I must confess that this is not an easy matter to proffer an opinion about, a pathway to reclaiming the future (of Nigeria).
When you spice the problem of planning the future, with the loud ring and chants of ethnic champions, regional ambassadors, religious cleavages and language diversity, the size of the undertaking must confound even the most courageous.
But this is what leadership demands, especially in ‘troubled times’, to find a pathway.
The future is what we do not see. But because it exists, it builds in us the strongest elixir known to man – hope.
With hope, everything is possible including the promise of Nigeria.
I have a clear idea of what that promise looks like. A Nigeria that is prosperous, organised, efficient, secure and safe. A land where order is the first law and where citizens can be all that they can dream of.
I believe that the pathway to the future lies in an agreement made by the citizens.
This is where the undertaking becomes more challenging. How do we get almost 200 million people to AGREE to a set of issues, principles, ideas and norms, from which the pathway to reclaiming the future is possible?
It is only when we agree on the same thing, same idea, same goal, that our methods for achieving it can be harmonized.
I will list here some of the things I think we must agree upon, even if I am willing to concede that there may be more.
1) Do we accept Nigeria as a reality?
2) What role should law and order play in Nigeria?
3) What role should Government play in our lives?
4) What role should religion play?
5) How should services such as employment, housing, water, education, healthcare and transportation be provided and funded?
1) The Reality of Nigeria
It seems to me that we have not all agreed to be Nigerians. Some people still identify themselves by their regions, their ethnic groups and many other identities that they can conjure for themselves whenever the occasion either demands or suits them.
Until we all agree (and I don’t know how that will be done, even though I am convinced that it can and must be done over some time), to surrender or at least subsume those minor identities for a greater identity of being Nigerians, then it will seem that we will continue to work at, or towards cross purposes.
2) Law and order
This is perhaps the greatest invention of man, which I think we have not yet unconditionally adopted. Its faithful application will do us a lot of good, because it will mean that no person (by our own agreement) will be above the law. This will enable us hold ourselves to a common standard.
Our actions will have known and predictable consequences. Conduct will be consistent; trust will grow, and people will be free to make choices and can be expected to accept the already known and pre-determined consequences.
No society can be ordered without law. For then, it would mean that there will be different results for the same actions.
Those who do well should not be treated in the same way as those who do badly.
People must be assured that society’s definition of good and bad is always consistent, and people must trust that those definitions and their understanding of it, will never be unilaterally altered, except by a lawful body such as Parliament.
3) Role of Government
Many might wonder why this is important; because the role of Government appears to be so well known and set in the Constitution.
But in practice, it would seem that we the people are not unanimous in our understanding of the Role of Government, and sometimes, our disappointment over SOME matters often arise PERHAPS from a misplaced expectation.
I think the point I seek to make will be better illustrated if we look at the Role of Companies.
I think that there is a more common and better accepted view about the Role of Companies.
They are not expected to do certain things, such as build roads, schools, hospitals, provide security or food.
When they sometimes do so, they are highly appreciated for being Good Corporate Citizens, because they are doing some of the things that a Government should do.
Conversely, beyond securing our lives and property, regulating our conduct, providing infrastructure to deliver energy, gas, transportation, business development, education etc, what really should we expect government to legitimately do?
This decision and choice is important for reasons which I will allude to.
Some people expect Government to fund their private undertakings and feel disappointment if that does not happen.
Some people expect Government to build houses for free and many other things for free.
These are things that we must agree on. They represent choices between divergent ideologies about how Government should work and about economic policies and they have consequences.
If the State must provide all those things instead of allowing individuals to provide some of them, then the State may have to take over ALL RESOURCES.
We all must understand that Government never has any money or resources, except that which belongs to all of us.
4) Employment, Housing, Transportation, Education, etc; and the Economy
Space constraints compel me to deal with these issues together and also because they directly relate to the preceding issue of Government’s role and the choice we make.
My view is that a society can have almost anything it wants. However, the corollary to that view is that it is about choices and our willingness to deal with the consequences that come with the choices that we make.
If we want free housing, free health, free transportation and free healthcare, we all know that private sector will not provide it.
So all the organs that will deliver them must be state owned.
Therefore if all of us must go to Government hospitals, we have to build them.
All the employees must be Government employees, drugs are likely to be produced by Government owned companies because they must be free.
Let us remember that in life nothing is free, and that even if these services can be delivered FREE to us, our government did not get them free. So taxes may be one way to get the money. Another way will be that Government will own all or almost all resources to be able to fund these things. Government will be the only or the largest employer.
This will mean huge wage bills, huge pension costs and if Government fails, everything fails, because there will be little, if any private sector.
This can happen if we want it, but that choice has cost as a consequence.
The old Soviet Union, old communist China, modern day Russia and “Reforming China” are living examples of one side of these economic choices.
Many European and American nations are examples of the other side, where government provides some part and support for jobs, healthcare, education, transport and housing and leaves citizens to venture and support themselves through the other half.
This is what I allude to as the choice between a GRANT ECONOMY, where government owns and gives everything, or a CONTRIBUTORY ECONOMY where government gives some support, allows enterprise and then takes contributions from successful entrepreneurs by way of taxes, to support struggling citizens.
5) How much religion
This is a tricky matter and it is not free from difficulty. It is rooted in a lot of faith and less of logic.
But it illustrates the struggle for control and management in a way. That struggle is not over and may never end.
People have spiritual and physical needs. Should the state provide both, or should religion provide them? Should there be clear lines?
These are matters we must discuss and agree upon. I have always wondered why we pray at work, why we pray before and after we hold a public event; and nobody has been able to explain to me why this does not happen, at least not visibly at conferences, seminars or business meetings in Europe, America and the Middle East.
These are the places from which the major religions sprung forth; did they separate the roles there by limiting religion to the places of worship, schools and homes, and keeping them away from the work place and sporting centres?
If that is so, is it a model we wish to consider or are we content with what we have?
It seems to me that these are some of the problems that lie in the pathway to our promise of greatness.
If we can reach an agreement on them, the pathway to reclaiming the future will have been rid of what I consider to be big land mines.
Such an agreement will not only unite us in purpose, it will unite us in methods.
— Fashola is the executive governor of Lagos State