*Says CSOs, media, labour, others must develop charter of demand for political parties

*Reveals how pro-democracy activits missed opportunity to govern Nigeria

By Henry Ojelu

Mr. Lanre Arogundade is the Director of International Press Centre,IPC, Lagos. In this interview, the renowned activist and former president of National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, who recently turned 60 speaks on his student unionism Memoir, mistakes of pro-democracy movements, dearth of good leadership in Nigeria, Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU strike, 2023 election and the need for Media, CSOs and other stakeholders to develop a charter of demand for political parties and their Presidential candidates.

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You celebrated your 60th birthday recently with the launch of a memoir of your student unionism days, how fulfilled are you at 60?

It may be difficult to say that one is totally or fully fulfilled, but I am quite fulfilled. One of the things I had hoped I would be able to do by the time I am 60, was to write a memoir on my student unionism days and activism in the university.

I had also planned to do a memoir of my childhood because it really has a lot of interesting dimensions. The memoir of my childhood has not been done, but it was partially captured in the memoir of my student unionism.

If you realize that the life span in Nigeria is below 60 for men and there are people who had planned to do a lot of things at 60 but could not do it, then one has to be grateful. I recall for example, that when Fela Anikulapo was being pestered about the need for him to write his own story, he said he will do it when he is 60. He eventually died at 59.

So, in a sense it is good that I have been able to put my memoir together for the benefit of past, present and future generations.    I am also sure that those who were part of our activism would also feel fulfilled that somebody has been able to help tell their story through his own prism.

Looking at all that is happening now in Nigeria, is this the kind of country you envisaged during your activism days?

It is not and cannot be. During my campus activism days, we often referred to some countries ruled by despots as Banana Republics.

The idea then was that though we knew that things were getting worse and we warned about how Nigeria could degenerate if things were not done right, but we didn’t in our wildest imagination, envisaged that Nigeria would become a banana republic. We felt that by now, some of those things we were fighting for would no longer be issues now.

Back then, we insisted that about 25 percent of the budget must go to the education sector as recommended by UNESCO and the same thing for healthcare and others. We expected that 40 years or so down the lane, these things will just be taken for granted.

We didn’t envisage that by now, politicians will still be making promises of building roads and hospitals when we are supposed to be looking at lofty ideas and how we can harness the huge potentials and resources of this country for greater development. We saw the danger signals and warning alerts but nobody in our generation could have envisaged that we will have a Nigeria where things are terribly bad as they are now.

Why do you think that despite massive agitations for good governance from many activists like you, things are still not better in this country?

I will say that perhaps one of the missing links between our agitations and where we are today was that after we had fought for democracy and the annulment of June 12 election, we didn’t take advantage of the progress made then. During our fight for democracy, when the military did not bulge, the whole battle became ‘military must go.’

So many activists and trade unions were involved in the struggle and the military was compelled to introduce a transition program and called for elections. Of course the whole process was undemocratic because the military had decreed two political parties after Nigerians had formed their political parties.    So the pro-democracy organisations had good reasons to describe the transition program as a sham.

However perhaps we could have applied some dialectics to say that since we are the ones asking the military to go, we should have also been part of democratic process after they left. In spite of our reservations, we could have made use of that opportunity to address the issues of power.

I feel that if the pro-democracy movement had participated in the electoral process, key people in the struggle could have been elected and perhaps by now the story would have been different. We should not have surrendered the advantage to right wing elements who are more interested in selling this country. If the late Gani Fawehinmi and Beko Ransome Kuti for example had been Senators or House of Assembly Members, I do not think we would have waited 12 years to have a Freedom of Information Act and much other legislation.

The other missing link has to do with the fact that over time, we have had collapse of values across board even at the level of student unionism. Moreso, there are also key challenges that the current generation faces.

When you look at the labour movement and mass organisations, you will notice that the kind of pressure that is supposed to be coming from them to the political class is not really there. Politicians get away with so many things these days. I also believe that politicians have deliberately weakened the mass movement for their own benefit.

The mass movement organizations too have not been able to come to terms with the fact that they need to be politically and ideologically armed to fight their battles.

