Iboro Otu, a businessman and politician makes a strong case for a referendum, brings he says comes with it a lot of interesting conversations and political awareness even to those who are politically inactive
I was thinking a while back on why I believe in a referendum in so many ways.
My primary reason is ownership. We don’t feel any sense of ownership or patriotism in this country for many reasons hence why, for example, most Nigerians want to get into positions of power simply for what they can take out of the country than what they can contribute. No one steals from their own house. In a referendum, everyone has a say on where they want to belong. When people decide if they want to stay or leave and the conditions for doing so, they feel a sense of ownership no matter the decision they make and accept the outcome thereof. They work harder to keep it together with a renewed sense of belonging and this sense is what has been missing in present day Nigeria for a long time.
Political awareness: The restructuring voting process, the canvass for votes just like we witnessed during Brexit brings with it a lot of interesting conversations and political awareness even to those who are politically inactive. Referendums are rarely seen as political events but rather as binding forces bringing people and ideologies together. The simplicity of the voting process and the logic for it is to elicit serious soul searching beyond voting for terminal candidates every four years. As such, it leads to serious conversations and canvassing from homes to religious centres. Once the cat is out of the bag on referendums, people become politically active afterwards no matter which side wins as either side feel direct consequences of their engagement. There is a severe lack in political awareness in this country and it is directly proportional to our sense of irresponsibility to leadership. The closer the people are to the ballot, the better our leadership will get.
System reset: However, the referendum turns out, again, like we witnessed it with Brexit, there usually follows a mind shift and government/leadership paradigm and policy shift. Shock waves caused by the outcome usually positively rejigs the system to move more responsibly towards voter yearnings on recognising that they owe the people who made it happen. It will bring the government closer to the people and will freshen or reset the relationship between the state and the people.
All of the above work well for the Nigerian situation, stay or leave. Beyond the usual periodic constitutional amendments and national conferences – both of which are now seen as distractions at worst and band-aids at best – on topical issues which include devolution of power, political and economic restructuring, national security, social welfare, electoral matters and many others, we are yet to find the right footing that allows serious solutions to take root and allows all sections of the country to equitably partake in our political system effectively and this has led to years of festering discontent in many quarters now boiling to the fore in the form of IPOB, Oduduwa republic and many others. For equity’s sake, we must allow the people wearing the shoes to indicate to the rest of us where it hurts them and then take proactive steps from there – do they want new shoes or want to fix the old ones? After the referendum we then can have a national conference of sorts.
There is no perfect country, however, this doesn’t mean the pursuit of excellence shouldn’t be encouraged. It is this pursuit that leads to effective leadership where inspiring individuals stay at the helm of things and round pegs occupy round holes which isn’t the case in Nigeria at the moment. The days of kicking cans down the road are over. This special moment calls for all hands on deck in order to change the narrative for the coming generation. I see an opportunity.
I believe in Nigeria. I believe things can really work here. We have an opportunity to change this nation into the greatest black nation on earth beyond rhetoric. There is an abundance of people, resources and knowledge to make this happen. What should unite us is stronger than what divides us. Diversity underpins innovation and creativity; both of which are powerful tools of the future, but it only works when all players are in tandem. Diversity only thrives in unity. Unity is held together by equity, fairness and justice. Anything less is chaos.
