Political Scientists Seek Review Of Nigeria’s Liberal Democracy

The Nigeria Political Science Association (NPSA) has advised President Bola Tinubu to constitute a technical committee to look at the concept of liberal democracy and its practice in the country.

The association noted that liberal democracy is the cause of challenges facing the country over the years.

The president of NPSA, Prof. Hassan Saliu, during an interview with LEADERSHIP in Ilorin, Kwara State said the sociopolitical and socioeconomic challenges bedeviling the country may continue, “because both capitalism and its offspring, liberal democracy, have been observed to suffer from perennial crisis, not only in Nigeria but everywhere in the world.”

Saliu, who teaches political science at the University of Ilorin, said the liberal democracy theory was developed to complement capitalism, ascribed it as the political face of capitalism, which he said was not designed for commoners.

He opined that there is no need for another constitutional conference, because of the cost implication and the economic situation of the country.

He, therefore, called for the constitution of a technical committee to review and work on past efforts in constitutional conferences and bring out something that would help Nigeria resolve most of its problems.

Saliu said there is nothing new in Nigeria and that there had been same problems, adding that failure to address the problems as at when appropriate, had created bigger concern that now worries everyone in Nigeria.

“For us as a professional association, we don’t believe in chasing the shadow. Most Nigerians talk about high cost of this and that. Some would blame APC, and others, while some talk about ethnic rivalry or chauvinism, religious intolerance etc, but we as an association has risen above all that.

“We say all these are manifestations of a system. Why can’t you confront the system. The system in this case happens to be the vehicle with which we’re practising our democracy, which is liberal democracy.

Look around the world, liberal democracy is facing challenges. It’s the most popular form of democracy, yet it’s facing challenges across the world. In our view, no much tinkering, policy, efforts can cure liberal democracy from its original sickness.

“What’s the original sickness? Liberal democracy was developed as a form of complementing capitalism. In other word, liberal democracy is the political face of capitalism. It was not designed for commoners. And one fundamental assumptions of liberal democracy is that there’s a reasonable level of production in the society.

“Being political scientists, we’re saying that Nigeria should look at preferred vehicle to practice our democracy. Are we sure the vehicle is fit enough for the kind of aspirations we have. Our aspirations revolve around rapid development, better conditions of life… Maybe our democrats have forgotten.

“The only thing that makes sense to Nigerians is for them to enjoy a reasonable cost of living. Nigerians want to see how the economic conditions have improved due to democratic practice. But each time they try to plot the graph, what they see is always, as accountants would say, in the red. This means it’s not meaningful or not so impactful to them. Democracy in Africa is being seen for its utilitarian value. For its ability to transform lives.”