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Abstract It is more than five decades when Nigeria got her independence. It is only after the 1 999 general election that democracy has been practiced in Nigeria for more than thirteen years. The struggle to stabilize the practice and sustainability of an authentic democracy has been the greatest challenge of adhering in Nigeria. After the declaration of political independence in 1960, colonialism seems to have given way to neo-colonialism with its attendant consequences. The nation has witnessed several years of military dictatorship and few years of democratic regimes.
The longest democratic era in Nigeria is he Fourth Republic which began in May 1 999 to date. This study critically examines the Fourth Republic visa-;-visa the crisis of values, leadership challenges and how these can be solved in order to attain national development in Nigeria. The study discovers that the inability of political leaders in Nigeria to apply the principles of democracy without prejudice to religious affiliation is the reason for the prevailing injustice in the country. The peace Nigerian are looking for in their lives can only be found when those in power begin to play politics of justice.
Nigeria is for every Nigerian. The extraction of lives and property by ethnic militants and Book Harm in Nigeria must stop. The release of justice is the pathway to the attainment Of security and development of Nigeria. Key. Fords: Security, development, Democracy, leadership, crisis, nationalism, justice, book harm Introduction An ideal democracy reflects equal representation and equitable distribution of values that are beneficial to all. However, a critical study of social institutions indicate a marked disparity between the upper and lower classes in both of life and the rights and privileges of organizational authority.
Each ay, one observes but to no avail as the culture of the poorer strata is impoverished while that of the governing and technocratic elite is securely based on the service of the rational ends of power and wealth. Any serious Nigerian that is concerned with the welfare of this county will agree with us that it has been over fifty years that this country won her independence and over thirteen years of democratic regime, but to be frank, it is hard to say as to whether the principles of democracy have been put to use in such a way that they become beneficial to all.
There are many contentious questions hat arise: Could it be that the political setbacks in Nigeria are as a result of natural contingencies and existence of differences in modern pluralistic societies, such as varying moral doctrines, political conceptions and religious views? Or is it as a result of colonialism and further neo-colonialism? Some have answered these questions by looking at the positive side of crisis. To this end, crisis is looked upon as a call to a new development.
A contemporary theorist, John Rails (1 971 : 189) concurs that: “For a problem of justice to arise at least two persons must want to do something other than whatever everyone wants to do”. This means therefore, that Nigerian will have to adopt what Rails calls “overlapping consensus” as a means of peaceful co- existence. Overlapping consensus is a vehicle of social engine unerring that allows varying opinions to co-exist without crisis, hence each group pursues her value without necessarily imposing her views on the others.
Causes of Crisis of Values The Nigerian nation has a lot of crisis ranging from political, moral, religious, and the like. These crises undoubtedly are mostly felt and appreciated as crises in this Fourth Republic because the citizens were at liberty to express heir feelings and perceptions with other me beers of the society. Even though democracy has not taken deep root in the country, to a certain extent the uniform military cabals have moved out of the central political control. Nigeria has witnessed the advent of a new form of government. The freedom of association has given room for new ideas to be shared by all and sundry.
Nigerian are better informed of their political rights and the benefits that are us opposed to accrue to them from the practice of democracy at any given point in time and space. Politically, Nigerian are still in doubt as to whether hat is happening in the country can be referred to as the practice of democracy. This challenge resulted from the fact that Nigeria as a county is highly diversified. A nation with 36 states and a Federal Capital Territory which possesses the characteristics of a state and is treated as such has over 250 nationalities with 450 spoken languages.
This clearly indicates that Nigeria is a crisis prone state at every given opportunity. An interesting aspect of this nature of the Nigerian nation is that everyone wants to be recognized, appreciated and rewarded equally if even the others are not given the desired attention. This brings us to the problem of leadership and its attendant challenges. Every nationality in Nigeria expects to be saddled with the responsibility of piloting the affairs of this nation called the giant Of Africa. But there is only one seat of the president, only 36 seats of governors and one reserved for the person in charge of the Federal Capital Territory.
This quest to lead has resulted to wanton killing of other Nigerian in the name of political enemies. Such actions have created room for disrespect for fundamental human rights and the dignity of man and woman in Nigeria. The deduction of the risk of violence based on appointment in public offices was the introduction of the federal character commission, the quota system, and most recently the adoption of the zoning system in the six ego-political areas in the country. The zoning system of government is and has never been kept by our leaders in power.
Aggrieved with this kind of attitude, Ninja Terra (201 63) laments that: ‘The politics Of powerless comes to play a fundamental role in the running of the society. The winner becomes the end result of any political action”. This attitude of leadership which is consecrated y the ideology of “the winner takes all” leaves concerned minds among the citizenry to worry as to whether the values of the masses are the motive of leadership in Nigeria. The nature of the practice of democracy by usurping the power of the people did not come over night.
