“The due arrangement of men in the active part of the state, far from being foreign to the purposes of a wise Government, ought to be amongst its very first and dearest objects”- Edmund Burke

Adversities carry within them the seeds of revolution, reform and progress. Such was the case with the fall of the regime of the Medici in Florence in 1494. The head of the regime, Piero de Medici, was forced to flee after the threatened invasion of Florence by King Charles VIII of France, who coveted a substantial portion of Italy, especially the Kingdom of Naples. The ensuing turmoil in Florence led to the emergence of a popular government based on a people’s council and communal administration composed of elected citizens. The moral of the story is that out of turmoil, order can be restored and a new system of government can be fashioned out, if wisdom and constancy are allowed to prevail.

In Nigeria for quite sometime now, wisdom and constancy have been the two critical determinants of nation-building that were needed so desperately and urgently. Wisdom was needed to provide good governance. Constancy was needed to bring back credibility and respect for authority everywhere in the country. Good governance and the authority of the state have suffered tremendously due largely to negligence of duty and the ascendency of avarice in public administration. For so many years, governance was conducted furtively and without firmness or determination.

The levers of state were held loosely and carelessly, leading to the perception of the collapse of authority and absence of purpose and objective in government. Where such perceptions are allowed to grow and take hold of the minds of the citizens, the grounds for anarchy and revolution are being prepared wittingly or not. Such were the circumstances that prevailed in Nigeria for the last two decades or so, which must be treated as an existential matter requiring the attention and commitment of everyone and more especially those in power today.

To correct these vices and place governance on an assured footing and even keel, there should be a debate on the character and quality of people that should be entrusted with the government of the country. It is in this wise that I recollect the words of The Rt Hon. Edmund Burke, who wrote thus: “Before men are put forward into the great trusts of the State, they ought by their conduct to have obtained such a degree of estimation in their country as may be some sort of pledge and security to the public that they will not abuse those trusts.”

The abuse of trust and shirking of responsibility have degraded public institutions in Nigeria, leading to reduced enthusiasm in the proper administration of the country, and the entrenchment of indifference and nonchalant behaviour towards public duty. Taking a hard look at local and state administrations is critical in getting things right in Nigeria. This should be the beginning of the reform and corrective strategies aimed at making sure that the people are elevated to the position of trust and responsibility in determining their own affairs. The loud and ill defined clamour for “restructuring” Nigeria is neither productive of any gains, nor conducive to the emergence of a functioning system of administration.

The agitation merely serves to divert attention from the arduous tasks of nation-building and the construction of edifices of state that would last beyond our generation. Continuity, certainty, predictably and integrity of institutions are the foundational requirements for establishing sound administrations. “All great institutions are rooted and grounded in the soil,” as rightly noted by Mr. John Buchan; as such we must have the patience, perseverance and foresight to build great and strong institutions and root them in our soil.

Reconstructing the state is a necessary and worthy venture from time to time. But this should be done as a matter of deliberate action intended to recreate, revitalise and reform institutions, rather than demolishing them wholesale in the name of “restructuring” and doing away with both the birth water and the baby. It is important that choices made in leadership selection are seen as crucial to the appropriate ordering of priorities in advancing democracy and entrenching good governance and rule of law in our country.

Today, however, these choices are not readily available to the citizens on account of the fragmented nature of the society as well as the disorganized kind of democracy that we are used to practising. The selection of leaders is haphazard and often arbitrary, depending on the whims and caprices of political godfathers and those in control of the party machinery. The election of candidates at party primaries, for instance, are exercises at imposition and dominance that detract from all known democratic principles and practices.

Without a sound and verifiable system of leadership selection, the whole spectrum of our democratic system will be set up to fail and hopes and expectations of good governance will be only an unattainable mirage. With the ascendency of unqualified and ill-equipped persons in various offices, institutions, no matter how effective or resilient, will in the end, cave in under the weight of mismanagement, maladministration and bad leadership.

With the failure of institutions coupled with indifferent leadership, we are bound to create instability and eventually establish the conditions for anarchy and state failure. Avoiding this frightful spectacle must be the sole preoccupation of the enlightened classes in Nigeria, particularly those with the consciousness and conscience to acknowledge the limitations of our present system of governance and the need for improvement and course correction to be made immediately.

The agitations for restructuring may serve to highlight certain deficiencies in our governance system and the organisation of the Nigerian state, but they do not offer the viable way out of the dilemma in the way the debates are conducted around the issues. The reverting to regionalism and the abrogation of the 1999 Constitution as suggested by the advocates of restructuring, or the implementation of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference, are definitely not the answers to our problems.

The immediate measures required are the review of the overall governance system of the country and the retention of all those good aspects about it, and the rejection or amendments of those that are deemed insufficient and superfluous. This review should take into consideration fundamental matters like the bloated cost of government in the country and the unsustainable overheads that are being incurred every passing year in the national budget to maintain and service non-essential offices and personnel in the system.

Reviewing local government structures and rendering them both efficient and effective, should be another aim of the introspection that we are calling for in the overall governance of the country. The situation regarding the states also need to be looked at, especially in terms of service delivery and effective management of the states’ institutions.

The roles of the State Houses of Assembly as regulators of the conduct of governors and providers of assurances and guarantees towards good governance and the observance of the restrains of the rule of law, must be reinstated or reinvented as the case may be. They should no longer be the instruments of arbitrary rule and disposal tools in the hands of the executives.

The demise of the Florentine Republic in the 15th century could be attributed to the form of government that was practised then. Governance was conducted in secret. Policies were made surreptitiously. Stealth and subterfuge became the order of the day in public affairs. Thus, the ground was paved for the fall of the government.

To avoid these pitfalls in Nigeria in this day and age, we should enthrone good governance based on constitutional rule underpowered by respect for law and order, transparency in government, objectivity in law making and dispensing of ministerial responsibilities, as well as equitable allocation of national resources.

Firmness guided by wisdom should define the mode of governance of this country, without which insidious practices that have undermined order and established lawlessness all around, would not be eradicated.