“That is not the change we voted for… not what we expected when we were voting”
Education is meant to increase people’s knowledge and ability to earn money, dignity and happiness by satisfying needs and solving problems. Class prefects perform extracurricular functions of ensuring smooth relations between the school, its teachers and students. Despite the extracurricular functions, schools use certificates to grade their students’ intellectual capacity to solve problems/needs. Without understanding the purpose of schooling, some people focus on extra-curricular activities at the cost of their capacity-building. So, without studying well, supporting a friend to become class prefect does not improve your knowledge. Since industrial productivity is the source of growth, voting a favourite candidate in an election without personal plans and efforts for productivity cannot develop anybody.
After few months of celebrating their election candidate’s victory, many Nigerians begin expressing disappointment. They expected a heaven of new roads, food, electricity, amenities and miraculously-revived economy from their new guard. And when they do not see changes, they lament “This is not the change we voted for”.[1] Lee Kwan Yew noted that “a soft people will vote for those who promise a soft way out.”[2] So, despite not producing anything, many Nigerians keep expecting free amenities and foreign supplies as the result of their votes.
People create progressive societies by agreeing to unite in using their human and natural resources to produce what they need. Based on the agreement, they create ideals, laws and offices to direct various social functions for peace and progress. Afterwards, individuals are elected to occupy the offices and direct the society. Using policies, regulations and funding, the elected persons enable and direct the people’s productivities to their desired destination. As students do not stop reading to improve their capacity after electing a prefect, responsible citizens do not stop being productive after electing their desired candidates. Instead, they increase their productivity following the new and enabling policies.
Conditions for disappointment from voting
Human beings are like seeds that bear fruits when treated, planted in good soil and properly watered. The seed-treatment is education, the soil is industry and resources, water is finance for tools/labour and weeding is security. After watering the seeds without treating and planting them in good soil, they will not germinate or bear fruits. Instead, the seed will temporarily look fresh till the sun dries it up. Likewise, after sharing money and finished goods to people without training and granting them access to the resources they need for industrial productivity, they will remain dependent.
When people keep expecting money and amenities from voting without looking inwards to grow their industrial potentials, they face disappointments after voting. Yet, some political jobbers, civil servants and entertainers make quick but unstable exploits, as they are not basically productive. A true leader is not a babysitter or prison-warder that snatches people’s wealth for socialist sharing. Instead, leaders are farmers who use water and manure, as finance and policies, to support the people’s development and use of their productivity in building their societies.
Conditions for deriving happiness from voting
Since leaders are like farmers that use manure and water as regulations/finance to support people’s productivity, benefiting from voting requires readiness to develop your industrial productivity. This involves looking inwards to identify your land, human and/or natural resources as the foundation for industrial productivity. For primary wealth is created by applying scientific knowledge on agricultural and mineral resources to produce useful items. In creating wealth, voting becomes choosing someone whose policies will enable you develop and manifest your already discovered area of productivity.
The first step to productivity is securing the raw materials for creating primary wealth as tools and consumer goods. For humans depend on these tools and products for personal sustenance and social development. These raw materials which are agricultural and mineral resources come from your land or other people’s lands. But if government restricts you and other people from owning your lands, you cannot use your land to obtain loans for machines and labour to be productive.
So, instead of voting to get free consumer products as salary or handouts, you vote for people to own their lands, freely associate, employ others and produce things. And with adequate loans and policies, you can profitably produce and trade items with other productive people locally and internationally. Thus, laying foundations of productivity and growth for your children and future generations.
Root cause of unrealistic expectations from voting in Nigeria
Just like having unrealistic expectations from protests in Nigeria,[3] many Nigerians expect ample wealth just for voting. This mind-set rose from the colonial system of binding unconsented communities[4][5] for exploiting resources and sharing imported products in return.[6][7] This is the raffle-draw system[8] that imposed offices for seizing different people’s resources for foreign companies in exchange for foreign products to be shared by politicians. So, formerly productive kingdoms and communities now expect foreign products as reward for voting instead of organizing their societies for industrial productivity.
From this root-cause of colonial disorder springs other secondary causes like desperation, greed and corruption among the people. This continues because when the proper social network for productivity is destroyed and replaced by extraction, growth stops. And until different Nigerians boldly confront the resource extracting system that breeds unproductivity, they will keep getting disappointed after voting. Until they distinguish and retrieve their different lands for producing things, they will continue having government of prison guards, warders and interior-decorators.
[1] Segun Olulade, “Apologies to Goodluck Jonathan” in Punch, 3rd January, 2017. www.punchng.com/apologies-goodluck-jonathan/ retrieved 7th February, 2020.
[2] Lee Kwan Yew, From third world to first (USA: HarperCollins, 2000), p.53
[3] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, “The unrealistic expectations from protests in Nigeria” in Restartnaija. www.restartnaija.com/2020/02/25/unrealistic-protests-nigeria/ retrieved 7th March, 2020.
[4] S. O. Oyedele, “Federalism in Nigeria” in Issues contemporary political economy of Nigeria (edited) Hassan A. Saliu, op.cit, p.57
[5] cf. Richard Dowden, Africa altered states, ordinary miracles. (New York: Public Affairs, 2010). p.3-4
[6] Walter Rodney, How Europe underdeveloped Africa, 2009 edition (Abuja: Panaf publishing Inc. 2009), p.273
[7] C. C. Dibie, Essential Government (Lagos: Tonad Publishers, 2012), p.137
[8] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, “Tokenism and the inadequacy of raffle-draw system of government” in Restartnaija. www.restartnaija.com/2020/02/24/tokenism-bad-raffle-draw-government/ retrieved 29th March, 2020.
