Oseni emphasised the pivotal role of democracy in nation-building, urging unity and collective efforts in addressing pressing issues facing the nation.

The lawmaker, in a statement released on Wednesday by his media aide, Idowu Ayodele, and made available to newsmen in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, stressed the importance of active participation in the democratic process, urging Nigerians to remain vigilant in defending democratic principles and contributing to the betterment of society.

“Democracy thrives when citizens actively engage in the affairs of their communities and nations. Nigeria is blessed with diverse talents and resources, and it is imperative that we harness these potentials through active civic engagement and collaboration,” remarked Oseni.

“As we celebrate Democracy Day, let us renew our commitment to civic participation and collective action for the progress of our constituency, state, and nation”, he continued.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) highlighted the significance of June 12 as a reminder of the sacrifices made by Nigerians, especially the late Chief M.K.O Abiola in the struggle for democracy, reiterating the responsibility of citizens to safeguard the gains of democracy through meaningful engagement.

He pledged to continue advocating for policies that promote inclusivity, transparency, and accountability in governance, while also encouraging constituents to play an active role in shaping the future of their communities.

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The Federal Government has declared Monday, June 12, a public holiday.

This was confirmed in a statement on Thursday, from the office of the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Interior.

Contained in the statement issued by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinlade, the holiday is in commemoration of this year’s Democracy Day celebration.

Akinlade while making the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, congratulated all Nigerians on this occasion.

“Nigeria’s democratic journey has, like in many other climes, encountered both stormy and smooth sails, but the ship of State, its institutions and most importantly, the Nigerian people have remained steadfast on the tenets of democratic governance.

“On this memorable occasion therefore, Nigerians and friends of Nigeria are invited to appreciate the progress that has been made, celebrate the milestones covered and look forward to a better future for the country’s democracy”.

The Permanent Secretary wished all Nigerians a Happy Democracy Day celebration.

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I join you all today to commemorate and celebrate our Democracy Day. It is a celebration of freedom and a victory for one people, one country and one Nigeria.

2. As with all democracies we will always be going through improvement processes in our desire to reach the goal of a mature democracy, a strong, evolved and integrated nation state to be reckoned with globally.

3. In the last two years we have witnessed and overcome a good number of testy challenges that would have destroyed other nations especially relating to our collective security.

4. The indefatigable CAN DO Spirit of the Nigerian has sustained us and would keep pushing us to put these challenges behind us.

5. Unfortunately some of these challenges came in the shape of violent outrages leading to the loss of lives of many of our dear compatriots and the destruction of some of our infrastructure, including those devoted to improving our democratic processes.

6. Once again, I want to render my sincere and heart-felt condolences to the families and friends of our gallant service men and women who lost their lives in the line of duty and as a sacrifice to keep Nigeria safe.

7. I extend the same condolence to the families and friends of our country men, women and children who were unfortunate victims of such senseless arsons, kidnappings and murders.

8. I also share the pains of families and direct victims of ransom-seeking, kidnaped victims who went through unimaginable trauma in the course of their forced imprisonment.

9. Let me assure my fellow citizens that every incident, however minor gives me great worry and concern and I immediately order security agencies to swiftly but safely rescue victims and bring perpetrators to justice.

Fellow Nigerians,

10. When you elected me as your President in 2015, you did so knowing that I will put an end to the growing insecurity, especially the insurgency in the North East, but the unintended consequences of our scattering them in the North East pushed them further in-country which is what we are now facing and dealing with.

11. We will, by the Grace of God put an end to these challenges too.

12. Unfortunately, like in most conflict situations, some Nigerian criminals are taking undue advantage of a difficult situation and profiteering therefrom with the misguided belief that adherence to the democratic norms handicaps this Administration from frontally and decisively tackling them.

13. We are already addressing these obstacles and we will soon bring some of these culprits to justice.

14. We are, at the same time addressing the twin underlying drivers of insecurity namely poverty and youth unemployment.

15. Interventions led by Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria driving economic growth over the past 6 years are targeted mostly to the agricultural, services, infrastructure, power and health care sectors of the economy.

