The failure of governance in Nigeria has been blamed on the leaders’ failure to plan.

This was the position of stakeholders at the public presentation of a new book in Abuja titled, ‘It Starts With A Plan,’ written by a legal practitioner, Mr. Chuka Modebe.

The stakeholders called for stronger citizen participation, long-term planning and collective action to address Nigeria’s governance challenges. They described the book as a contribution to ongoing conversations on governance reforms and national development.

The book presentation drew attendance from the academia, authors, civil society organisations as well as public policy advocates.

Speaking on his motivation for writing the book, Modebe said Nigeria’s persistent challenges could not be addressed without confronting what he described as the leaders’ penchant for lack of planning.

He said while corruption has been blamed for systemic governance failures, it is largely a symptom of deeper structural problems–lack of planning.

“Our biggest problem is lack of planning, not corruption. Corruption is just the product,” he said.

The author further warned that Nigeria’s difficulties could worsen if citizens fail to demand reforms and stronger institutions.

He said that the worst times are still ahead, noting that what is happening now is just a rehearsal unless pragmatic actions are taken to arrest the current drift.

“Everybody understands that there’s something wrong, but they might not know what it is. We have identified the problems in this book. The whole essence of government and governance is about the people. And every society stands on the tripod of political, economic and social.

“We have been doing a lot of politics. We are failing woefully at economics. And we haven’t even tried the social. The social supports the other two. So without the social, you are really not going to make any traction in the political or economic space.”

The book reviewer, publisher and Chief Executive Officer of Africa Gender Publications, Chinelo Iwenofu, said the publication addresses issues that dominate public discourse in Nigeria, including governance, poverty reduction, constitutional reforms and national development.

According to her, the book provides detailed proposals and practical steps that could be useful to policymakers and public institutions.

She recommended that copies be distributed across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), describing it as a useful resource for public officials involved in governance and policy implementation.

Chairman of the occasion, Director of Centre for Democracy and Development, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, said the essence of governance is the provision of services that meet the needs of citizens.

He noted that governments must understand the priorities of people in all 774 local councils of the country and create mechanisms that enable citizens to engage directly with service providers.

He said the central idea of the book is to establish platforms through which Nigerians can communicate their needs and hold institutions accountable.

Speaking in an interview, Dr. Nnamdi Ebo, who wrote the foreword to the book, said every Nigerian that aspires to lead, even at the family level, should read the book because without planning, it will be difficult to succeed.

His words: “The book is good for Nigeria because the ideas there are very fantastic. I wrote the foreword even though I know that no Nigerian politician is going to listen to those ideas, but I wrote it for him because the ideas he has in that book are ideas of the future, say 20 years’ time. But if we listen to what he has in that book, Nigeria will be for the better. That’s the way I see it. I may be wrong, but that’s the way I see it.”