It is becoming clear by each passing day to the generality of Nigerians that our governmental systems are not working as expected. This is so because they are not delivering the critical services needed to take Nigeria to the next level, contrary to all the sloganeering and posturing in many places, such as the aspiration to be one of the 20 biggest economies by the year 2020. The educational system has collapsed and various state-led attempts to revive the health, infrastructure and security systems have also not lived up to expectations. Poverty is increasing and the security and welfare of the people can no longer be guaranteed by government. The print and electronic media daily inundate us with reports of one monumental scandal or corruption after another and those entrusted with public resources brazenly mismanage and misappropriate them without facing the sanctions of the law. The citizens on the other hand are like the spectators watching a football match with no input except to cheer and jeer.A former governor, minister or any public official, is charged to court for corruption and the case drags endlessly with adjournments, injunctions, appeals and all manner of technical diversions and subterfuge to defeat the ends of justice. Thus, as stated in the lyrics of a song, what happens in court rooms most times can be described as follows: Here is the form, the procedure, a means to the end, our guide. Here is the substance, the end itself, on the scale they stand, we weigh it in favour of the form. Enjoying his constitutional presumption of innocence, he goes ahead to contest elections, many a time, to the Senate, and bang, he wins! The recent directive by the Chief Justice of Nigeria for corruption cases to be disposed of in six months is therefore a step in the right direction. But let us wait for the implementation by May 2012.The agenda of the leadership appears totally different from the demands of the majority. Every four years, we conduct routine elections or selections and thereafter those entrusted with the electoral mandates veer off on a frolic of their own, only to come back in another four years with slogans and stories. The leadership normally fails to produce measurable impacts on the standard of living of the people. Take the example of the governors who under the guise of the constitutional State Joint Local Government Account divert resources meant for development at the local government to their selfish ends. They fritter the resources, and indeed some governors steal a good part of the joint account resources. Every local government in Nigeria since 1999 has collected billions of naira, or so the records say, without any commensurate development programmes to show for it; special thanks to their overloads at the state level. An attempt by the President and the National Assembly to correct this joint account anomaly through a constitutional amendment has met a definite opposition from these lords of the manor. Yet, Nigerians who feel the brunt of the misdemeanours and felonies of these governors are watching in silence; no contributions to the debate and no attempts to draw a line in the sand to say no to executive and authority stealing.In most states of the federation, the governors have stifled the development of a system of local governments by democratically elected local government councils guaranteed to all Nigerians by Section 7 (1) of the Constitution. No elections are held and when they are held, they are nothing more than a coronation and an endorsement of the list written in a government house. Anambra State, for instance, has not conducted any in the last decade while Lagos State had a most shambolic one recently. At the end of the day, the ruling party at the state level picks up virtually all the chairmanship and councillorship seats. It is the same governors who have ganged up with the Federal Government to demand the removal of the fuel subsidy. The suffering masses that will bear the pains of these misdeeds are still on the sidelines; no demands and no action for redress.Budgets are made at the federal and state levels every year but elected officials and civil servants see it as a routine exercise to satisfy all righteousness.They do not dedicate their time to budget implementation except the areas that concern their salaries and perks. Capital projects can go to hell and indeed they have gone to hell especially at the federal level. The money arrives, gets spent but leaves little or no impact on the lives of the majority. All manner of activities is funded by the budget; new cars and furnishings despite the monetisation programme; bloated travel arrangements; kitchen equipment worth over N500m for some officials; stocks of encyclopedia and books for some officials who will not open a book in their four year tenure, etc. The bulk of the money, indeed over 74 per cent goes for the running of the bureaucracy and the administration and little is spent on capital projects. Of course, the remaining 26 per cent grouped as capital expenditure will include these cars and frivolous administrative expenses that add nothing to the lives of the people. And the Nigerian people are silent, docile and care less. Or, at best, hoping e go better.It is time for Nigerians to reclaim the public space from those with little or no vision who parade the corridors of power. It is also time to assert the sovereignty of the people. Our governance will not improve if we continue this docility, this I dont care attitude. Public officials mismanage and steal resources because they know that nothing will happen to them and the law exists only in the books. They also believe that the people will never stand up to demand value for money and good governance. So, the culture of impunity subsists and is reinforced. There is only a way forward. We do not need to wait for an explosion or implosion, or for people to violently express their disenchantment with the system. In fact, this is already happening. We need to engage the system; organise town hall meetings with our elected leaders in the executive and legislature and make our position and demands known to them. We should also use the telephone; write letters, emails, text, tweet our positions to public officers. The courts should also be approached to pronounce on serious public impact cases.Where these methods are not working, we need to organise and assemble peacefully in rallies, marches, demonstrations. The idea is to have real million person rallies staged across the major cities of the federation. Our labour union leaders need to call out workers on patriotic strikes and work-to-rule actions. We need to use our freedom of movement, expression and personal dignity to advance the frontiers of development. We need to draw boundaries and to assert our personhood because we have been abused, despised, subjugated, raped and taken for a ride to nowhere. Shamefully, over a decade of democracy has yielded increasing misery to the people but unspeakable wealth to the elected few. Our common patrimony has been looted and our nation is incurring debts which are not tied to any capital projects and which are being mismanaged on a daily basis. Nigerians should not allow this anomie to continue endlessly. The 2012 federal and state level budgets and the constitution review exercise provide an opportunity to organise and test the strength of the people against their oppressors. On a final note, the government has an opportunity to improve governance while the people have the opportunity to demand for improved governance.Onyekpere is Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, Abuja. He can be reached on censoj@gmail.com or 08127235995
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