Nigerian were indoctrinated into believing that the elites have the solution to their common problems of life. This is represented by the conscious manipulation of the majority by European exploiters who brought various nationalities under one name known as Nigeria. At that point the emphasis was no longer on the deeds of the people, but the needs of those who are privileged to govern the masses. This attitude has given rise to various political conceptions by various successful leaders. The outcome Of such conceptions was the high profile Of crisis of interests.
These differences resulting from diverse interests among members of a particular society has truly formed what is commonly known as the “clash of values” that are rapidly fanning into flames of fire and perpetual war to the detriment of justice, peace and social development. Competitiveness in Nigeria is not based on value judgment. In fact, the value reading processes have been thrown away into the gutters. Elections or selections into vital offices or positions in Nigeria do not hinge on superior performance.
Leadership was not judged based on merit and competitive advantage. Hence, political power was no longer based on equality and fair play. The voice of the majority did and still does not count today. It is the voice of those who count the votes that really matter in Nigeria. The question on the lips of many Nigerian who are witnessing various forms of injustice will be how does justice grow out from an unjust framework? How can the people of Nigeria build formidable value systems using their cultural matrix?
How can these cultural values be sustained while still recognizing their diversity? How can the peoples of Nigeria appreciate and cherish the ideology of sustainable competitive advantage in the practice of democracy? Answers to the above questions have taken different forms in recent times, especially during the Fourth Republic in Nigeria. The South-South, South-West, West engineered the proliferation of militiamen. The core North, North-East, North- West and part of North Central introduced the Book Harm which is reducing he number of Nigerian by the day and night.
The various forms of attack springing from the militiamen to soldiers of Book Harm cannot assure the good people of Nigeria that there is going to be justice in the society in the nearest future. This is because some few Nigerian who are in the corridors of power are feeding fat on these crises and would not want the perpetrators of these evils to surrender to the call for a just and peaceful society. The consequences of such dubious actions by some leaders In Nigeria are the restrictions of political freedom among majority of the citizens and a limited social cooperation due to fear of the unknown.
Commenting on the unreasonable attitude of the Nigerian leaders, Mike Tsar (2012:39) cites John Rails’ argument that: Citizens are reasonable when, viewing one another as free and equal in a system of social cooperation over generations, they are prepared to offer one another fair terms of social cooperation and they agree to act on those terms, even at the cost of their own interests in particular situations, provided that others also accept those terms. Only a few leaders keep to their words and give fair hearing ears to their citizens.
This attitude is reared by political orientation in a particular society. The traditional rulers and religious rulers grab them at no cost. Religious rulers tend to pass on the doctrine of separatist political orientation to their followers by insisting that the state and church are two parallel kingdoms. They are quick to conclude that politics is a dirty game and highly religious people should not be found in the game Of politics in whatever form it takes.
Such propaganda by people who should know better have over the years frustrated members of the church who would have felt a sense of responsibility and even be willing to cake useful contributions to growth and development of the nation. Indeed, the presence of godly member of the religious bodies would build the sense of resilience among members of the church which would translate into preventions of conflict and disaster in Nigeria. This would also, be supported by the fact that equality and liberty are fundamental pillars of democracy.
The moment these pillars are tampered with in any nation, the society is bound to experience irreducible troubles. This view was agreed upon when Eke (2007:315) asserted that: They have often generated a conflict of public interest (interest of the people) and personal or parochial interest (interest of the self, of the party, colleagues, family, ethnic groups, etc). The tension between the two interests has often been at the root of the ambivalence of democracy.
Because democracy is particularly a game of number, the dominant party has always made it to the top by no other means than manipulation of election. The manner in which political office holders find their way into offices defies the use of the name democracy for the events that are taken place in Nigeria. Marauded (:19) cautioned that: “If democracy means self-government of free people, with justice for all, then the realization of democracy would presume the abolition of existing pseudo-democracy’.
In order to achieve authentic democracy, all external values should be discarded and indigenous values be brought in to bear on the practice of democracy. In this way the manipulation of election that has cut across the national, state and local government levels would be dropped. Most leaders in this Fourth Republic are undoubtedly to say ascend political thrones through such manipulation (rigging).
Can such leaders be said to create any value system hat will be beneficial to others especially the vulnerable members of the Nigerian society? Morally speaking, the answer would be absolutely no. Ironically, it becomes instructive to say that Nigeria has politically transited from military brutality Of man’s inhumanity to man to a democratically corrupt system of government that is characterized by high records of political the surgery, assassination, lack of transparency, money laundering, electoral frauds, kidnapping, tyranny, etc.
