By Olu Fasan
Every nation fails or succeeds on the quality of its institutions. But every institution is as strong as the quality of its personnel, their competence and professionalism, their values and norms. Unfortunately, Nigeria is a country where state institutions utterly malfunction, bereft of any sense of responsibility, and where public officials have perverse norms and values, lacking a sense of purpose to serve the national interest.
The latest instance of institutional failure in Nigeria is the abysmal performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which dashed the hopes of millions of Nigerians, and the expectations of the world, by conducting a presidential election universally condemned for woefully failing the basic tests of transparency and credibility. INEC’s failure reinforced the global perception of Nigeria as a failing state.
A large body of scholarly work and policy
research inductively shows that no nation has ever made the critical transition
from poverty to prosperity, from fragility to robustness, without strong
institutions, underpinned by the right values and norms. And without a team of
public-spirited people, driven by a sense of purpose to contribute to something
greater than themselves, to serve the best interests of their nation.
Perhaps
the most famous scholarly work on institutions is Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. The
authors drew on empirical evidence from many countries to demonstrate that
nations fail or succeed based on the nature of their institutions, particularly
political institutions, which tend to influence economic ones. From a policy
research perspective, a joint report by Oxford University and London School of
Economics titled: “Escaping the Fragility
Trap” makes the same point, putting institutions at the heart of state
fragility. Simply, a state is effective or fragile depending on the robustness
or otherwise of its institutions.
These studies show, first, that institutions
matter. But institutions are not just formal rules, procedures and structures;
they’re also people who run them, and the values and norms that shape their
day-to-day behaviour. Second, leadership matters; only competent and visionary
leaders build strong institutions. Third, as some leaders may not want to create
strong institutions that will constrain them, while some public officials may
undermine institutions, every society needs a critical mass of well-informed
citizens to hold leaders, institutions and public officials to account.
Now, you would probably say these are all common sense. Yes, they are! But Nigeria continues to ignore the common-sense evidence of the nexus between strong institutions and effective states. It refuses to build strong, independent institutions and a cadre of public officials with the right competence, professionalism and ethos to enable the Nigerian state to function effectively.
But Nigeria’s problem is not lack of
formal institutions. Every institution of governance that exists worldwide
exists in Nigeria. Name it: a judiciary, an electoral body, a central bank,
security agencies, anti-corruption agencies, etc. They all exist in Nigeria.
And each of these institutions has enabling laws and rules, some drafted with
the help of foreign governments and international organisations. Furthermore,
each of the institutions has budgets running into millions of dollars, or
billions of naira!
So, why are Nigeria’s state institutions
malfunctional, despite their formal structures and humongous budgets? Why are
they so bereft of competence, professionalism and a sense of purpose that, for
example, INEC couldn’t conduct credible elections and the CBN couldn’t
successfully implement a currency redesign policy?
Well, since an institution is a team of
people, the starting point must be the norms and values of public officials in
Nigeria. And truth be told: most public officials in Nigeria lack the right
values and norms. They behave irresponsibly, with utter impunity, with no care
for consequences, with no concern for the public good. Elsewhere, people are
attracted to public service because of a deep sense of purpose to serve the
common good: in Nigeria, the motivations are largely power, self-aggrandisement
and corruption. Hence, abuse of office and power is prevalent in Nigeria’s
public institutions.
Think about it. What public duty is greater
than conducting a presidential election in which a country’s new leader would
be chosen? Yet, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, treated the task
with utter levity. He blatantly ignored the electoral law that requires the use
of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, for voter authentication and
electronic transfer of results, and the guidelines to upload results in real
time on the INEC Results Viewing, IReV, portal. INEC shunned the formal procedures
governing the conduct of the poll, shunned the norms of fairness and
transparency, and went ahead to announce a “winner” in an election universally
condemned as deeply flawed or, as the Financial
Times put it, “badly mismanaged at best”.
Professor Yakubu said “issues of logistics,
election technology and behaviour of election personnel at different levels”
affected the election. But if the INEC Chairman admits those manifold problems
existed, including “behaviour of election personnel” (a euphemism for their
connivance with electoral fraud), why is he pretending the election was free,
fair, transparent, and credible? Here’s INEC’s response: “Aggrieved parties are
free to approach the courts to ventilate their concerns.” Really? So, after
knowingly conducting a sham election, INEC blithely said: Go to court! It’s the
height of irresponsibility and impunity!
Of course, lack of accountability is another reason for perennial institutional failure in Nigeria. Public officials don’t suffer consequences for appalling performance or behaviour. For instance, Professor Yakubu will probably continue as INEC Chairman, even though his monumental failure has cost Nigeria dearly, both materially and reputationally.
But why would Nigeria’s public institutions be accountable when they’re deeply
politicised? For instance, many state governments, notably Lagos, corralled
civil servants and public-sector workers to campaign for their parties in this
weekend’s governorship and state assembly elections. Such abuse of incumbency
won’t happen with a critical mass of well-informed and active citizens who hold
politicians, state institutions and public officials to account.
Yet, ultimately, it’s about political
leadership. Unfortunately, since 2015, President Buhari has undermined, rather
than build, institutions; his actions always clashed with his rhetoric. But if
Nigeria must escape the fragility trap, its deepening rut, it must, as part
wider restructuring, build strong, independent and responsible public
institutions.
*Fasan
is a commentator on public issues
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