Sunday Dare, special adviser to the president on media and public communication, says Nigeria’s fourth republic is significant not because it is flawless but because it represents the country’s most sustained attempt to entrench democratic ideals and institutions.
Dare spoke on Thursday while delivering a public lecture
organised by Daily Trust in Abuja.
He said democratic governance in Nigeria should be
understood as a “learning curve” rather than a linear process, shaped by
innovation, competing demands, and imperfect implementation.
“Democratic governance is best understood not as a straight
line or some mathematical progression, but as a learning curve — a nonlinear
process shaped by human affairs and human nature itself,” Dare said.
He said governance requires constant reassessment and
reprioritisation of policies in response to events often beyond the control of
elected leaders.
“Governance is not only setting an agenda, but entails the
dynamic reassessment and reprioritising of that agenda as events unfold,” he
said.
Dare said Nigeria’s democratic growth was slowed by failures
in leadership and institutions rather than rejection of democracy by citizens.
“The enshrinement of democracy in Nigeria was slowed because
leadership and institutions did not fully understand the urgency of managing
diversity, delivering justice and strengthening political legitimacy through
economic fairness,” he said.
He added that the fourth republic remains Nigeria’s best
effort at permanently establishing democratic governance despite its
shortcomings.
“The fourth republic is therefore significant not because it
is flawless, but because it represents Nigeria’s best and most sustained
attempt to permanently establish democratic ideals,” Dare said.
Reflecting on earlier republics, Dare said the first
republic collapsed under the weight of identity politics, weak institutions and
unresolved grievances.
“By the mid-1960s, politics had ceased to be about
governance; it became a struggle for survival,” he said.
He stated that the 1966 coups and the civil war were
consequences of democratic failure and the state’s inability to guarantee
fairness and inclusion.
“The Nigerian civil war was the tragic consequence of a
state unable to assure its constituent groups of fairness, security and
belonging,” Dare said.
He added that post-war reintegration policies left enduring
political and psychological scars that continue to influence national debates.
Dare said the oil boom of the 1970s planted the seeds of
economic decline by weakening fiscal discipline and encouraging rent-seeking.
“Easy oil revenues weakened fiscal responsibility,
encouraged rent-seeking and disconnected governance from productivity,” he
said.
The president’s media adviser said successive military
regimes entrenched economic distortions through multiple exchange rates and
systemic corruption.
“Access replaced productivity, and corruption became
systemic,” Dare said.
On the fourth republic, Dare said Nigeria entered civilian
rule in 1999 with deep economic fragility and growing security challenges.
“Insecurity had become a macroeconomic issue, not merely a
security concern,” he said.
He relayed that by the time President Bola Tinubu assumed
office in 2023, Nigeria was grappling with inflation, foreign exchange
distortions, rising debt, and weakened investor confidence.
“We were subsidising other countries while borrowing to
survive,” Dare said.
He said the removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the
exchange rate were necessary reforms to correct economic and democratic
distortions.
“By unifying the exchange rate and removing fuel subsidies,
President Tinubu corrected not just economic distortions, but moral and
democratic ones,” he said.
Dare said recent indicators show signs of recovery,
including improved growth, declining inflation, rising reserves and stronger
fiscal transparency.
“Reform is not anti-democratic; reform is democracy’s
insurance policy,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to support the reform agenda, saying
unity is achieved through continuous policy choices rather than rhetoric.
“Nigeria’s future depends on leadership willing to reform
systems and build a democracy that works — not for some, but for all
Nigerians,” Dare said.
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