These actions have over the years affected the lives of the Nigerian populace negatively especially those whose sights are unjustly infringed upon. Another crucial question that should be attended to is that which seeks to discover whether the absence of morality in the practice of democracy in Nigeria is as a result of multiplicity of cultures, languages, and religions? Nook: (2002:140) opines that: To observe a certain line of conduct towards the rest.
This conduct consist, first, in not injuring the interests of one another, or rather certain interests which, either by express legal provision or by tacit understanding ought to be considered as rights; secondly, in each person’s bearing his share (to be fixed on some equitable Renville) Of the labors and sacrifices incurred for defending the society or its members from injury and molestation. A critical assessment of the situation in Nigeria reveals with the sense of dismay that there has not been one standard line of conduct.
Some people act because they are out to satisfy the clannish aspirations, jobs opportunities are not shared based on the quota system, other leaders tend to bring in their diverse culture to bear on the practice of democracy at every level they find themselves in confliction crisis. Religiously, multiplicities of religious views that are at variance with ACH other rather than reduce the risk of conflict aggravate conflict among people of diverse religious background. No doubt there is a high repercussion to be paid.
Apart from given rise to religious crisis, they tend to a large extent distort political affairs. When disaster erupts, the ability to manage and bring it to a halt for the well being of all humanity. In fact, without fear of any contradiction, we wish to state categorically that, most of the political instabilities Nigeria experiences today emanate from our religious differences. The Book Harm saga is no news today. The Muslims and Christians are always at war with the intent of each subduing the other.
These agitations come about as a result of ignorance. This unfair practice is succinctly captured by Nook (2002:140) who insisted that: “There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence; and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs as protection against political despotism”. Following the return of democracy to Nigeria in May 1999, Nigerian were very happy.
They were excited because the fear of the rarely of the gun would be removed completely from the psyche of the ordinary Nigerian citizen. It was the best opportunity Nigerian leaders had to exonerate themselves from the negative image the colonialists painted of them and the developed nations are still painting of them in the 21 SST century. But when President Illusion Bassoon came to power, it became very difficult for him to manage the victory he ‘ non” even when he was still in prison. Self-actualization has become the greatest challenge in the Fourth Republic in Nigeria.
Democracy has become watered down by the state of the art of corruption, brewing violence, terrorism, trafficking and human right abuse in various ramifications thereby not providing the enabling environment for its true practice. Rather than make justice, equality, equity, transparency, accountability, freedom of expression, respect for the rule of law and human dignity to have direct bearing on the lives of Nigerian, the leadership perpetually destroy both human and natural endowments of the nation.
In January 201 2, Nigerian nearly used the opportunity the crisis of the removal of oil subsidy brought to provide the springboard for the effective implementation of the principles of democracy. Such singular event shows two things; the evil in any society can be eradicated and that despite the differences in the county, the people can be united freely based on mutual trust to check the excesses Of our corrupt political and religious leaders in the country. These are clear challenges of crisis management.
Casting an eye of examination on this fourth republic, therefore, one notices an absence of democratic practice. The definition of the word democracy by Abraham Lincoln as the government of the people by the people for the people does not seem to hold sway in this part of our country side. Bordered by this, Nook (2002:1 62)states: The essential idea of democratic government is government by the people. Strictly speaking, government by all the people should mean unanimous decisions. But this, of course, is impossible in political matters.
Democracy in practice has to mean following the view of the majority. Perhaps, Lincoln addition of “For the people” means, that the decisive views, which for practical purpose must be that of the majority, should seek to serve the interests of all even though it does not have the agreement of all; otherwise, there is the danger, that majority rule may become tyranny. It is a truism that democratic attributes such as political equality, popular control of policy makers, a government responsive to the popular will and the like, have been put to flight in this region.
No political freedoms, such as speech, assembly, association etc. And these form the kernel of democratic governance. Solving the Crisis of Value in a Democratic Government No two persons will seem to like or agree on one thing at a time without disagreeing first. In a pluralistic society like Nigeria, conflict and strife heartier the order of the day. This means that the idea of toleration as a reasonable consensus by reasonable persons must be inculcated into the diverse cultures of the people.
Explaining the basis for being referred to as persons who are termed reasonable Freeman (2007:365) averred that: they “want to cooperate with other reasonable persons on terms acceptable to them”. It may seem that toleration of others’ ways of life required by the basic liberties is built into this definition. However, the main concern here is how the idea of overlapping consensus is arrived at in solving the problem of debility in a pluralistic democratic society like Nigeria.
