(Photo from www.nigeriamasterweb.com)
…there cannot be genuine public accountability in a capitalist society, more so in a dependent capitalist society like Nigeria. This is because the ownership and control of the basic means of existence – land, housing, clothing, food, transport, information – is central to accountability. It is farcicial to pretend that those who own and control these (the elite) or those who serve them can be made accountable to those who have nothing but their humanity, labour and need (the masses). In order to have public accountability, there has to be a just and democratic social and economic system. This alone can establish the basis of genuine public accountability for it is then entrenched with regard to the most basic things and at the most basic level. Only in a society in which collective ownership and accumulation is dominant and all public institutions are clearly and unambiguously separated from private ownership and accumulation of wealth can public accountability be assured. This type of society would bring about genuine democracy, independence and self-reliance and lay the essential foundations for socialism.
excerpts from PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE CONSTITUTION, a lecture delivered by Yusufu Bala Usman to the Social Science Club at Bayero University Kano, on 11th March 1977
I came across an old book owned by a friend of mine: FOR THE LIBERATION OF NIGERIA by Yusufu Bala Usman; published in 1979. It is a collection of essays and articles he had written between 1969 – 1978. Within the first five minutes, i was astounded with how relevant the issues he highlighted were, more than 30years afterwards.
How does a problem, whose solutions have been highlighted repeatedly, last for over three decades? The answer is so obvious, it makes the question appear stupid. A problem persists when you ignore it, it does not magically disappear. To be fair to our national policy of pursuing a free market economy and the privatization of public holdings, in the 33years between 1979 and 2012, Nigeria has existed for only about 17years under democratic rule; with a single continuous period of 13years, and so an attempt at a free market economy still stands a chance. My fear is that free market economies do not seem to be doing so well at the moment, Europe is in crisis, and the US only just recovering from a recession; perhaps it is no time to follow the footsteps of those countries that have gone before us, but to chart a course of our own.
Mallam Yusufu Bala Usman prescribes a slight move towards socialism (an ideology prevailing during the Muritala regime i believe) but sadly he does not offer advice on how this can be achieved. I must confess my confusion on how “public institutions are clearly and unambiguously separated from private ownership and accumulation of wealth”. Are we to establish communes? Do we find the poorest of Nigerians and make them head public institutions? Do we agitate for laws that limit private ownership and accumulation of wealth? What do you think?