By ABBATI BAKO,psc,bsis,UK

Politics is the process of solving public problems and the process takes place through positive communication. This means that by electing the representatives of the people by the people (electorates) through free, fair, credible and acceptable elections the wishes of the people have been fulfilled by means of democratic communication. Communication is an essential element of democracy.

The today’s Supreme Court judgement on the cases filed by the former Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar of PDP and that of Mr. Peter Obi of Labour party was part of the communication in Political Democratic system. Judiciary is the highest court of law in Nigeria and it’s judgement is final. Judiciary is one of the key elements and principles of Democratic System anywhere in the world. So, the judgement delivered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria indicates that Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria.

So, congratulations to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu/Vice President Kassim Shettima the National Chairman of APC Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (OFR) and the entire APC family in Nigeria and diaspora.

And again, the next line of action is for the President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu to do what he promised to do for the people that elected him in 2023; that’s the meaning of Democratic System.

It’s now remain only 43 months out of 48 for the APC party and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to show up to Nigerians that his government has the political will to transform the country positively and be taken to the promised land.

Nigerians have hope in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to use his “team-ship” policy to remedy the problems that are afflicting the citizens of Nigeria especially what we called in political economy as “stagflation” (insecurity, high inflation, economic aridity, low industrial productions high unemployment rate amongst the youths and unproductive population and so on).

If within the next few months that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can be able to tackle the above mentioned problems; his slogan “Renewed hope” and his political party APC will be re-elected in the coming elections of the year 2027 and beyond.

The last week’s schedule proposed by the CBN on the 43 items to be imported into the country will create competition in economic interplay in the country. Competition is the pillar of Capitalist Oriented Society like Nigeria. Capitalist market economy will be fantastic if there is competition.

The Tinubu’s promises and ambition right from his presidential campaign in 2022 is to correct the democratic system in Nigeria; of which it is undeniable fact the system is being undermined by corruption, naivety, security challenges, mismanagement, violence, bad governance and generally breakage of all the 57 rules and principles of democratic system in this very resourceful and emerging nation, Nigeria.

Allah (SWT) blesses Nigerian country with both human and natural resources. Nigeria is amongst the top 10 oil producing nation in the world and top 10 most populous (No. 6 position in the UN’s population ranking of 2023) and top 10 most resourceful nation on this planet. The world has confidence in Nigeria and the only problem with the country has been that there is lack competent, good governance, determined, qualitative and functional leadership that will move the nation forward within the shortest possible time. And again, Nigeria must to get honest, forecast, visionary, accountable, positive, with positive mission, democratic, patriotic, ambitious, fearless, determined, with political will and ready to lead. This writing understands that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can do all that mentioned. So, the predictions made by the “JP Morgan Chase” last week that Nigeria will be amongst the “top 5 global economies by 2075” can be a reality if there will be concrete planning based on calendar time frame before the year 2075.

Globally speaking; all agree that even global leaders asserts that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has the will (as he honestly did in his two terms tenure in Lagos State) with the zeal and patriotism to see Nigeria shouldered with other global emerging nations like S/Arabia, UAE, India, Qatar, S/Africa, Brazil, Mexico and other 30 economic emerging nations of the world.

Unfortunately this huge country (Nigeria) has been technically poisoned via corruption and generally bad governance by the past leaders; especially during the military era.

Therefore, in Nigeria’s democratic setting, the only hope remain for Nigerians is for the citizens to ensure positive changes in their life (mindsets). Nigerians must be hard working and maximization and utilization of time—time is the most precious element in human life that’s to be honest, united and love one another as a united nation and the giant of Africa.

Economic planning from growth to standard in the next 20 years, education as a tool, try to boost mechanized agriculture to feed the nation, local manufacturing (as did by China and India) and leveraging the trade activities within the West African Continent should be the best agenda to locally develop the local economy within the African Continent generally.

But care must be taken because of the high expectation from Nigerians between 2023 to 2027. The APC must carefully serialize and strategize plans that will move Nigeria forward.
Otherwise, Nigerians will loose interest in political democracy. Because the whole system is still facing stagflation especially among the younger generations.

The current Tinubu’s administration should prepare for the quick serialization of 4 years’ agenda that will pave way for the current younger generations for generational shift of leadership from 2023/2027 upwards; this is a must that needs to be done ASAP.

The elders must step aside and groom the younger ones to takeover the mantle of leadership from the year 2031. But they must be taught how to be honest to the people and the nation and ready to lead. And again, government institutions and private sectors must be strengthened, enhanced and be given priority.

