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Brexit and the Nigerian democracy

By Wole Olubanji
08 July 2016   |   3:57 am
Bolaji Akinyemi was strongly advocating another version of modern representative democracy. This sort of democracy sets some section of the populace aside from the rest...
Professor of Political Science and Nigeria’s former minister for Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi.

Professor of Political Science and Nigeria’s former minister for Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi.

The British people voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. For English people who have voted in the belief that the vote would earn them a level of sovereignty and control over their own affairs which they fear the European Union alliance has crippled, especially with the uncontrolled influx of immigrants from Eastern parts of Europe.

There is a wide prophesy of doom now as to the future consequences of the British exit. Some have argued that the referendum was unnecessary, and uncalled for, since Britain has a Parliamentary system of government – a representative democracy – that is supposed to discuss ‘technical’ issues like exiting the European Union (EU).

Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, a former Foreign Affairs Minister in Nigeria, chided the decision of David Cameron to subject the debates over ‘Brexit’ to a referendum as reckless, and described the whole referendum as a ‘market democracy,’ rife with populism. In Akinyemi’s view, it would have been better off if the parliament had discussed such very technical issue, rather than being decided over by common people.

Bolaji Akinyemi was strongly advocating another version of modern representative democracy. This sort of democracy sets some section of the populace aside from the rest, because such elitist section is presumed to be expert and specialized in politics and running of society. Political scientists have a term for such system in general: Aristocracy- a system of government extracted from Aristotle’s views in Nichomachean Ethics that leave the business of the state to experienced adults. A version of such democracy that does not really care about what people in general think or want is already rife in Nigeria.

This country’s democracy is founded on an elitism that has continued to place itself above the hundreds of millions of poor masses that make up the population. This is why it is common place to witness brazen acts of corruption and ineptitude by typical politicians and so-called representatives in the country. And the Brexit referendum was one of the aspects of democracy that directly reflect the involvement of the masses in the polity.

Human beings at times make mistakes, and they at times learn from those mistakes to build monuments and new technologies. Readers of J. S. Mills, and many of his Liberalist disciples in Nigeria today believe that every individual should have freedom over his choice of life, and every action that brings the majority a sense of happiness is just. Happiness of the majority, liberty of the individual – these are what most liberal professors build democracy as a concept of government on.

In the concluded referendum, the British people only exercised those rights that democracy should basically preserve and guarantee. It is important to note that the decision of majority of Britons was not ill-informed or hastily reached, because years of intense discussions had preceded the Brexit referendum, with the chances that the masses would have reached an informed conclusion over those times. We should say that there are many things to emulate from the state of affairs in Britain, where the people seek a peaceful, democratic means to show their power over those representatives who are becoming so disgusting.

And we should respect the British people’s decision to leave the European Union as well. We should not forget so easily the attempt of the masses in Greece to leave the EU too, when it was crushing them with debts and cuts and bruises from austerity. The Greek leaders betrayed the masses, but if replicated in the United Kingdom, it would have been costlier for the ‘democracy-reputation’ of Britain even more.

There are lots of issues in Nigeria today that some believe are better settled through a referendum. Of course the idea of a referendum is superb. One thing we should not fight is the limitation of human knowledge. Every human has a limit to his personal genius. This is why it would be absurd and arrogant to force one’s way of reasoning over millions of people.

Several times, representatives of the people have mistaken the apathy of citizens for stupidity, and this is exactly what is happening in Nigeria.

Yes, intensive debates and discussions should be welcome in our country.

There are several mistakes that representatives of the people have made on behalf of Nigerians that the nation as a whole continues to pay for. Take for instance, the crisis in the power sector. Despite concerted efforts of government to resuscitate the sector – at least based on media reports – the sector has not been able to meet the demand of the masses.

In my opinion, the conduct of the Nigerian parliament – that is traditionally given the power to make laws for the overall running of the state – is scandalous, and its members have proven themselves uncommitted to the plight of the Nigerian masses. Then, I do not think there is anything to lose if we make the democratic system more direct and people-based

The Guardian has consistently strongly advised President Buhari to implement the report of the 2014 National Conference

We should not have too much faith in the Nigerian democratic system, as it is, for it has continuously alienated the people and misrepresented their interest.

The Brexit votes in the United Kingdom have brought up several posers. But the one that we should soberly ask as a nation is, or the extent of our democracy. Do the people truly own Nigeria? If they do, all government policies should be of benefit to them, before it to any magnate, consortium or others.

Everywhere in the world, the people always attempt to assert their supremacy over their representatives – and that is what the Englishmen and women have done. It is high time Nigerians asserted their supremacy over their leaders.

Olubanji is a fresh graduate of the Department of Philosophy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

 

6 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    It is contestable that the decision of the British electorate to vote for exit from the European Union was ‘not ill-informed or hastily reached’ or that the electorate reached an ‘informed decision’ after years of ‘intense debate’. Almost everyone knows that the decision to exit the EU was informed by the fear of being over-run by immigrants from Eastern Europe. The idea of British cultural homogeneity (taking control) was whipped up by Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. If racism was not the driving force, why are black people – who are not Eastern Europeans – the object of xenophobic attacks since the conclusion of the referendum?

  • Author’s gravatar
  • Author’s gravatar

    But how can Nigerians assert their supremacy over their leaders when Nigeria is still an amalgamation? The way forward is the annulment of this unholy, wicked, corrupt and deadly amalgamation.

  • Author’s gravatar

    I can understand the frustration of this thinker but here is a couple of things worth bearing in mind: Even in Ancient Greece there was no consensus on democracy as the best form of political system. Plato was opposed to it, Aristotle supported it. Another thinker, john Locke was in support of representative democracy but said if the people have “reasonable belief” that the government has veered off its duties, they (the people) have the right to overthrow that government. In essence, he favors revolutionary action. I like a bloodless revolutionary action, by the way. My take on all these things together with what we see in the world is that both the representatives of the people and the people themselves don’t get it. The representatives of the people are worse because most of them are driven by their own selfish interests and greed as we see all over the world and Nigeria (Niger-area….ala Mary Shaw) where the love of power and money are the defining features of the representatives of the people.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Of course it is open to the human mind that people should have power to determine their destiny. And the most popular & civilized way to extend such power to the most number of people is by elections & referendums. People know it. Those who claim otherwise, including Akinyemi, know they are lying for selfish & non-altruistic reasons. As you also said, there was no such thing as gamble about the EU referendum. It was planned a long time. In 2012 David Cameron himself declared that “multi-culturalism has failed in Britain, & it was time to fashion a distinct sense of British identity.” Four years after they have moved to actualize it, & little mind & liars & shouting themselves hoarse.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Interesting and thought provoking. But with a population that is basically under-informed, manipulated by an elite on a campaign of fear and lies: Is a Referendum a tool for democracy? The idea of a people supremacy over their leaders is just an idea nothig else.
    What Nigeria is sorely in need of is information -unbiased and openly available- on critical issues that directly impact on out living standard. It is not just the workers who are no more than two percent of the populace, it the poor seasonal agricultural workers, the artisans who built our magnificent edifices literally for free, the toiling housewife who has contend with a confinement every two years or so that need information to organise their lives. That is the starting point.
    From thence we build the institution that will protect the rights acquired such as the South African Independent Prosecutor who has challenged and forced a powerful president Zuma to cut his profligacy with public funds.