Nigeria pretending to practise democracy – Duke

Former Cross River state governor and presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, Sunday, said 27 years of civilian government have imposed enormous costs without delivering corresponding improvements in the lives of Nigerians.

“The people today, I would tell you, were better off under the militar, at least, governance was not that expensive.”

Duke said in an interview with reporters that the assessment should be measured against the welfare of citizens and the “democracy dividends” delivered since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.

“I’m speaking broadly now. If we focus on the well-being of the people, what we term democracy dividends, how much has been delivered?

“We’re still having the same problems we had 27 years ago. It’s getting worse. The number of children out of school has not improved, it’s deteriorating. The healthcare system is not improving, it’s deteriorating.

“With infrastructure deficiency over the last 27 years, are we better off? The question is: are we better off today than we were in 1999?”

Duke stated further that Nigeria had failed to resolve the fundamental problems that existed before the return of democratic government.

“The problems that existed before 1999-electrification, unemployment-those things are still there. And I don’t see a structured approach towards dealing with these issues.

“This is my frustration, because there’s no problem we cannot resolve. We’re not a unique country.

“There are peer reviews you can do. How did you solve this? How did you do that? Are we thinking through our problems?”

The former governor said Nigeria’s governance crisis was worsened by an ineffective opposition and a political system in which election results often failed to reflect the wishes of voters.

“The opposition is terribly weakened and self-centred. Democracy is also in danger. The results you get from the polls often don’t reflect the views of the people.

“So there’s disenchantment with the system, both by the contestants and the public. Most people don’t vote because they believe their votes don’t count.”