As a young student in the days yore, one subject that tickled my fancy and elicited my intellectual curiosity was Anatomy. In pre-clinical years, you needed to do the powerful subject trio of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology. At the famed University of Benin, Nigeria where I cut my teeth in the voluminous world of ‘bookery’, our anatomy class was always a beauty to behold as our ‘super human’ lecturer, Dr Unodim (later a Professor), dazzled us with his polyglottic knowledge of his craft. You know how it is when a tutor comes to class, books closed, and begin uploading and downloading real stuff verbatim from the fountain of knowledge. Prof. Unodim knew his onions. A particular lesson that has remained indelible in my memory is his delivery of the anatomy of the human eyes. He gave us a cryptic, visual representation of the workings of the eyes. We all felt gingered and looked forward to our next dissection (practical class) where we worked on human cadaver. Medical doctors in the house can relate.
The human eyes are the mirror of the soul and the stars that light the body. They guide us and with it, we appreciate colours and measure spatial orientation. However, like any other system, organ, tissue or cell in the body, our eyes have its limits of operation both in its power of acuity and wavelength. Recent advances in physics and biology, have made it possible for humans to test the fundamental limits of natural vision. Michael Landy, Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University opine that, "Everything you can discern with the eyes has a threshold, a lowest level above which you can and below which you can't". The cone cells in our eyes detect but a small sliver, typically in the range of about 380 to 720 nanometres – what we call the visible spectrum. Below the narrow perceptual band is the infrared and radio spectrum. Above our visible spectrum we find Ultraviolet band, X-rays, and Gamma ray. Is this piece a scientific paper for a peer review journal? Certainly not. We are going somewhere.
The famous poet and fabulist, Ivan Krylov wrote in 1814, a fable titled, "The Inquisitive Man". In it, he talks about a man who goes to a museum and sees all the small animals but fails to notice an elephant. This was unbelievable as the elephant is a colossal mammal. How the man does not see the elephant, despite the fact he was not sight impaired remained a mystery! This is the context to situate the lack of visibility or rather deliberate non-visibility of the dire situation of Nigeria by the `kleptocratic and kakistocratic` political elites. How they choose not to use their eyes and they are oblivious (not aware of or concerned about what is happening in the country) beggars belief. It is beyond normal, humane reasoning. The primary purpose of government is the protection of lives and property. The word, `protection` is a noun that is all encompassing. It is protection of the weak, the downtrodden, sick, and all strata of society. It is making sure that citizens have a modicum of descent living. The essential amenities of life should be available to all and sundry. Basic necessities such as food, good roads, water, education, healthcare should be reasonably affordable to all without a whimper. To put it simply, the eyes of good governance and true leadership is ’all seeing’ and not selectively functional.
The Oxford English Dictionary describes the elephant in the room as `a major problem……or issue which is obviously present but is avoided as a subject for discussion`. It can be interpreted to mean selective non-functionality of one’s physical vision or an acquired impairment of a person’s mind vision or worse still, a combination of both. One such elephant in not just the room but in our nation, has been the issue of local government autonomy and funding. A few days ago, the Supreme Court of Nigeria gave a judgement granting financial autonomy to the 774 local governments in the country. The Federal government had taken the matter to court for adjudication following long term agitation in many quarters. Many Nigerians (a lot of whom may not be fans of the present administration of President Bola Tinubu) applauded the decision of the apex court. However, the burning question in the minds of most Nigerians is why it has to take a judicial intervention for key players at the 1st and 2nd tier of government in the country to see the `elephant in the room`; the same elephant who has been a long term resident of our hallowed chambers as well as our nation, as it relates to the effective and efficient running of local governments in the country. How is it that state governors in Nigeria who anatomically have eyes, cannot see beyond primordial parochial interests and know that local governments are the closest to the people and the real springboard of development.
