AGAIN, the United States (U.S.) said yesterday that nothing other than a free, fair and transparent elections should be expected in Nigeria next year.
Working on both sides to actualise this, according to the U.S. Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, María Otero.
Undersecretary Otero stated this yesterday in Abuja at the start of the BNC talks featuring its first working group-Good Governance, Transparency and Integrity (GTI). She held discussions as co-chair with the leader of the Nigerian delegation and Solicitor-General of the Federation, Abdulahi Ahmed Yola, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) as well as Governor’s Raji Fahola (Lagos) and Shehu Shema (Katsina) both of whom decried the imperialist Federal Government, which holds court in Nigeria.
Otero noted: “The U.S. will work with Nigeria and Nigerians as a partner and a friend. We consider this process to be very important. We like to provide the support to the government to meet the challenges of governance. We applaud the advancement that has taken place in the effort by President Goodluck Jonathan to achieve electoral reforms. The flawed election of 2007 is something that we do not want to see, being the order of the day in Nigeria. We want 2011 to be fair and transparent. We want to see another peaceful transition from civil rule to civil rule…”
According to the U.S. Under Secretary, it hurts the nation and people and their advancement when a federalism is practiced that does not allow for a sharing of experience and knowledge.
She said: “The states play an important role in a federal state like Nigeria in order to be able to implement policies. Transparency and accountability have been particularly been challenging. We have seen the prosecution of some of your governors. Governors have taken the resources of the people for personal gains… The way that the Nigerian system is developed is close to that of the U.S.
“We have a lot to learn from each other. In the U.S. the state serve as a laboratory for others to learn from and share. For example, in the state of California…environmental laws have been worked out and then became adopted by other states and eventually the Federal Government adopted them as well. So they can put the models out for other states to adopt. That demonstrates the strength of federalism… this can be very helpful as nations develop. It is the same with tax system.”
Three sessions were held yesterday with the interface by the U.S. delegation, with the governors having also the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia, with emphasis on how to advance the nation with good governance and best practices.
Governor Shema began by asserting that good governance is anchored on credible, free and fair elections. Governors, he noted must work with the people and community leaders to ascertain their needs and deliver purposeful democratic dividends in the process. He decried the overbearing attitude of the central government in Nigeria and called for adjustment.
Governor Fashola’s remarks drew prolonged applause from the participants. He said he sees the challenges of leaders of states, counties and nations as the same basically anywhere in the world and went on to ruminate on why peoples and nations chose democracy as well as what should be the role of the federal and state governments to bring about development.
He said: “Democracy allows for the broadest participation of people in their localities. The holding of elections is a contest for competition for service. There is needless and unbearable pressure on public officers in Nigeria. This attitude must change. It is not enough to have electoral reforms. People must understand that elected officers are elected to serve the people rather than the interest of certain individuals.”
Lamenting the bogus, almost dubious federal government arrangement in Nigeria, he noted further: “The Federal Government’s role is to understand that it is an agent of the states, a delegatee of the powers of the federating states, not a superior government, a catalytic force that helps and allows sovereign municipal capacities to determine what their people want, how they would get it and so on…The powers currently exercised by the Federal Government needs to be reviewed.
May272010