Expert Urges Nigerians To Build Strong Institutions, Not Strong-men

A diplomat and policy expert, Chukwuma Okenwa, has urged Nigerians to build virile democratic institutions and not democratic strong-men to ensure sustainable democracy that last for ages.

Okenwa, who is also the Executive Director of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Advocacy (LEAD) Network Africa, gave the advise while speaking to newsmen in Enugu on Thursday on survival of democracy in Nigeria.

He noted that in most advance democratic countries, one thing that work well and put everybody in check remains democratic and civic institutions that guide both leaders and the country in its entirety to part of positive results.

According to him, leaders must practice democracy with it guiding principles and tenets that ensures progress and development for the people and not the other way round as if democracy has a different definition in the country.

“Democracy is synonymous to progress of vast majority of the people in a given country as well as choice and liberty of the people to dictate and not the total opposite,” he said.

Okenwa urged non performing governors to wake up from slumber and stop making things difficult for the people at the centre – the President and his team -.

He said, “Some governors are doing exceptional well for their people, while many others do not understand their mandates and most times attribute their failure to deliver simple democratic dividends on the President and Federal Ministers.

“Is it the President that will build roads to open up rural communities in a state or get pottable drinking water to a village within a state?”

The policy maker said that the country consist of three levels of government – Federal, State and Local – and each have something to deliver to the people especially the state and local government closer to the rural people.

Okenwa, however, said that Nigerians are currently passing through nightmare of insecurity and economy hardship due to high inflation, and called for collaborative and multifaceted efforts by all levels of government to tackle them.