By Anozie Egole
Nigerians from different walks of life have assessed democracy in the country for the past 13years now, starting from 1999 till date, with the consensus that nothing much had been achieved so far.

Some people were even suggesting that it is better we go back to military rule than this democracy in the sense that there is high rate of corruption in the country now with democracy than the military rule. Here are some of the views they shared with SATURDAY VANGUARD

It is wasted years —Ezekiel Oguguom ( Artisan)
To me, I see the 13years of democracy as wasted years in the sense that, we have not been able to achieve anything for that number of years. Compared to the problems we still have in the government especially, in the area of corruption which is on increase on a daily basis, I do not think democracy has yielded anything good to Nigeria.

Ezekiel Oguguom

Though in recent times, the federal government has involved themselves in road rehabilitation. Like the Oshodi-Apapa expressway that is being rehabilitated by the federal government. Before now, if I want to travel to Edo State, it is usually like a nightmare to me because of the type of potholes you will see on the highway. It can even take you more than four hours to get to Benin.

But to my greatest surprise, when I traveled for last Christmas, there is improvement on the road. So I give the present administration kudos for that. Secondly, with the introduction of 150 buses recently by the federal government, I can say that they are trying in the aspect of transportation.

Where I will score the government very low is in the area of fighting corruption. In this aspect, the government has not really done something justifiable. Just like the petroleum subsidy report, why has the government failed to punish the cabals?

The government should try and do something in order not to disappoint the people that voted them in. Ever since the inception of democracy, there has never been any improvement in areas like, power, water, security, corruption etc.

I think in the area of corruption, Obasanjo’s administration was the most corrupt. It was his administration that introduced EFCC, but nobody was jailed by EFCC during his tenure. But amidst all these challenges, I still know that Ya’Ardua/ Jonathan’s administration would have been the best democratic administration Nigeria has experienced if not that the cold hands of death cut it short with the death of Y’ardua.

Presently, if I should score Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, I will score him 51%. I score him that just because he has not really done anything to corruption and security but he has tried in the area of transportation, education and agricultural sector. But I advise him to wake up from sleep and take the bull by the horn. Let him do what he is supposed to do. I know Jonathan is a nice president but the forces around him wouldn’t allow him to do his work.

There is no improvement—Peter Oyibanji (Business man)

Since the handover to civil rule by the military in Nigeria in 1999, there has never been any improvement in the country. I see the handover as an opportunity for the country to develop in all sectors of the government, but it seems as if the military rule is now better than the civil rule. The opportunity of development was not utilized because of partisan politics.

The party in power has not been able to develop the country. They are coming together instead of them to use

Peter Oyibanji

this democracy to develop the country; they are using their own democracy to legalize corruption and to enrich themselves. Because of this, Nigeria has not been able to move forward.

Instead, what we are recording is under-development. Everybody is emphasizing on the improvement on telecommunication, but if you look at the level of Nigeria in Africa and in West Africa generally, we are supposed to have improved more than where we are now as far as telecommunication is concerned.

We are  supposed to be a leader in Africa by action and not by mouth, but if you check the development in South-Africa, Ghana, I’vory-Coast, you will see that these countries are far better than Nigeria. We are just answering the giant of Africa by mouth and not by action.

If I am asked to score Jonathan’s administration, I will score him low, like 35%. This is because even the progress Obasanjo’s administration has made in the country’s foreign reserve, Jonathan cannot account for it. Just for the few years that Jonathan has been in power, there is no money again in our foreign reserve.

All he does is to continue to borrow. The minister of finance keeps on warning the country that our reserve is going down on a daily basis, where are all those money going to, what are they using them for? On the 1st of June this year, they are planning to increase the power tariff, where is the light?

You see, there is no light and they want to increase the bill. The subsidy cabals which Jonathan promised to deal with, we have not heard from them and the money realized from the removal of subsidy, we have not heard about that since then.

It’s just that our leaders do not have physical gun, but the looting they are doing is worse than the physical gun. Now, I heard over the television that another body wants to break up from the Nigerian Labour Congress just like TUC in those days and who are the brain behind this if not government? I will advise the government to have the fear of God and have pity on the poor masses who voted them in.

We have nothing to show for in democracy—Sunday Oluwole(Civil Servant)

If you want to be honest in the real sense of it, you will find out that we have not gained anything from democracy since its inception in 1999.

Why I am saying that democracy has not achieved anything in Nigeria since 1999 is that, it is only the elites who enjoy

Sunday Oluwole

democracy here and the common man in the street does not know what democracy is all about.

It is not supposed to be so if really it has achieved anything in the country.

Jonathan’s administration has not really done anything in the sense that the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer.This is not supposed to be. In other words, his administration can be said to be one sided. Why I think Obasanjo’s administration was better is that, Obasanjo having military experience gets whatever he wants at any point in time. But Jonathan is a little bit slow in implementing laws. I pray he wakes up to tackle this menace of insecurity in the country.