Professor Tunde Adeniran, a former Minister of Education and Nigerian ambassador to Germany, in this interview, shares his thoughts about Nigeria, her politics and the need to have young generation politicians to drive and lead the country to the next level

Nigeria just celebrated Democracy Day on Thursday, June 12; did that day have any nostalgic feeling for you? If yes, can you share those feelings with Nigerians?

I feel there is a need to get the essence and symbolism of June 12 right. Marking it as a national day should remind us of four categories of people. The first groups of people are those who worked diligently and with great sacrifice and patriotic zeal to prepare the ground for a most transparent, free and fair election. The second are the officials who worked hard with determination and a sense of history and patriotism to carry out the actual conduct of the election. The group includes all those who executed the annulment of the election and frustrated efforts at an early restoration of democracy. And the last group comprises those who made all sorts of sacrifices to ensure the eventual restoration of democracy in Nigeria. The roles of each category have a lot to teach us in Nigeria’s journey of democracy, whose destination goes beyond the mere exercise of voting to having good governance in the interest of the people.

Since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic governance, it has been like one step forward and three steps backward in terms of development. Corruption is on the increase, purchasing power of the masses has gone and almost nothing is working again in Nigeria, except politics. How did we get to this sorry state as a people?

It is true that development has been difficult to achieve since 1999 due to corruption and other social vices. There is certainly no way you can have meaningful and sustained development with the type of Constitution that we have. The constitution has so many lapses apart from being an imposed Constitution. Among other things, education is the key to development but the Constitution doesn’t make access to free and compulsory education up to the basic education level justifiable in the national interest.

As a former Minister of Education, what’s your view on the management of our education system, given that more schools are built but the level of illiteracy is low as exemplified in the half-baked graduates all over the place?

There is a need for restructuring and reorientation in the education sector. I understand that the Minister of Education is working on various plans to bring back the lost glory in the education sector.   

We seem not to have specific criteria in our leadership recruitment process. We reward only loyalty rather than capacity and efficiency. What is the best way to resolve the question of the recruitment process in Nigeria? What are your thoughts about that?

I have written extensively on the faulty process through which many Nigerian political leaders emerge. I believe that even if loyalty is going to be used as criteria, the critical question should be: loyalty to who? Is it loyalty to an individual, ethnic nationality or the emerging Nigerian nation? Training and background experience, capacity and capabilities, and of course, perspectives and vision, should always guide us in the process of leadership recruitment.   

President Bola Tinubu has just spent two years in office on May 29; what is your assessment of the Tinubu administration in the last two years?

Certainly, Nigerians are yearning for decisive steps to be taken to ensure the security of lives and properties and turn the economy around for the better. Nigerians are still full of expectations. Their expectations have not been met at all.

At the moment, apart from Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, there are a few youngsters who are aiming at the presidency; why is it only former presidential aspirants or the elderly that always compete for the presidency?

It is not true that only former aspirants from the older generation are indicating interest in the 2027 contest. At least among the younger generation is Prince Adewole Adebayo, who has made it clear that he would run. The younger generations should not be seen to be disinterested in their future and destiny. I believe, however, that even from his statements, he, like most Nigerians, is more interested in having a new Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria than in starting any campaigns.

Defection appears to be a new lexicon among our politicians such that everybody is just defecting to the ruling party, what does it say about our politicians and party ideology, if there is any?

As a Political Scientist, I find the issue of defection a very interesting phenomenon to study. Some people frown at it as demonstrating lack of understanding of the presidential system of government or overstretching the concept of freedom of association. But, the issue is more fundamental than that. It ridicules the culture of democratic choice and exposes the unarticulated orientations of some politicians. It suggests basic similarities between the two major political parties and shows lack of commitment to bounding values and an enduring ideology. It also loudly conveys to the observer that rather than an interest to serve the people, the politicians who change party affiliations in the present circumstances are more interested in the personal benefits derivable from political power, influence and authority.

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