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Prof Rufa’i Ahmed Alkali, the former political adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in this interview with EMEKA NZE, speaks on the perception of other countries about Nigeria, the resurgence of military regimes in some African countries and the performance of his party in the last two years.
From your experience, both in public and private spaces, what’s your counsel to Nigerians in dealing with the years ahead?
Well, first and foremost, let me thank you all. Technically, I would say that I’m breaking my silence because for a long time I have not been talking and I decided not to talk because I believe there is a time to talk and I believe there’s also time to keep quiet. As you know, we’ve been following events around the world today, especially, what has happened in the Middle East. If you look at the war between Israel and Palestine, it’s a struggle to have a territory they can say they own, that is safe, that is good, that they can protect them. So, having a country for yourself that you take for granted, is not something simple. If you have a country as big as Nigeria, there is consensus among intellectuals, politicians, international development agencies, even large businesses, that Nigeria is a country not only of the future but of the present. It has virtually everything that we need in terms of the resources, in terms of the human capacity and our resilience. So, Nigeria is a country that I often argue that other people in the world take us more seriously than we take ourselves. But that doesn’t mean that Nigeria is an El Dorado or in Nigeria everything is working the way it should. No. And in that sense, I would also argue that there is no country where things are working absolutely the way it should. But all the same, we are an emerging country and if we believe in ourselves and we also face the challenges facing us, challenges of nation building, I know that we can make it. Maybe it may not be in our lifetime, but I do believe in the world of today where nations are coming together to work together, to share ideas, to trade together, they are always better off than when you have small, small units as countries that do not even know each other or that are not known on the political map of the world. But we must face our challenges, we must face our problems, ask ourselves questions.
What are our problems? What can we do individually and collectively to address them? Once we are willing to do this, rather than engage in blame game, then I think we are on the way to progress.
What is your perception about the resurgence of the military rule in Africa. Do you agree it is due to bad governance?
Well you see, Nigeria, just like other African countries have been going through transition, but we are not working in isolation. African countries have been facing deep crisis and we know it, but most of the things that affect the African countries, that cause all the problems, sometimes not only internal, I used to argue that they were internal, they are external, they are historical, they are contemporary, they are organisational, they are human. So, there are so many factors and forces, and I think, that shape the African continent. So, the events of the 1960s are different from the 70s and 80s and 90s. We are now almost closing on the first quarter of the 21st century. And every country has its own peculiar problems, but I know for sure Nigerians believe in democracy,
Nigeria fought for it and you members of the media, you made immense sacrifices for the restoration of democracy in the country. Intellectuals, politicians took huge risks. Some of them are still alive. So, we say that Nigeria has a consensus on this democracy, but I think the problem is that democracy also has its own rules. So, whatever we do, we should not allow ourselves to be carried away. You know, because we are in a democracy and to be negligent of the rules of democracy, the rule of engagement. Otherwise, we are on course. At least, we can say now that for 25 years, Nigeria has had civilian government or democratic government. And this several years now has given opportunity to establish or strengthen various institutions that constitute the pillars of democracy. We are talking about the National Assembly, very critical. The judiciary, very important, the electoral machinery, the electoral bodies, they are very critical. The political parties, yes, the media and other organisations that are supposed to be supportive to the democratic process. But we should also not take it for granted that this is something that we can do overnight. Sometimes, when we speak, people say we are theoreticians, okay, that we are academics. But the truth is that whether you are an academic or not, you should know that democracy is not something like a package.
Neatly labeled democracy, you cannot go and pick it on the shelve in a supermarket. It is a process; It is a journey. If you know what has happened in the United States in 2020, when Donald Trump lost elections, the Americans are saying that Donald Trump, what he did at that time amounted like subverting the democratic process, he wanted to come back. What he did, if it had happened in Africa, it would have been said he wanted to overthrow the government, that kind of thing, or impose himself through advance rigging. So democracy has its own challenges but it is not for us to also say we must copy what happened in the US or in the Western world, because they also have their own peculiar problems. So we must agree, we want to run democratic governance, and then there must be responsibility and accountability, on the part of leaders, and then in terms of the followers also, should also be conscious of their legitimate responsibility, especially during elections. If you come and say, for example, what some Nigerians will do, and I believe it is a mistake, during elections, they will not even go to the election booth. They will not care. Those who decide to go, they will go and sell their franchise.