16. In the Agricultural sector, for instance, the Anchor Borrowers Programme resulted in sharp decline in the nation’s major food import bill from $2.23billion in 2014 to US$0.59billion by the end of 2018.

17. Rice import bill alone dropped from $1 billion to $18.5 million annually.

18. This initiative supported local production of rice, maize, cotton and cassava. Government financed 2.5 million small-holder farmers cultivating about 3.2 million hectares of farmland all over the country and created 10 million direct and indirect jobs.

19. Several other initiatives, namely AgriBusiness/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme, the Non-oil Export stimulation Facility, the Targeted Credit Facilities operated across the 774 Local Governments.

20. In the manufacturing sector the CBN – BOI N200 billion facility financed the establishment and operations of 60 new industrial hubs across the country, creating an estimated 890,000 direct and indirect jobs.

21. The CBN’s N50 billion Textile Sector intervention Facility increased capacity utilization of ginneries from 30% to nearly 90%.

22. The Economic Sustainability Plan – our rebound plan for the COVID-19 pandemic developed in 2020 is currently being executed. The plan is primarily focused on the non-oil sector, which has recorded phenomenal growth contributing over 90% to the GDP growth in Q1 2021.

23. Though marginal we have recorded GDP growth over two quarters; Q2 2020 and Q1 2021. This is evidence of a successful execution of the ESP by the Federal Government.

24. My vision of pulling 100 million poor Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years has been put into action and can be seen in the National Social Investment Programme, a first in Africa and one of the largest in the world where over 32.6m beneficiaries are taking part. We now have a National Social register of poor and vulnerable households, identified across 708 local government areas, 8,723 wards and 86,610 communities in the 36 States and the FCT.

25. Our conditional cash transfer program has benefited over 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households comprising more than 8 million individuals. This provides a monthly stipend of N10,000 per household.

26. I have also recently approved the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy Plan that augments existing plans to further reduce poverty in Nigeria.

27. As at the end of 2020, the Development Bank of Nigeria had disbursed 324 billion Naira in loans to more than 136,000 MSMEs, through 40 participating Financial Institutions. I am to note that 57% of these beneficiaries are women while 27% are the youth.

28. We are able to do all these and still accelerate our infrastructure development through sensible and transparent borrowing, improved capital inflow, improving and increasing revenue through capturing more tax bases and prudent management of investment proceeds in the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Fellow Nigerians,

29. Our infrastructure revolution continues with key projects attaining critical milestones under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund; The Second Niger Bridge, The Lagos- Ibadan Expressway and the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway.

30. I have also approved the establishment of Infraco Plc, a world-class infrastructure development vehicle wholly focused on Nigeria with a capital structure of N15 trillion.

31. The rail system is not left out as the Itakpe-Warri standard gauge rail was completed and commissioned 33 years after construction began. The Lagos-Ibadan double track railway line which I have just commissioned has commenced operations.

32. We are focused on ensuring that our infrastructure drive is key to economic growth and one that can be felt by every Nigerian. Building critical infrastructure in our ports is also opening up opportunities for the Nigerian economy.

33. My approval for 4 new seaports using a Public-Private-Partnership approach is hinged on growing the Nigerian economy. These four sea ports; Lekki Deep Sea Port, Bonny Deep Sea Port, Ibom Deep Sea Port and Warri Deep Sea port will create massive job opportunities and foreign investment inflows.

34. We have worked at deepening our Eastern ports leading to success like having three container ships berth at Calabar port, a first in 11 years. Similarly, on October 30 2019, an LPG tanker operated by NLNG berthed in Port Harcourt, the first time an LPG ship is berthing at any of the Eastern Ports.

35. As we invest in these new assets, we have also made strides in ensuring that they are secured and protected. In this regard I am also pleased to note the launch of the NIMASA Deep Blue project – which is an Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure that I recently commissioned. This initiative is designed to add to the layer of security we have to safeguard our maritime sector.

