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Babatunde Fashola’s Inspiring Speech That Shook Presidency. - Politics - Nairaland

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Babatunde Fashola’s Inspiring Speech That Shook Presidency. by mayorsho89(m): 2:49pm On Aug 24, 2014
“THE CHALLENGE OF
DEMOCRATIC
GOVERNANCE”, BEING TITLE
OF LECTURE DELIVERED BY
THE GOVERNOR OF LAGOS
STATE, HIS EXCELLENCY, MR.
BABATUNDE RAJI FASHOLA,
SAN ON THE BIRTHDAY
ANNIVERSARY OF HIS
EXCELLENCY TIMIPRE SYLVA
I think it is too elementary to
attempt any formal definition of
democracy.
It will serve our purpose to say
that it is participatory
governance in the sense that
we all have a say, whether we
vote or not. It is also useful to
remind ourselves that
participation is largely by
representation; in other words,
those who are old enough to
vote and those who are not,
are represented by people
elected to speak, think and act
for us.
This part is very important
because we all cannot be in
Government, especially the
Executive and Legislative arm,
so we must elect or otherwise
choose people to go there on
our behalf.
The problem is compounded
by size.
Can you imagine what a Senate
or House of Representatives
where all 160 million of us can
sit will look like? From this
point we can see the inherent
challenges that lie in a process
of collective decision making.
In order to further highlight
some of the challenges that lie
in democratic governance, I
will share with you a report of
developments across the World
published by Newsweek
Magazine on August 23 & 30,
2010 edition titled “the Best
Countries in the World”,
Newsweek Top 100.
An article by Rana Foroohar
posed the following question
before delivering the report of a
survey of 100 nations:-
”If you were born today, which
country would provide you the
very best opportunity to live a
healthy, safe, reasonably
prosperous and upwardly
mobile life?”
In the answer, Finland was
number 1, Nigeria was number
99, Ghana was number 86,
South Africa was number 82,
Brazil was number 48,
Singapore was number 20,
USA was number 11, United
Kingdom was number 14.
Greece, with its recent
economic and debt crises was
number 26, Russia was
number 51.
The United Arab Emirates,
Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia,
that are not democracies in the
contemporary sense of the
western conception were rated
43, 53, 54 and 64 respectively.
Out of the 53 African countries
on the continent, only 18 made
the ranking, the highest being
Tunisia 65, Morocco 67 and
Egypt 74.South Africa, which is
reputed to be arguably the best
democracy in Africa and at the
time, the largest economy
ranked lower than these
“undemocratic” North African
countries at 82.
As if this was not bad enough,
earlier this year on a business
trip to Abu Dhabi, I was forced
to enter into conversation with
a middle aged man of Arab
extraction.
It was in the evening in our
hotel. He had come out to the
restaurant to dine and unwind.
I ended up on the same table
with him and he was insistent
on making conversation while
he drank a glass of red
alcoholic wine.
In the event he sought to know
where I came from and when I
said Nigeria, he accused our
Government of pauperizing our
country when we have oil like
his own country, Saudi Arabia.
When I told him that he was
not supposed to drink alcohol
he asked me if I was going to
report to his country.
When I reminded him that his
country was not democratic,
he hit me where it hurts most.
He asked what the value of
democracy is to my own
countrymen when his own
countrymen can build hospitals
that we bring our own ailing
presidents to.
As if this was not enough, he
rounded off by saying to me
that in his country they see
what their leaders are doing
with their money, building
roads, bridges, new airports,
schools, hospitals, rail,
shopping malls and generally
driving development, and he at
least did not care about
democracy.
Although I felt hurt that he
thought very little of my
country, the idea of freedoms,
to think, to speak, to act and to
ask questions is too valuable
for me to exchange for
development under an
autocratic or undemocratic
government.
So I worry as we must all
worry, when I hear some
people say that it is part of
their achievement that they
allow us to express ourselves.
Utter Rubbish!
They seek to re-define the
relationship in the social
contract. They are to serve us
and not the other way round. It
is not a privilege for us to
complain when they do not
deliver.
If the only options left to
choose from were between
freedom and development, I for
one will rather surrender
development than freedom.
However, I am however
convinced beyond doubt that
democracy can deliver
development and this is the
central theme of my
presentation.
Political Parties
In order for this to happen, the
vehicle of politics, the political
parties must be developed as
first class institutions. The first
thing to seek is the “idea”
behind governance (this is
often contained in the program
of a political party). This is
very important because the
extremes of left and right
ideologies have now converged
around the centre.
If China and Russia are
democratizing, no matter how
imperfectly, it is clear that the
communist or socialist
ideologies of economic
exchange have proven to
become
unsustainable. Conversely,
capitalism in its purest sense
has also had to reinvent itself
to remain viable. Therefore it
moved from cash to credit and
credit almost killed it.



For more visit www.jide-salu.com/2014/08/16/explosive-must-read-for-all-nigerians-babatunde-fasholas-inspiring-speech-that-shook-presidency/

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