ON THE NEED FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE IN THE COUNTRY

BY
RUFUS NWADDIGO

Government is described by the Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary as the activity of governing a country or controlling a company or an organization, the way in which a country is governed or institution is controlled. However for anything to be described as good, it has to be of high quality or an acceptable standard. In Nigeria, the act of governance dates back to the pre-colonial era and since independence the nation had witnessed thirty years of military government and twenty years of democracy. It is a known fact that in all this years Nigeria had tried to come to terms with the act of governance, considering the multi-religious, ethnic and cultural diversities of the nation and the challenges of managing the abundant human and material resources that God had bequeathed to the country. There is no mincing word that various governments in the country over the years had made tremendous stride in infrastructural development, the sustenance of the act of governance and ensuring the peace and unity of the nation. Inspite of all these achievements, the nation is still yearning for good governance that is predicated on security and safety of the citizenry, rule of law, participation and respect for human right, sustainable economic opportunity and human development. Furthermore, it is disheartening to note that Nigeria ranked 35th out of 53 African countries assessed in terms of good governance and the power of citizens to hold government and public institutions accountable – according to a recent report by the M.O. Ibrahim Foundation on governance in Africa. The identifiable problem facing African leaders including Nigeria is how to lift million of people from poverty and create a conducive environment for business to strive. It is imperative that good governance is needed for the nation to achieve strong democratic society, functioning rule of law, the provision of health and educational facilities, an empowered civil society and a framework conducive to strong economic growth. That is why some analysts have called for restructuring of governance because as they put I the present approach breeds in competency, corruption and under-development. Their submission might not be far from the truth if we compare Nigeria’s economic development to those of similar developing countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt and Iran. They have through good governance brought socio-political and economic development to their countries. Some small countries even in the African sub-region that do not have as much human, material and mineral resources like Nigeria have gone ahead of the country in utilizing their little resources for economic growth. After fifty years of nationhood, there is need for all hands to be on deck to ensure good governance and the delivery of the much talked about dividends of democracy to the people. Furthermore, Nigeria is still plagued by high incidences of insecurity arising from inter-religious, tribal and political crisis, kidnapping, armed robbery and ritual killing and murder, epileptic power supply, high rate of poverty among the rural dwellers including corruption at all levels of governance.
More so, the civil service that is saddled with the responsibility of implementing government policies and programme is currently bedeviled with bureaucratic bottlenecks and corruption, there is urgent need for total restructuring and overhaul of the civil service to avoid duplication of functions by some agencies and parastatals for efficient and effective service delivery. In addition, a situation where a large proportion of government revenue is used to pay political office holders and appointees, which accounts for the high rate of people seeking political office and political violence should be looked into. As preparation for 2011 general election gathers momentum Nigerian must this time around ensure that it is only credible-candidates with proven


Source: Recorded live from FRCN daily commentary