Politics means governance or leadership, the young generations must learn how to play the game in an honest way based on patriotism and must be in accordance with rules and principles of the system. Democratic system has 57 key elements and principles that must be adhered to.

*What is politics?

Let me quote the book (Elements of Politics 1999, University of Lagos) edited by Professors Remi Anifowose and Francis Enemuo (late) and others “The great Greek philosopher, Aristotle, began his famous work, politics, with the observation that “man is by nature a political animal”. This means that the social existence is politics and that two or more men interacting with one another are invariably involved in a political relationship. Aristotle also means that very few people prefer an isolated life to one that includes social companionship. Men are engaged in politics as they try to define their position in society, as they struggle for scarce resources and as they try to convince others to accept their points of view. Aristotle then concluded that the only way to maximize one’s individual capabilities and to attain the highest form of social life was through political interaction with others in an institutionalized setting, a setting designed to resolve social conflicts and set collective goals- the state”.

Professor Remi further defined politics as “process of making and execution of governmental decisions or policies”. That’s the authoritative allocation of values or who gets what, when and how, the quest for power, order and justice; the art of influencing, manipulating and controlling others; a process of resolution of conflict, in society and a struggle among actors pursuing conflicting desires on public issues. “Politics is the activity (negotiation, argument, discussion, application of force, persuasion, etc.) by which an issue is agitated or settled”.

Remi says that the Eastonian definition of politics as the “authoritative allocation of values for a society” is considered useful by political scientists”.

What remain for APC party is to try to follow all the rules and principles of democratic politics. Otherwise, no one can imagine or predict the next reactions or emotional feelings of Nigerians between 2023 to 2027.

Sincerely, Nigerians want to see concrete and quick policies and implementations that will suppress the hardship created by stagflation in the country. Otherwise, the people of Nigeria will lose confidence in Democracy.

Abbati Bako,psc,bsis,UK
Political Strategy and Communication Consultant IPRC Nigeria and former Special Adviser to the Governor of Kano State Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (OFR) on Public Affairs—

By Abbati Bako

Global economic power and Liberal Democracy can be called “Liberal Democracy.
Representative Democracy, Constitutional Democracy or Electoral Democracy.”
Liberal Democracy is a political system created by enlightenment groups in Europe in 17century to replace mornachy system which dominated European Nations then.

Liberalism in European societies means political governance based on election, freedom, equality and justice in society. Also, to owned wealth and properties by individuals or groups of persons in society. That’s called Capitalism or Capitalist oriented society.
Liberal Democracy has dominated Europe and other continents of the world. It’s again, called presidential system of government that is being practices in USA, Nigeria and many nations of the world (both in Northern parts of the world or South South Nations).

On the other hand, social Democracy is another form of liberal Democracy or Electoral Democracy/representative Democracy that has been in practice in UK, India, Brazil, France, Japan and many more. Again, called Parliamentary Democracy.

Chinese form of governance (Communism, Socialism or called Direct Democracy) celebrated the practice of the system for the past 70 years. And again, the 40 years economic plan based on strategic calendar timeframe has been successfully achieved in the year 2018. China is (now) the second global largest economy in the world. America is the largest economy with 26%GDP and China is the second with 19.5% of global GDP and then Japan, Germany, France, UK and so on.

George Friedman observed that “Any discussion of the future has to begin with a discussion with China. One quarter of the world lives in China and there has been a great deal of discussion of China as a future global power. It’s economy has been surging dramatically in the past thirty years, and it is certainly a significant power. But thirty years of growth does not means unending growth. It means that the probability of China continuing to grow at this rate is diminishing.

And in the case of China, slower growth means substantial social and political problems. I don’t share the view that China is going to be a major world power. I don’t even believe it will hold together as a unified country. But I do agree that we can’t discuss the future without first discussing China”.

On the other hand the elected Malaysian Prime Minister Muhattir Muhammad brilliantly argued that “the world must follow China”. This means that China will soon be a global leader. Malaysia is among 30 global emerging democracies and economies in the world.

And again, “China’s geography makes it unlikely that it will become an active fault line. If it were to become an area of conflict, it will be less China striking out than China becoming the victim of others taking advantage of its weakness. China’s economy is not nearly as robust as it might seem, and its political stability,which depends heavily on continuing rapid growth, is even more precarious. China is important, however, because it appears to be the most likely global challenger in the near term-at least in the minds of others”. George Friedman USA, 2009.