How is it possible that state governors (within their constitutional powers) do not on their own ensure that local governments function properly? Why is it that pecuniary financial gains supersede the legitimate yearnings and aspirations of their people who they swore an oath to protect and serve. As it is today, 21 of the 36 states in the federation have unelected council chairmen. The state governors who have turned themselves to `demi-gods and emperors` appoint their surrogates to head these local councils. They stifle the councils of funds (allocations from the federation account). You ask yourself, what exactly do these state governors stand to gain from this unconstitutional behaviour and high-handedness. In states where local council elections are even held, the political party of the incumbent governor wins all the ward councillorship and chairmanship positions prompto. This is certainly not democratic.
How will they (state governors) cope in their respective states if the centre (federal government) decides to strangle them the same way they strangulate local governments. The application of Almoravids Law of `an eye for an eye` would suffice. `Do me I do you` is a common pidgin English parlance in our clime. The state governors surely need a dose of that. It was therefore quite repugnant to hear Chief James Ibori and Ayo Fayose, ex-governors of Delta and Ekiti states giving dissenting views on the autonomy of local governments. Even the comments by current governor of Kwara state and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ forum (NGF) was disappointing. Oyo state Governor, Seyi Makinde also added a further underwhelming twist on national television. Shocking from these men who are supposed to know better. Why is it that these folks cannot see the bigger picture? So, one wonders if these men are not looking at the issue at hand with their anatomical eyes or is it that they have lost clear vision in their minds? When you look at constitutional provisions, the responsibilities of the federal, state and local governments are clearly outlined in the exclusive, concurrent and residual legislative lists. The exclusive list (on federal) has 68 items and the concurrent (in the purview of the states) has 12 items. You wonder why our system is so dysfunctional?
Surprisingly, some Nigerians are of the view that the status quo should remain. For them, autonomy for the local governments will make the local council authorities go haywire. As altruistic as this idea may seem, fact is a society can never develop if the fundamental building blocks are not in place. For democracy to thrive in Nigeria and bottom-top development to occur, the grassroots must be the starting point. Politics they say is local. Each tier of government - local, state and federal must work autonomously but in tandem. On its part, the federal government needs to carry out its own self-evaluation, do more strategic constitutional reforms and divest more of its over bloated exclusive list to the states and local governments. This sort of devolution is what obtains in saner climes. On their part, instead of junketing around, state governors in Nigeria should begin to think outside the box. In the true sense of it, our government at all levels must possess the kind of `eyes which can find a needle in a haystack`. Sadly, the situation is one where the monthly federal allocations to them have made them bereft of ideas, creativity, innovation and vision.
As for Nigerians, let`s hold our state governors accountable. The unending sequence of blaming every President in power while state governors are flexing and junketing about like imperial overlords must stop. In the past, Nigerians called out President Shehu Shagari as well as successive military Heads of State that followed. In the current dispensation, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Shehu Musa Yar `Adua have been called out. The noise even got louder in the time of President Goodluck Jonathan which led to the second coming of the `saintly` Muhammadu Buhari (although Nigerians are now wiser about him). Please do not get me wrong, I have no sympathy whatsoever for the alleged shenanigans (albeit) that also goes on at the federal level. It is not the focus of this piece, and that`s a subject for another day. The various state governors should be able to give monthly or quarterly accounting of federal allocations and IGR (internally generated revenue) that came in, how much was spent and what is left. All in all, governance at all tiers be it local, state or federal makes no meaning if the quality of life of the people is nothing to write home about. What matter to the average Nigerian is to have affordable food on the table. A hungry citizen is an angry citizen. Also, government at all levels must cut down the cost of governance. So much of our commonwealth has and is been fret away maintaining the ostentatious lifestyles of politicians, their aides and hangers-on at all layers of government. Nigerian leaders cannot keep telling the followers to make sacrifices (tightening the belt) while they are feasting and enlarging their burgeoning waistline. Let no one be deceived, all those in political position who answer `Honourable, Distinguished, Your Excellency` cannot bear such appellation if they don`t serve the people they swore to serve. Fellow Nigerians, know it that these folks are meant to serve you and not you serve them. Nigerians must open their eyes wide to see the elephant in the room. Let`s be guided. If it means getting us prescription glasses from our soul for our eyes, so we can see, then so be it. I rest my case!
Dr Agbons is Lead, Institute of Leadership and Good Governance @www.twin2.org