Dear Nigerians,

36. I will be the first to admit that in spite of our efforts and achievements which are there for all to see, there is still much more to be done and we are doing our best in the face of scarce resources and galloping population growth rate that consistently outstrips our capacity to provide jobs for our populace. Our over-all economic target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years is our goal notwithstanding COVID-19.

37. In the last two years we lifted 10.5 million people out of poverty – farmers, small-scale traders, artisans, market women and the like.

38. I am very convinced that this 100 million target can be met and this informed the development of a National poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy. The specific details of this accelerated strategy will be unveiled shortly.

39. In the last one year, Nigeria and the whole world faced COVID-19 for which no one was fully prepared.

40. Our response to the pandemic involved making hard choices in balancing livelihoods and public health concerns. You are all living witnesses to how successful this has been due to a number of pro-active measures put in place. Our response to COVID-19 is globally acclaimed.

41. We were able to ensure that the various lockdown measures did not impact too negatively on the ability of ordinary Nigerians to continue sustaining their livelihoods.

42. During the pandemic, we disbursed N5,000 to 1 million Nigerians using a Rapid Response Register and advanced N20,000 to 750,000 beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer Progamme and provided 1.37 million Nigerians with palliatives from CACOVID.

43. At the same time the Federal Government released 109,000 metric tonnes of food reserve stocks and 70,000 metric tonnes of grains to the poor and vulnerable in all 36 states of the federation.

44. In addition, Government reduced interest rates from 9% to 5% for struggling businesses and extended credit facilities to 548,345 beneficiaries.

Fellow Nigerians,

45. When this administration decided to change our Democracy Day from 29th May to June 12th in my first tenure, it was not only to honour the sacrifices of the men and women of our country who fought for the return to democracy but also to demonstrate our commitment to satisfy the aspirations of the people and creating an environment for democracy to be an accepted way of life.

46. As your President, I remain committed to providing an enabling environment for a free, fair and credible electoral system under my tenure.

47. However, you need to play your part by getting involved at any level you can supporting a democratic system that works for all and not for a section or a select few and demand accountability from your elected leaders.

48. My commitment to bequeathing a sustainable democratic culture remains resolute, my pursuit of a fair society remains unshaken and my desire to see that Nigeria remains a country for each and every one of us has never been stronger.

49. In responding to the challenges that this period imposes on us, Government also recognises the need to acknowledge notions of marginalisation and agitations for constitutional amendments among various segments of our population.

50. While this government is not averse to constitutional reform as part of our nation building process, everyone must understand that the primary responsibility for constitutional amendments lies with the National Assembly.

51. This body which, as I said, is the arm of government responsible for constitutional changes has concluded the preliminary stages of amending and improving our constitution in a way that the majority of Nigerians will be happy with.

52. Government is, however, willing to play a critical role in the constitutional amendment process without usurping the powers of the National Assembly in this regard.

53. As a nation we have come very far from where we started and we are getting incrementally closer to where we ought to be.

54. Overcoming the present challenges is but one of a necessary process that we have to undergo as a nation so that we can come out stronger. The day I joined the Nigerian Army I was prepared to lay down my life for Nigeria.

55. As your President I remain ever committed to upholding and defending Nigeria’s Corporate existence.

56. In adhering to the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy notably section 14(2)(b) I shall do all within my power to ensure that the Security and welfare of the people remain the primary purpose of government.

57. I have, throughout my tenure, provided the security agencies with all they require relative to available resources and will be providing more as the dynamics unfold to put an end to our security problems.

58. My strong belief in the Nigerian spirit gives me comfort that we are facing these challenges with renewed commitment to keep our country one.

59. I thank you for your patience and attention and more importantly your resolve to join hands in making Nigeria the country of our dream.

Happy Democracy Day! God Bless us All, God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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Alhaji Atiku, who  was also the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, in his Democracy Day message, emphasized on the need to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.

The PDP chieftain asked authorities to ensure that the votes of the people were not only counted but should count.

