. Let's look at a few cases. If we talk about the menace of police brutality, we'll all agree that there are laws which prevent these kinds of things from happening. Infact the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has its rules of engagement which guides its activities and its interactions with members of the public, yet you still have members for the NPF acting with so much impunity and high-handedness. From this one problem, it is not difficult to notice that there are other issues which are directly related to it. Firstly, you find out that there is a lack of political will by those in the police higher ups as well as our political class to enforce the laws and regulations that guides the NPF to achieve the needed professionalism. This lack of political will also stems from the fact that those in the higher ups and political class benefit from the chaos that the unprofessionalism of the NPF creates which is another problem in itself. Another thing is that the people who bear the brunt of the recklessness, high-handedness and brutality of the NPF fail to stand up for themselves. For many reasons they allow themselves to be extorted, maligned and mistreated by members of the NPF. This can attributed to a high level of illiteracy, poverty and ignorance. The police brutality example is just one of many in the sea of problems we exist in and refer to as normal. While we started from corruption as a problem, we have now gotten to the point in this piece where we recognise illiteracy, poverty and ignorance as problems too. At this point whose fault is it? While some might argue that the government doesn't own total responsibility in creating wealth and employment, and also improve the educational standard of its country or locale, of which I agree that both government and citizenry have their own roles to play. We must realise that it is government's responsibility to form sound policies that will drive these sectors and create the enabling environment for them to thrive. Alas our government has failed to do just that. This is primarily so because the political class, like I mentioned earlier benefits from the chaos this lack creates. They have intentionally kept the people poor, hungry and beggarly, and have become experts at weaponising the widespread poverty. More recently, they have continued to intentionally reduce the standard of education by funding it less and creating policies that create bottlenecks for educational growth like that which the National Assembly passed a bill to remove history from the secondary schools' educational curriculum. In developed countries, government ensures the prosperity of its people and by extension its nation by educating its people and ensuring their presperity, while the Nigerian leaders, a political class bereft of ideas does everything within its power to ensure its people are poor and illiterate so that there will be no one smart and bold enough to challenge it while ensuring its perpetuity as the gate keepers of power. The ignorant and poor masses who can't stand up to its slavers, and will do their bidding for the biblical pot of porridge is who the political class refer to as their POLITICAL STRUCTURE. Anything other than this is a threat. This is why a prosperous and educated citizenry will never appeal to the greedy and inept who continue to invent new ways to perpetuate its hold on political power.

Other insights from Tari Ogbowei