They don’t care who becomes their leader and then after everything has come out, and the people have emerged, because there must be leaders in the country. There should be no vacuum. Then, they’ll be shouting, these people are not doing this, are not doing that. They themselves are not only voting, they don’t want to vote. When they want to vote, they want to sell their votes. Or some will not even participate, at least, some of them don’t want to participate in elections. They don’t want to be politicians. I’ve been telling my academic colleagues that as much as we are academics, we are also theorizing, but also there must be practice. You must be involved. If you are not involved, then we are losing the opportunity to also make some difference, even if it’s an incremental difference. So I think, on this account, Nigeria should be an example of other African countries.
Would you say that your party, APC, is on the right path to actually give Nigerians their expectations in the last two years?
With all sense of responsibility, one of the things you should know about Nigerians is that Nigerians are different from other African countries. What can happen in other African countries can pass, it will be difficult to happen in Nigeria. And that whether this Nigerian is in Nigeria or is outside Nigeria is always different. And what is it we are talking about? We must understand that Nigerians feel that we, as a country, like I mentioned in my introductory comment, we are a huge country. We have the potentials. We have the personalities or the personnel. We have the resources. But there is a tendency of disappointment, generally, historically, over the years, not now, all the time, that Nigerians feel that we should do better.
And sometimes that is why I find that if something happens even to a smaller country, a neighboring country, Nigerians will feel angry that, ah, what is happening in such and such place, and is happening in Nigeria. So, because today you don’t have to leave your country to know what is happening in the rest of the world. So, information is moving, you know, very fast. So, Nigerians have this, you know, passion that we should not be left behind. So, as part of this, you find that there is a tradition that emerges in this country. Any leader that emerges as a leader in this country, as a representative member, or even a chairman of a local council, there is always expectations and there is always pressure on the leaders. That is a fact. Therefore, these expectations are legitimate. In fact, that is why we are talking about democracy, because we feel that in an election, you elect a leader, and the leader is supposed to also deliver on his promises or her promises.
So, in the case of Nigeria, but the other, you know, what I can consider to be the other side of it is that sometimes also we look at it in a way that things that are supposed to be done, let’s say, you want them to be done overnight, quick results, quick fixes. And first of all, you say, how can you stay under military rule for many years? After 25 years, you thought that tradition, culture has, but now it’s common. You hear somebody say that Mr. President should restructure the country. We hear this. The president should over-order this, or the governor should do this. But they forget that every president, every governor, every leader also works through processes, through the judicial processes, to arrive at whatever decision or policy.
So, in this arrangement, you find that there is always a restlessness, you know. So, and the other side is that you find that every leader that emerges in the country, nobody has been spared. At one level, it could be said it’s part of a tradition in Nigeria. The Nigerians are very bold, very courageous, and they hold government to be accountable to them. But another level is that we over-expose ourselves also, to a point that you find that somebody outside does not require any security urgency in this country, this foreign country, to know our secret, because we don’t have any secret anymore. We talk anyhow about everybody and anything at any time. So, I don’t know, we should not sacrifice our country no matter what happens, no matter the difficulty or challenges, because governance is a continual process.
Are you giving your party a pass mark?
You see, we, as a teacher, by history, we don’t mark ourselves. As teachers, we don’t mark ourselves. But we can do self-assessment, and that self-assessment can be a strategic work at the government level, organisation level, but it is the other person who can assess performance of government. Whatever I say now, somebody will say, no, it’s not correct, because already he has full opinion, especially, now, you have other fringe organisations running around saying that government is not doing this, government is not doing that. Whatever you say, they will not see it in the light you are seeing it. So, but what I’m saying is that no matter what you do, the best we can do is do self-assessment, re-examine, and I believe the President Tinubu will do that as we are approaching election time. I believe there will be a time when we step back and look at all the policies introduced over the past two years, and look at them, and see what can be done as we are facing the electorate again.
Rufai Alkali
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