By CLEMENT UDEGBE

THE idea of the social contract is one of the foundations of the American political system. This is the belief that the state only exists to serve the will of the people, who are the source of all political power enjoyed by the state. The people can choose to give or withhold this power from the state.

The idea and concept of social contract started from the philosophical archives from the writings of Plato, Thomas Hobbes, and Rousseau, in fashioning how government and governance should be organized for power and in the best interest of the people. Some philosophers like Rousseau and John Locke each explained the principles of Social Contract, or Political Right in which government is based on the idea of popular sovereignty, based on the strong role of the individual. Thus, the will of the people as a whole gives power and direction to the state.

In this desired social contract, everyone is free because they must have a right to choose the laws under which they live, and therefore how they should be governed. Thus, government remains a separate institution from the sovereign body. When the government exceeds the boundaries set in place by the people, it is the mission of the people to abolish such government, change or remove it and begin anew. This concept of the social contract was invoked in the United States Declaration of Independence.

Nigeria in its wisdom adopted the American Presidential System of governance 14 years ago, but is yet to imbibe and manifest the advantages of the concept of social contract which in essence enables a people to bring their will and desires to bear on their governments for their own best interest.

The absence of the concept of social contract in our relationships with our political leaders’ accounts for the big gap, between what the people expect from the leaders, and what the leaders are willing to give to the people, after they have been put into power by the people. The near complete absence of the idea of the social contract in our political system or practice leads to betrayal of the people by their leaders and the resultant exploitation by the leaders of the conscience and collective will of the people.

The exploitation comes in our case in Nigeria, by way of touting manifestoes, in which the politicians themselves have no faith in, knowing they are empty promises to fulfill all righteousness, while the betrayal is by way of massive blind and heartless rigging, be it manual, print or electronic, by which the political parties and politicians connive to jettison the collective will of the people to establish a social contract with their preferred leaders.

It is obvious that the manifestoes of most, if not all the political parties in Nigeria, have no ideological framework or foundations. These manifestoes turn out to be words assembled to create an impression that something good, in the will and desire of the people was intended.

They would be read or announced from soap boxes before elections, only to be dropped as soon as election results are announced. The people have no basis to challenge nonperformance, or delivery by our leaders, due to the absence of a social contract. This is why party loyalty is almost none existent, as any politician can cross from any end of the political parties’ spectrum of political differences to another without qualms.

A politician can therefore wake up with Labour Party, have his breakfast with the APGA, keep a lunch date with APC, have his dinner with ANPP and then go to bed with PDP ! The people only watch them with dismay, read them with disgust, and listen to them with distrust, but cannot do much to change them because of the handicap of the absence of a social contract.

If there was social contract, it would have been a different matter, because there would obligations to perform and or deliver on the terms of the contract.  All we hear and see are deluges of campaigns and clichés ranging from, Change Missions, Redemption Agenda, Reformation Agenda, Restoration Mission, Rescue Mission to Transformation Agenda. Each government ascends into power to announce what it will do for the people, instead of the people negotiating a social contract of things that must be done, or they will exercise their collective will and desire and send the non-performing leader out of the way.

While the politicians jostle for which seats they hope to occupy, and salivate about how they will ‘chop’, come 2015, the road of the led to 2015 should be to make compendium of the needs of our respective towns, communities, societies and states. All soap box candidates and their parties should be confronted with these specific needs and desires of the people, which should be painstakingly negotiated and agreed to by the people and the politician, such that half way into their tenure, the people ought to know by check list who will be voted out at the next elections.

There must be serious sensitization of our peoples about preparing their own specific list of demands and terms of their social contract. For many communities like mine in Orlu, no person should expect our votes without doing something about the erosion menace, lack of potable water in the community.

At all levels, political office aspirants who cannot point to a clear convincing plan to create jobs, and provide facilities, which compare considerably with the peoples compendium will surely not get the votes, irrespective of the party. The people should make their own respective list of issues well in advance of campaigns.

It ought to be clear that to win votes from the South East for example, such poorly thought out policies as the planned imported vehicles new tariffs, must wait. The  second Niger bridge, International Airports, Two seaports, rail lines that traverses all states capitals, refineries, and fight against kidnapping and job creation, to name a few, must be in the front burner.