DEMOCRATIC FUSION

Democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people, who are all these people? one might ask and what gives them credence to decide who controls the affairs of the state as their right, are they all rational thinking intelligent people with a mind of their own, who decided to vote their choice through a careful and thoughtful evaluation on their part or are they Lipmann’s bewildered herd plunged towards ethnocentric and tribalistic vilification that changes what ought to be a careful selected majority leader without bias and well thought judgment to rotational sectionalism in which the person in power is placed by a group people who expect their votes to be repaid as a form of nepotism rule that channels all of a country’s resources appointment and infrastructure to a particular region in a nut shell Is Nigeria

Atomized in all levels of government are elements of this nepotism and friends and family governance steeped in corruption, greed and misappropriation. It is the already appraised futile effort of this article to think out of the madness a system after the fashion, a style of this democracy that can help effectively the malady called Nigerian democracy and how the cost of governance can be greatly reduced while achieving efficiency and accountancy that have eluded us for years. In short this is wishful thinking, all things being equal we can’t have all the things said here done verbatim and without protest for humans are two brained and contrast and turmoil are the gears of our spinning world but if a little of what is said here can be viewed in line with our little altruism, a nod in my thought direction will be more than enough

Democracy is really a game of numbers, and as far as the British did what they did in Colonial era by giving the bigger part of the pant to the North, since they were aligned pre colonially with the Baguenot theory of the Efficient and dignified which was and still practiced in Britain by the Northerners through the Emir (dignified) and Galadima (efficient). It made indirect rule easier and curb the tumultuous and clannish system of government that might oppose them in the southern side a mite. So efficiently as long as Shell is a British company the North will continue to rule Nigeria for the foreseeable future, the South can make do with what is offered in form 0f building schools and business rather building statues for the President of other countries if I am being surgical.

This is why we have a population implosion on our hands and why the northerners have not and will never hear of birth control they outnumber every other region 5 to 1 and if democracy is a game of number they are pitted and are going to win every time, all the time. Noticeable also is their infiltration of the other region through obsequiousness, aloof stupidity, cunning and so called menial jobs they gather themselves in large numbers and take up shacks in different parts of the country where they breed uncontrollably sharing the little resources that are practically unavailable, Shacks like these can be found in Gyero road Jos, 9^th Mile Enugu, Ijora Lagos, and an Almajirai system that guarantee that a man can have 4 wives who will give birth to 11 children and be free of the responsibility of training them.

So what happens during election? These numbers add up and can win in a landslide toppling whatever plans an opposition might have So I ask again who are all these numbers and do they select our leaders through rational, intelligent and  evaluative on their part, the answer is No! Because the budget and rot of our educational system prove that these people are just numbers on a poll nothing more No amount of rational thinking can stop of a school of sardines destined for the deep No matter how enlightened politically we feel it can only created particularistic and divisive candidates with plethora of manifestos against a group of people who have one mind and voice and also outnumber will definitely have the edge in any election What then do I propose: a system of government I call Democratic fusion

Simply put it is a regional system of government in which whatever number one have in a region becomes the gain and problem of that region they can’t affect the overall decision of the entire country. It means whatever population a region has becomes it problem and whatever advantage they get from such implosion should be there’s alone, it is a kind of government that I feel is feasible in Nigeria, it will bring about competitive development among the regions since we will not transcend the social construct of tribalism but if the unity is “non-negotiable” I posit a democratic fusion to help solve the confusion we practice in NIGERIA  I believe it is system of government that is cost effective and transparent since it can be evaluated with immediacy and stops the herd electoral system that make a joke of us to the outside word

Firstly we scrap the defunct legislature which consists of the senate and the House of Representatives. And the state’s version of such wastage, saving billions in salaries and allowances, we create an office of the Exchequer or Treasury solely responsible for the country’s recurrent expenditures I.e. salaries, arrears, pensions etc Independent of all the executive but answerable to the Judiciary

The fusion starts here, the only democratic elected office will be the office of the Local Government Chairman and parastatals in Nigeria, with 774 local governments the local government chairmen will then become the general assembly (here the executive becomes the legislature) This is reduce the unnecessary cost and redtapism of bi-camera legislature and since those making the law are the ones implementing there would be no guile on how efficient they would want to run the policy as any form of sabotage would be tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot.

After making the law you all agree to you go back to your various constituent and implement these laws They are checked by the opposition who will have a representatives present at the plenary for checking using a two party system reduce the plethora of oppositions with differed individuation since all roads lead to Rome they are practically all the same, why not reduce it to just two party called Labor and Democratic

In time of election the local government election is the most important the local government candidate who is elected and it can be anybody which is why it is very democratic as the people at the grassroots decide everything and as a candidate how best you relate with people  who already know you on a  personal level will determine your success or failure in an election, instead of depending on your party your concentration will be on the people in your constituency who is to vote you in as they could make or mar your plans.