The message read, “As we celebrate today our 21st anniversary of unbroken democratic rule, it is necessary that we canonize the memories of our heroes of democracy by expanding the application of democracy as a mechanism of good governance by making sure that ballots cast during an election are sacrosanct in order for leaders who represent the true aspirations of the people to emerge.

“However, to ensure the integrity of the electoral process, that votes are not only counted, but that they do count, there is an urgent need to accelerate needed electoral reforms that will address the lapses in previous elections”.

He added that celebrating Democracy Day is an affirmation of the nation’s collective struggles towards a system of participatory government.

While urging Nigerians to use the occasion of the Democracy Day to remember the nation’s fallen heroes of democratic rule, as well as the anonymous ones whom he said lost their lives as a result of bad governance, the former vice president, however, regretted that many compatriots paid the ultimate price along the line in the struggle which spanned decades.

“Just like the late Bashorun MKO Abiola continues to be the symbol of the June 12 struggle, there are many others like the late Chief Alfred Rewane; my mentor, Tafida Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and many more too numerous to mention who lost their lives in order for us to have a democracy.

“Yet, there are so many other heroes who remain unsung. They are Nigerians who have fallen victims of bad governance.

“While we may have a day dedicated to celebrating democracy, it remains saddening that we have not delivered enough dividends to our people to be happy over.

“Between 1999 to the present time, our democracy has thrown up all shades of characters at the leadership levels. Many, if not all of them have tried their best to deliver good governance to the country. But the results of their efforts, judging by what we have at hand today, clearly shows that our best has not been good enough thus far.

“It is clear that the problem of leadership is at the epicenter of governance issues that has afflicted Nigeria since the restoration of this democratic dispensation. To get at this problem would require the voting citizens of the country to undertake a more critical evaluation of national leadership recruitment – a rare gift which democracy guarantees through the instrumentality of periodic elections.

“It is when we do that, that democracy can pass as a self-correcting mechanism and when it is denied, we are left with a pseudo-democracy which is counterproductive to the notion of participatory democracy”, the message concluded.

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Presidential aide on National Assembly matters, Senator Ita Enang informed the  state house correspondents that with the assent to the amendment, May 29 is no more a public holiday.

Buhari assented to the Public Holiday Amendment Act, declaring June 12 of every year a public holiday and Democracy Day.

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As an icing on the cake, Mr. President did not only recognise and declared June 12 as DEMOCRACY DAY, he also honoured the winner of June 12 who unfortunately was made to pay the supreme price of untimely death, Chief MKO Abiola, the highest national honour of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (GCFR), a post well deserved.

Coupled with this good turning point in our nation’s history is the national honour to the gadfly and revolutionary icon of Nigerian human rights / democracy struggle, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.

https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/mko-abiola-kingibe-reacts-to-buharis-conferment-of-gcon-on-him/

The two highly respected noble Nigerian leaders I had privilege to work with at different periods of our nation’s touch march to democracy, as a Campaign Coordinator to MKO (for Youth, Hope ’93 Campaigns) and as a ‘Barricade Soul mate’ of Gani from my student’s unionism years at Great Ife, when our paths met during our wrong expulsion from school, and illegal detention; on the two occasions Gani gave us free legal service, and later at the several struggles he led for actualization of June 12 mandate.

While I commend President Buhari for this great step to national reconciliation, I equally join other well meaning Nigerians that Mr. President goes further to send a Bill to the National Assembly for the immediate recognition of Chief MKO Abiola as the second elected President of Nigeria but who was not allowed to rule in order to avoid a possible annulment in future by evil forces in Nigeria.

While we celebrate the 25th anniversary of June 12 today with its new status, we should not allow the great lessons of the event to be lost on us.

These include:

* Democracy and democratic values as basic tenets for good governance and purposeful leadership.

* Unity in diversity translated to true nationhood where no one is oppressed and every citizen is free to live and prosper in any part of Nigeria peacefully.

* Economic freedom, wealth creation for citizens for proper farewell to, and abolition of poverty.

These should be our watchword and guiding principles as we celebrate June 12 and the matrys of the struggle both recognised, unknown and yet unsung.