In this regard, Rails (1993:XSL) questions: “What political conception of justice can provide the common basis of principles and ideals to guide public political discussion on which citizens affirming conflicting religious and non-religious yet reasonable comprehensive doctrines can agree? ‘ This question can only be answered by the use of the idea of overlapping consensus. What Nigerian should note is that, an overlapping consensus is not merely a consensus on accepting certain authorizes, or on complying with certain institutional arrangements mounded on a convergence of self or group interests.
Rather, all those who affirm the political conception start from within their own comprehensive view and draw on the religious, philosophical and moral grounds it provides (147). This, in effect, is the primary role of the idea of overlapping consensus, namely, to solve the stability problem inherited from the crisis of values in any given regime. Of significant importance to the idea Of overlapping consensus is the freedom of conscience that it permits in multi religious societies like ours. To this effect, Rails uses two arguments to buttress this point.
It goes to say that religious beliefs in Nigeria seen as subject to revision in accordance with deliberating reason in the first argument. There is freedom of conscience because there has been no guarantee that this present way of life is the most rational and needs no minor or major revision. Most of the problems we have in Nigeria today are first political crisis. This means that, we need religious freedom to allow people practice their faiths freely without thwarting the efforts of others.
To this end, Gimmicky (2002:232) opines that: “This is the familiar liberal argument for basic liberties, rooted in he idea of rational reversibility, which says that religious liberty is needed for us to rationally evaluate and potentially revise our conceptions of faith” Viewing this first argument this way, one affirms the political conception because its religious doctrine and account of free faith leads to a principle of toleration and underwrites the fundamental liberties of a constitutional regime -?? that Nigeria needs.
What we are saying here is that peoples’ values should be upheld in such a way that Rails (1993:148) “each view supports the political conception for its own sake, or on its own merit” rather than what Rossi (2010) calls “a social order supported only by a necessary contain Nugent equilibrium of power between comprehensive doctrines”. The former is known as overlapping consensus while the latter refers to “Modus Veined”. It is evident that these are two opposing moral values. However, these current writers support the former moral value for the Nigerian society to the neglect of the latter.
This is because, in overlapping consensus, there have been workable principles agreed upon that are supported by tolerance which in effect can promote trans-generational stability Nigeria craves for perennially. Whereas, in Modus Veined, the consensus arrived at remains only so long as one group does not become more powerful than the other group. And this is the kind of democracy practiced in Nigeria today. Where the most powerful party continues to suppress less powerful parties even though they may have something positive to offer to the society.
Nigerian must understand that if peace and unity are to exist, certain values should not be imposed on the weaker group by the most powerful ones. Hence, for Roberto (2005): “reasonable people do not coerce others to adopt their value system when they recognize others can reasonably disagree”. We have become very much aware of the fact that it is the educated elites that can stimulate the ordinary citizens to fight for the respect of their rights to vote, organize political assemblies, association, lobby for their specific interests and advantages, rights to legal defense and due process which are features of a democratic setting.
Indeed, in a true democracy the socio-economic, political as well as civil rights of the citizenry must be given due recognition. This will enable the electorate engage their elected representative in dialogue on issues pertaining to the interests Of all and sundry. Government officials should be able to make known to the masses sufficient time to study the proposals before attempting a choice of a particular policy. It is only by doing this that the efforts of both government officials and other individuals can be harnessed to influence government decision-making processes for the good of the nation.
The relevance of philosophical education would serve as a motivation for moral development of the operators and potential operators of democracy. It is no gainsaying that when the moral development of an individual is achieved, it will serve as a catalyst to the spirit of service, as such people will lead the people in sincerity and with every sense of dedication and commitment. The resultant effect no doubt will be the development of other aspects such as; technological, social, economic, scientific, etc.
This is the reason why moral development is considered as the pivotal for national development. There will be no development of a country if the people are morally bankrupt. In fact, Moorage (1990:197) observes that: “Neither science nor technology on their own can develop a country if its citizens are not morally developed” This increases the significance of philosophy in the life of leaders. Philosophy is a discipline which has to do with a critical and unbiased investigation into the basic issues about man and the universe in which he lives in. T is a discipline that not only equips man with the high intellectual ability but also has the capacity to enrich his moral capacity with a good training. An individual is well equipped with the intellectual and moral capacity which the task of leadership demands. Unfortunately many scholars in Africa tend to see development from the point of view of technological and scientific advancement without giving attention to the moral aspect of development, which is crucial.
The emphasis in this study is that leaders should reposition their nation on the threshold of a new socio-political orientation, which will recognize such philosophical principles such as selflessness, restraint, discipline, self-control, nobility, justice, fairness, tolerance and honesty. Most importantly, leaders should bear in mind that there are certain things, which do not deal with means, but with ends and as human beings, we are creatures who do not live by bread and vitamins and technological discovery alone. Human beings live by values and realities, which are above time and worth knowing for their own sake.