Tuesday, 18th February, 2914
By Chukwudi Nweje
According to the UN, a country’s success in achieving this standard is a key measure of its credibility and respect in the world. It said that good governance promotes equity, participation, pluralism, transparency, accountability and the rule of law, in a manner that is effective, efficient and enduring. These principles it says are translated into practice, in the form of free, fair and frequent elections, representative legislatures that make laws and provides oversight, and an independent judiciary to interpret those laws.
In Nigeria where politics is often regarded as a dirty game, it had been observed that these principles describe by the UN is everything that Nigeria is not. For instance, Nigeria is blessed with enormous human and material resources. Yet, the UN estimates that over 70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty level as these resources have not had any positive impact on the lives of the average Nigerian. In fact, economists have said that Nigeria suffered the ‘Resources Curse’ a situation whereby the vast resources had not translated to development.
This pitiable situation is blamed on the failure of leadership. In fact, late author and playwright, Chinualumogu Achebe, in his book ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’ 1983, observed that the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. Apparently worried by this, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is preaching a gospel of paradigm shift in politics. Continue reading “Quest for men of good character in politics”