I and my team in Oluyole Local Government also pledge to keep faith with this principle in the management of the council for the maximum benefit of All as we Work and Walk together for our common good.

Happy Celebration and 25th Anniversary.

Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye
Executive Chairman, Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State.

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Three years into the Buhari’s administration, people have reasons to groan. There is widespread poverty every where. Though, the statistics released by the government made us to believe that the economic growth is back and consolidating. Yet, there are clear indications that people are suffering seriously.

The unfortunate reality is that the claim by the government that inflation has fallen for the fifteenth (15) consecutive months from 18.7 percent in January 2017 to 12.5 percent as of April 2018 had not really had direct positive impacts on the citizens and purchasing power of Nigeria’s currency.

The story of our nation is that of a country practising democracy without genuine democrats. Across the country, we have governors without democratic credentials. These greedy and selfish governors are still owing workers despite the fact that Buhari’s admistration had extended more than 1.9 trillion naira to State governments to enable them meet their salary and pension obligations especially in the face of dwindling oil revenues over the last two years.

It is disheartening that the federal government had not succeeded in suppressing the menace of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen completely despite the military campaign and international support so far mobilized. However, the commitment of the present government to halt the menace cannot be underestimated.

In terms of education financing, the government has not in my view scored a pass mark. When one evaluates the quality of Nigeria’s education system, it is abysmally low. The prevailing situation across the country is that most institutions including public and private ones lack the quality personnel and facilities for effective teaching, research and community services. Worse still, factors of dissatisfies such as irregular payment of salaries and allowances of workers, arbitrary delay in giving promotion to deserving workers and lack of opportunity for training and development have made many of the Universities and Polytechnics staff to be unproductive and inefficient.

By measure of Nigeria performance in international relations, the efforts of President Muhammed Buhari in this respect are worthy of commendation particularly with bilateral agreements signed with China, United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), Morocco, Switzerland and United Arab Emirate (UAE). Yet, the average Nigerians are still striving to feel the direct positive impacts of all these bilateral agreements.

One other cause of dilemma as the nation’s democracy grows is the issue of local government autonomy. In the present democracy, local governments are mere appendage of the states. It can no longer be regarded as a third tier of government. The Buhari’s administration will do the country good, if the local government can be made to be autonomous through constitutional and legislative processes.

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Despite the earlier pointed dilemmas, it will be unjust not to commend the present administration effort in fighting the war against corruption. The way the government has been handling it’s whistle blowing policy gives hope for a better future for the country. By extension, the fiscal reforms and plugging leackages in government finances are part of areas where Buhari’s admistration had succeeded.

Again, executive recklessness and excesses continue to jeopardise the practice of democracy in the country as observed through the conducts of most of the state governors. With the enthronment and sustainability of democratic norms, principles and institutions in our country , the good people of Nigeria ought to have began reaping the fruits of democracy. Also, the governors of states have become overlords such that most of them now control the state Assemblies of their respective states. It will be difficult for any state to experience good governance where governors would not allow the state assemblies perform their legislative functions without interference. Most of the states House of Assemblies are toothless bull dogs. The National Assembly that ought to offer a sort of solace are also operating as enemies of democracy. The current National Assembly are dominated by brigandages.

In the present order, most members of the National Assembly give preference to oversight functions at the detriment of primary legislative responsibilities. This is a country where legislators feel the only measure of their performance is through empowerment projects. Obviously, the so called empowerment programmes are nothing but ruse. Until when true democrats in terms of ideological inclination and practices are encouraged to venture into politics, our lamentation will continue. Except we also allow people with sound minds and ideologically inclined enjoy the opportunities to occupy elective positions, people will continue to groan and our democracy will remain in a state of dilemma.

Rahaman Onike
An author and public administrator,
writes from Oyo, Oyo State.

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This is an appropriate period for re-examination of prospects of the country’s democracy. By using every known performance index, the country’s democracy could at best be described as ill. Our democracy is so described because it is dysfunctional and deeply rooted in corruption, maladministration and social injustices.