The interesting thing about democratic fusion is that all the local government chairmen of a particular region when voted in can now vote amongst themselves who they want to be their head in the regional level to represent them in the regional assembly of state of only 6 members answering to the president which is to be rotated among them every 4 years

This implies that the people will be very careful who they vote in as the local government chairman as it is possible for a local government chairman to be the head of a region or country and in such case the deputy automatically assumes the role of the Local government chairmen The basic salary of a local government would be reduced drastically with only health allowances attached to chase off goblins that see the seat as a position of attaining wealth he will know that he is in the service industry.

The opposition must be In close watch of the elected so that when there is mismanagement he can call for an election which can happen once the people pass a vote of no confidence in the local government council an instability of the local government is not a problem in democratic fusion since the office is rather pent lingual and puppet like but it will do the local government chairman  a whole lot of good to be  transparent for if he is impeached he can be never be elected and the closeness of government to the people means he and his family will fall under the chagrin of a very dissatisfied people, plus there is no immunity in office.

The highest office of privy will be the Regional Supreme Court headed by a Supreme Justice of a particular region that will adjudicate laws that a particular region are in favor of and solving the issue of Sharia or No sharia. The regional head will be in charge of the regional police, revenue allocation, and taxation and are checked by the General Assembly of Local Government Chairman who can vote and impeach them, followed closely by the opposition party who also checks any excesses found.

At the General Assembly of Local Government Chairmen Funds will be decided according to various aims like security, health, education and welfare, if they decide on the ones they want among all on these the exchequer will dole out equal funds to each local government known as the development fund that will monitored closely by the opposition, electorates and the region judiciary. The local government is the government the most close to the people so when a system that fund its development like this a democratic fusion is achieved the people can’t be told that the money was lost, reduced or short changed in the redtapism of government for as the money is getting to the Local government chairman’s hand it is coming straight down to the people. All other issues and cases of emergency will follow this fashion. Let’s take into perspective what it would mean if we had a general assembly of local government chairmen that meets monthly sharing a development fund of 120 billion naira, if in the General assembly of 773 numbers were to pick what they want to tackle according to what they feel is important in our locality probably even using a computer voting system and chose Education.

The exchequer present at the meeting can now give out for instance from the allocated budget selected for development the sum of 3 million to each of the local government head to go and build schools for their local government means 3 million naira to 774 local government will be 2 billion 322 million for 12 months, that will be 30 billion which will be the total expenditure for education for a year multiply That by 4 years of tenure and that is 120 billion of quantifiable progress 120 billion you can see.

So if for instance 3 million naira can build 2 class rooms we have 2 classrooms in each local government and 2 classrooms for 12 month = 24 classroom by 4 years will 96 classrooms in each local government. if this same method is applied it can also go on in improving healthcare just imagine 8 classroom X 773 local government in 4 years, that a total of 74 thousand 208 classrooms with these numbers, imagine what will happen to our literacy level and if  applied to other aims we will see quantifiable progress in all the local governments. The chairman can decide however to use his fund for things that matter to him, He therefore seek the permission of the exchequer who will approve it and put him under the watch of the foremost crisis common who will ensure he spend the whole money on his alternative watching closer will be the opposition party leader (which is why a two party system is ideal).

This system of government is born out the necessity of an age long lack of development in Nigeria it is a system that is created to help bring Nigeria out of the statistics of underdeveloped so the development fund is the most talked about in this article other forms of governance and emergency will be treated along this seam. When you watch the plenary session of legislature on television you see that more than half of these seats are empty and many of them are on vacation and medical tourism outside the country, why not scrap the entire legislative system and these jobs to the local government chairmen thereby reducing the cost of governance drastically. If a country is the sum of its local government what then is the use of the office of the governors, state house of assemblies, senators, ministers, and so on. Just imagine how much will be saved through the reduced cost of governance here are some funny numbers to buttress my point, if the basis salary of a senator is 13 million naira per month it means a senator is taking into his pocket 2 classrooms every month, 24 classrooms every year and 96 classrooms in a term 109 senators will equal 10,644 classrooms. Now imagine some people who have been senators for more than two decades. And that is just the senators, what about the House of Reps Member, Governors, Permanent Secretaries, Ministers and so on. I repeat Basic Salaries, other allowances are not mentioned which I hear are in the tune of hundreds of millions. This system of government will bypass the whole state government and state house of assembly. The annual meeting of the General Assembly of Local Government Chairmen will be televised so when the exchequer gives out the money the people in the different local government will be on the lookout for the implementation of the said project which brings about an immediacy of evaluation any local government official who steals the money can be brought to book and arrested

Taxation will be very important local government council each local government council will b e in charge of taxation on cars, houses, hotels, churches,  mosques and other business The tax officials shoul recruit some of these people from the schools  And the proceeds will be used to create school as and hospitals

Back to the bewildered herd, the numbers they will be of no political use to the government as their vote is only useful in their region, and whoever they vote is who they want in the position of power, whether the number are in millions becomes their problem as it doesn’t affect the overall decision making process of the entire country.

Listing in details the nitty-gritty of this political system would require a book, however it will follow in the same process of democratic fusion, in which the main powers will be in the local government and from there either the ladder is mounted or the rug is pulled.

By

Victor Samuel