In many developing societies where deficiencies in infrastructural facilities increase by the day, it is difficult to bridge the gap between the government and the people. Although many theorists are now around to preach terminologies such as the use of strategic communication in public enlightenment, citizens are unable to see any improvement in their living standards.

To them, government is permanently making feeble progress while always explaining efforts rather than results. Perhaps the greatest problem is that office-holders don’t seem to know how to gauge the feelings of the people in order to prioritize their preferences. For example, some years ago, one leader attracted a huge Federal Teaching Hospital to his village – a project expected to transform the village and increase employment opportunities in the area.

Some months later, when the leader visited the village, his imagination that he had done well and deserved an applause was virtually shunned. On enquiries, he found that what the people really wanted was not hospital but water.  The village spokespersons told him bluntly that if their people had water, they would not be sick and would thus need no hospital.  The lesson here is that development must be people oriented more so, as the people are the subject and not the objects of democracy.

In truth however, it is not too difficult to identify what people appreciate the most amongst several government projects. Only last week, Kano State governor Kabir Abba Yusuf received several awards from about 40 individuals and groups in appreciation of his efforts to develop the state. Many analysts are likely to conclude that the awards were fake and that they may have been organized by the governor’s appointees and political supporters to elevate him above his opponents during this divisive era.

But of all the awards, it was only one of them which may have appeared simplistic that conveyed the most powerful meaning. The particular award according to media reports came in from a primary school teacher, Abubakar Musa who donated N30,000 from his meagre salary to the governor. The donor was quoted to have said that his donation was ‘a personal token of appreciation to the governor for the massive improvements in the education sector.’ The governor received the donation in tears and gratitude describing the act as both humbling and motivating. Both the governor and all the members of the state executive council gave a standing ovation in honour of the teacher’s show of support to the administration. Musa’s gesture would for long be remembered as a unique display of patriotism – a gesture which must have given Governor Yusuf and his administration the loudest form of credible publicity.

The development was not a surprise to this column. In August 2025, the column had declared Abba Yusuf the best pension-paying governor in Nigeria; a title which suggested that an award should be specific and not debatable. During the electioneering campaign period, Yusuf had promised to make the nagging issue of arrears of pensions and gratuity a thing of the past before the end of his first term in office. He tackled the subject vigorously soon after he became governor by releasing billions of naira in 4 tranches to gradually pay off the debts.

Two days ago, on this year’s workers day, the governor announced that he had so far cleared N32billion out of the N48billion he inherited. What this reference suggests is that there are Nigerians such as this columnist monitoring political promises and commending those who make efforts to keep them. This is particularly significant because it represents an awareness that the welfare of the people along with their security ought to be the basic mandate of government.

Unfortunately, many other leaders do not place the same premium on the welfare of the people.  Instead, they are more interested in prioritizing elite democracy, a common habit in developing societies, in which top leaders enthusiastically pursue class interest. One way of knowing this is to take a look at the difference between scarcity of petrol and that of aviation fuel. Each time aviation operatives raise alarm about aviation fuel, leaders stand up with them and within a few days, it is resolved as government is made to take measures to calm the nerves of the operators. On the other hand, petrol scarcity affecting motor vehicles can last one month; the difference being that the elite class normally travels by air.  The situation is the same when governors are more concerned about building a new government house and residential quarters for commissioners. We all know that the latter is influenced by the need to further upgrade the high taste of the elite while low-cost houses for the poor do not get the same attention.

Another reason why the people hardly applaud certain development projects is because most of them are politicised. For instance, one would have expected the policy of distribution of fertilizers or other benefits to people to be exceedingly popular. But it is hardly so. A president or governor who embarks on such a policy expects people to appreciate him but they are unable to do so because such benefits are usually diverted to political associates and friends thereby derogating from the inherent value of the policy. Quite often, party membership cards are used to share fertilizers meant for farmers. Interestingly, the over-all leader never gets to know of the diversion and distribution to those who really do not need them. At the end of the day, such leaders are never appreciated because their otherwise beneficial policy does not get to its correct destination.

Leaders are also often completely isolated from the rest of society. They hear only what their supposed loyalists tell them. A few leaders who would have taken steps to redress criticisms don’t get to hear of the criticisms. Even when it is a public demonstration, all that they hear is that a few disgruntled elements had been paid to embarrass the government but that the plan had been quelled by the police. The same citizens described as disgruntled elements are seen publicly applauding a leader who embarks on a proactive policy. Governor Yusuf now knows the type of policies or projects people admire. In Edo state, Governor Monday Okpebholo does not need any writer, analyst, propagandist or political supporter to tell him that a project such as the ‘fly-over’ in Benin City around the Ramat park is popular and that more of it are likely to be applauded.

The point to be made is that whereas people-oriented projects are easily appreciated by the masses, other projects which benefit only the elite class are deprecated. For this reason, every governor is advised to discontinue exploitative projects such as paying pension and gratuity to political appointees who served the people for only a few years. Instead, they should emulate the Kano governor who has made it his priority to clear arrears wickedly accumulated over the years for citizens who had served for 35 years. At the beginning of the current administration at federal and subnational levels in Nigeria in 2023, no less than 21 states of the federation reportedly owed retirees as much as N790billion inherited pensions and gratuities. Not much progress has been made with the subject since then. Yet, our leaders expect the masses to applaud them; for what?  

By 2007 when the first set of political leaders who came into government in 1999 were leaving office, they found a way to continue to exploit the system. In several states, they made laws for the payment of unreasonably lavish pensions to themselves starting with Lagos which enacted the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law No 11 of 2007. The law which was immediately copied by many states approved a house each in preferred locations within the relevant state and or Abuja; an average of two to six new cars every three or four years; 100 per cent of the incumbent’s basic salary; free health care for the beneficiary and family members, local and abroad and furniture allowance, house maintenance allowance, utility allowance, car maintenance allowance, and entertainment allowance etc. It also provided for personal assistants, policemen, and operatives of other security services for life; including 30 days of annual vacation within and outside Nigeria.

A country which has stupendous legal provisions such as the one just outlined can never be egalitarian.  It would be hard for riots to be avoided for long in such climes.  Indeed, it is preposterous that some law makers in our country earn newspaper allowances that are higher than the entire salary of a federal Director. If such policies are not immediately scrapped, the fight against corruption will be in vain just as insecurity all over the nation will continue to spread. Nigeria must find a way to make all its citizens feel appreciated as they all need one another.