Out of all the predictors of our sickly democracy, corruption remains a major anathema. It is obviously the main fabrics of all other social ills afflicting the nation. Despite the huge investment on awareness campaigns by the government, legal control mechanism in place and whistle blowing policy of President Muhammed Buhari’s administration, corruption is still a major national concern and unbeatable menace.

This calls for attitudinal change. Except this done, Nigeria will continue to be stigmatised as a country peopled by fantastically corrupt persons. Of course, war against corruption needs to be extended beyond prosecution and retrieval of looted funds from political officer holders and public servants.

For the country to win the ongoing war against corruption, programmes of instructions in schools and the nation’s educational curriculum need a review to strategically emphasise moral teachings. As the nation marks the year 2017 democracy day, the current National economic challenges is expected to dominate people’s thoughts and public discourse across the nation.

Of course, the government efforts to halt recession notwithstanding, the direct negative impacts of this global economic crisis is still being felt by the citizens from rural to urban communities across the country. Apparently, there is no clear sign and proof that Nigerians will soon overcome the challenges of the economic recession as citizens complain daily of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, unemployment and high inflationary trends.

Worst hit with the realities of the current economic recession are the Nigerian workers. Without doubts, the nation’s public/civil servants are either groaning or lamenting daily as a result of persistent delay in the payment of their monthly salaries and allowances. The state governors under different guises have not been paying salaries and other entitlements of workers as and when due. In some states, workers are owing between ten to twelve months salary arrears.

In a situation whereby workers receive twenty five percent fraction of their salaries on monthly basis as subvention from government , it is predictive that the efficiency and productivity of such workforce will be dwindled and greatly diminished. It appears most of the state governors lack the proper understanding of roles of the public servants in policy formulation, policy review, policy interpretation,policy implementation, project execution and evaluation otherwise the workers could have been treated well.

Given the strategic roles of civil/public servants in the attainment of ideal democracy and realisation of the nation’s quest for social development, greater attention would have been paid to the workers’ welfare. If government at various levels fail to address the workers’ plight which is a consequence of irregularities in salary payments, I am sure the quest to achieve good governance in the country would remain a mirage.

This is because, the workforce by virtue of training, experience, professionalism and schedule of duties are the engine room of public administration and the driving force of any government. Regrettably, most governors and their top cabinet members enjoy limitless benefits of office including security votes without any constraints; whereas, an average worker has been pauperised by persistent delay in salary payment.
Under the present dispensation, public servants are now being classified ‘dependent group’ as vast majority of the Nigerian workers do what is called ‘begging by single’ to survive. This current reality exposes the shame of the nation.

The performance of the 8th National Assembly is not only degrading under the present dispensation but it has exposed the ills of the nation’s democracy. So far, the social conduct and public perception of the leadership of the National Assembly is a minus on the ratings of the legislative arm of government under the current democracy.

There is no way the Nigeria’s democracy can survive without a functional and dynamic parliament. The future of Nigeria’s democracy therefore depends on the credibility, integrity, competencies and performances of the nation’s legislators. In a way, occasional coup threats, alarms and rumours are parts of signs of the sickly state of the nation’s democracy.Of equal note is the relevance and the question of autonomy for the local government administration in Nigeria.Apparently, the governors run the local government system as an appendage of the state. It is worrisome that local governments now serve as conduit pipe with which the public funds are siphoned by the state governors.

Indeed, the local council system as the third arm of government needs urgent and critical reform to strengthen the nation’s democracy.

It is against this background that the writer concludes by praying for the sustainability and prosperity for the nation as we mark the year 2017 democracy day. It is my prayer that God heal the president Muhammed Buhari and grant him and his team the wisdom, knowledge and enablement to move the nation forward and at the same time heal her sickly democracy.

Except our leaders are guided to the right path, the desire to achieve an enduring and sustainable democracy for the nation will remain an illusion.

By Rahaman Onike, Oyo.

He is an author, public administrator and policy analyst.

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