In those days, a mere allegation of corruption against a politician or against a government will lead to student protesting. But now, when a former governor is charged to court for corruption, and we know he has stolen billions, instead of having a national protest of the student unions, or National Association of Nigeria Students, NANS coming out to protest and condemn the action of the ex-governor, you may even see solidarity march because some will say he is being witch hunted because he is either a Christian, from the South or North and many other sentiments. 

Do you see the prospects of Nigeria getting better any time soon?

It is difficult to say that things may get better any time soon. If you look at the current political situation for example, we could say the Presidency may go to either of the bigger political parties. However, there could also be major upsets which some people are hoping for.

If that kind of upset does not happen, and essentially we are still back to the status quo, it will be difficult not to say that what we are likely to have would be the same old politicians and same ways of doing things.

In spite of all that is happening now, I am still optimistic about the future of Nigeria. The average Nigerian is resilient. Gradually a new era of consciousness is coming. That was what we saw in the ENDSARS movement. Before then, the current generations of youths were described as apolitical, and only interested in BBNaija. But suddenly they arose and said we are tired of injustice by the police. That is an element of progress. That now has become a national issue that has to be addressed whether we like it or not.

I also based my optimism on the vast potentials that we have, the resources, dynamism and capacity of the average Nigerian. Many Nigerians  are doing more than two jobs. In the area of IT, Nigeria is supposed to be a world power. We should by now be like India, another third world country that saw what their youths were doing with technology and deliberately invested in it.

If you visit the computer village in Ikeja, Lagos, you will marvel at what the youths there are doing. If we allow these potentials to flourish, I think that one way or the other, there will be a time when Nigerians across board will come to terms with the fact that we need to break the cords that hold us back. 

As a key individual in the struggle for better education in the country, how would you assess the recent Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU strike and how it ended?

It was inevitable that ASUU would have to call off the strike because if an opinion poll was conducted before they suspend it, the majority would say look ASUU, just call it off. Government propaganda had been so much weighted against them that at some point, it looked as if ASUU was responsible for the prolonged strike.

There was also a kind of blackmail on ASUU on the basis of the suffering of the students. But people were quick to forget that there was an agreement between the federal government and ASUU and that it was because the former bridged the agreement that the strike began. We all know that there is a global economic crisis but if for any reason the government is unable to fulfill its promises, the reasonable would have been to call ASUU for discussion and not make it look as if ASUU is the problem. I must also add that the unitary concept of governance totally destroyed the educational system.

The federal government took over education and is now blaming ASUU for demanding better funding to run the universities. This however doesn’t mean that ASUU does not have its own shortcomings because for every struggle, there is always a time to take your little victory, retreat and restrategise.

Do you agree with some stakeholders who have suggested that there should be a law mandating children of public officers to attend public school?

Well, I wouldn’t be against such a law but the truth is that we don’t need a law to do that. That is why I still maintain that part of the missing link between our leadership and development is that we don’t have political parties whose policies would be something like that.

In 2003, I ran for Senate under the platform of the National Conscience Party. For everybody who was a candidate for NCP then, we all signed a memorandum of understanding based on collective agreement of the political party led by late Gani Fawehinmi that if we were elected, into any political office, we will continue to live where we were living before the election. We also agreed to recall any member found to have been involved in any corrupt act.    

These are the kind of demands that Nigerians should put before the politicians during this election period. The media, NLC, TUC, ASUU must demand to know for instance what each political party wants to do to revive education. The groups working with other stakeholders should organize political debates and make demands from the candidates.    

We should ask them for instance, “If you come into government, would you support a policy that stops government officials from sending their children abroad to school, from going abroad for treatment and so on.”

Let’s know what they would say. If they say they would support it, whoever wins, the next thing is for us to ask when are you going to sponsor an executive bill to demand for this?

So this is the time for every citizen to wake up. We all have a right to participate and make a demand on this government. We should not just be interested in watching debates organized by other interest groups; we should organize debate for them. Let for instance all the unions in the higher institutions come together for once and organize debate for the candidates and have a common demand.

In those days, we had the NANS charter of demands so now is the time for everybody to develop their own chapter of demands. We must all stop patronizing endorsements we see every day. The media, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Civil Society organizations, Trade Union Congress, Nigerian Labour Congress and many other similar groups must have their own charter of demands. We need as many charters as possible because that is what we are going to use to hold these politicians accountable.