Senator Jonathan Silas Zwingina needs little or no introduction in Nigeria’s political sphere. He was former Deputy Senate Leader and one of the most vocal lawmakers of his time.
Zwingina, an experienced bureau­crat has appraised Nigeria’s journey so far and declared that there is cause for celebration. He submitted that Nigerians should roll out the drums despite the minor distractions caused by unpatriotic individuals, both within and outside the country.
Excerpt:
At 54, do you think there is need to roll out drums to celebrate?
Well, why not? We should roll out drums and celebrate. One, 54 is not a small age. Although for a country it is a short period, there are countries that had fallen apart after a shorter period. Two, Nigerians quar­rel a lot verbally, but only very few Nigerians are willing to physically separate. We quarrel about the rights we must enjoy in the nation over our economy, but you don’t see people organising to part because we all enjoy our union. All we are asking for is a fair share and equal opportunities in the union. What we are quarreling about is whether the share is fair or unfair or someone is getting more than his fair share as a deserving Nigerian. Then of course, we have cultural dif­ferences, but we tend to do more in cultural differences. Some of us find out that what we discover in the cul­tural differences are blessings to our existence. Majority of the northern elite have their business partners in the west or east. You also find out that most elite have other business partners from other areas other than where they come from. It could be that they want to hide the excess of their resources from their brothers and sis­ters, but they also find out that when it comes to real trust, they trust their colleagues, whether they are Moslems or Christians. This relationship cuts across religion, tribe and ethnicity and this tends to bind us more than what we normally think about.
You go and find out a very wealthy man in Kano. You will see that his business partner is either from east or west. Will that man want the man in the east and west run into trouble? So these are the advantages we have as a federation and I know we have some difficulties. These difficulties are resolved within the context of the federation. There are no difficulties that are difficult to resolve. Such dif­ficulty was the issue of how to run a successful civilian government. Those were the reasons that the military felt they could come into the corridors of power. But the military has now re­solved to be subservient to the civilian administration.
We may not be getting the best now, but we are not getting worse and that’s the advantage we have as a nation. By the time we tackle all our problems within the next 10 or 15 years, Nigeria will see changes. We may not be a continental country, like the super powers, but we can be challenging other countries in Asia and other na­tions of the world economically.
We need to roll out the drums because our enemies have not been satisfied with our success stories because we have not really failed as a nation. Although those who praise us are desirous of seeing us far ahead of where we are now, we are on the way and surely we shall get there.
How would you assess democracy under President Goodluck Jonathan?
I think President Goodluck Jonathan has expanded the frontiers of democ­racy beyond the level of Obasanjo, as democracy is now attractive. Under Obasanjo, we had a military culture because of his military background. He militarised the democratic pro­cesses, sometimes ignoring the court, sometimes, ignoring the parliamentary procedure, sometimes ignoring due process, sometimes using military techniques and, therefore, giving democracy a military face.
Under President Goodluck Jona­than, you have proper democratic structure, meaning that due processes are followed. You have to wait for due democratic process. The drawback is that things tend to be slow. Democ­racy generally is slow. The rule of law is generally slow. The court is slow, as lawyers would want more time and the litigants are also slow. The perpetuators want their rights. Some people thought that President Jona­than is slow in executing decision or slow by nature. If Obasanjo had cared to respect the constitutional procedure or the rule of law, he would have been slow and democracy would have been better off or thrived.
So President Goodluck Jonathan has expanded the frontiers of democ­racy, in terms of due process, in terms of rule of law, in terms of freedom of expression, promotion of other democratic ideals. The courts are respected and even their pronounce­ment are respected by Nigerians and the parliament waits patiently for whatever ruling to be vacated before acting further. That’s the beauty of democracy.
What advice do you have for Nigerians?
The only advice I have for Nige­rians is that they should be patient as democracy naturally requires patience. We must do in Nigeria what we do abroad. Nigerians abroad queue up. Nigerians at home jump the queue. Nigerians abroad are law-abid­ing; they are good in their professions because they are desirous of putting in their best and respect the procedures in their countries of operations.
source sun news