But by the creation of BRICS’s in recent years and the G77+ the world economy may change direction by the year 2030 or there about.The world is not stagnant there maybe changes especially on economic interplay or political and military power.

World Politics/Economic/Social issues———

Since 2001 the world political temperature has been rising beyond the imagination of political scientists. In almost every continent, there is political, economic or social problem that afflicting the people. Middle-east is the area to watch, as it is there peace is measured by hours. The Iraq war, the Israeli – Palestinians conflicts, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Libyan crisis in north Africa especially the issue of flood which killed thousand of people. Yemen/Saudi Arabia (the negotiation and mediations is still ongoing, Syria’s internal crises and the Iran nuclear dispute with USA and Western World and different sanctions against Iran by the USA and the refusal of other Western Nations on the sanctions and the some year’s political and economic dispute between S/Arabia and Canada. Also, the dispute between Qatar/Saudi Arabia and Arabian nations mostly has been resolved. And again, the settlement between Israel and other Arabian peninsula nations is still on the way.

In the African continent, the crises in Sudan,
Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, the political (some years ago) turmoil in Algeria, the insurgency and coup d’etat in Niger Republic, Mali, Benin Republic, B/Faso, Nigeria, Chad, Cameron and the chronic poverty and diseases such as AIDS/ HIV, malaria and T. B. Ebola as well as corruption which dwarf the continent to moves forward in competitiveness among global nations. The bad governance, conflicts, trapped resources and Landlocked Continent of Africa. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and leaders in Nigeria and other African Nations must wake-up and play actively to lead Africa out of the wood. Otherwise, Africa may remain in doom.

In Asia, although the war in Srilanka with Tamil Tigers ended few years peace in the area is still uncertain. The Afghanistan war, the Pakistan and India’s peace negotiation is still fragile. Also tribal conflict in Indonesia remains unsolved. The North and South Korea and the North Korea’s nuclear dispute remain major political problems with USA and Western Nations, China/Taiwan issue and China/ Tibet not yet politically addressed. The current war between the Ukraine and Russia has tremendously affected the global economy. And it seems that the solution not yet on the way. Ukraine and Russia’s war have greatly affected food security in the world.

In Europe, the Balkan area is still under NATO’s care, the Georgia and Russia still at loggerhead and huge economic crunch afflicting the eastern European Nations; even the western ones such as Greece, Spain and Portugal were badly affected few years ago. The accession of Turkey into EU and the Turkey’s problems with Kurds and Cyprus are all political/economic cold war that needs to be tackled by the global leadership.

The just concluded G77+ meeting in Havana, Cuba is not worrying to the US but on the other hand economic point of view maybe suspicious to US’s future generations.
In Americas, the Cuba is no longer a threat to the USA (security wise) but the relationship with Venezuela is not cordial. And again, rampant poverty in South and Central America needs to be confronted vigorously. John Belis says “Poverty, hunger and disease remain widespread, and women and girls continue to comprise the majority of the world poorest peoples especially in global South.

Moreover, this general situation is not confined to that part of the world we have traditionally termed the “South South Nations” or the third world. Particularly since the 1980s and 1990s, the worldwide promotion of neo-liberal economic policies (like so-called Washington Consensus by global governance institutions has been accompanied by increasing inequalities within and between states”). This means that should be a threatening to the global peace in the near future.

A global leader supposes to response and act at any time and anywhere around the globe to protect the interest of the led in any country or region, especially when it matters democracy had 57 rules and principles. Hence, it’s absolutely imperative for the current President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu and team ship to wake up and tackle the issue of security challenges and stagflation.

In conclusion let me quote what Chris Brown says “America possesses preponderant power, power which is increasingly regarded as illegitimate in many part of the world which is difficult to challenged”.

This writing argues that, the USA’s power is not difficult to challenge, only no one single nation can challenge at the moment. But an alliance of nations can challenge US global monopoly and China, Russia, India and other G77+ nations could do that considering the current trade war between China and USA especially or even in terms of military power.

But in term of economic power the only block that can collectively challenge US is 28 EU nations. Daniel Drezner says “If there is a recurring theme that runs through the literature on globalization and global governance, it is that economic globalization attenuates state power.

The inability of USA to solve many problems confronting human family; from wars, hunger, diseases, illiteracy, global security challenges, poverty, climate change, and human rights as well as nuclear threat, because of these reasons, US could not and should not be called a global leader in recent years. The world needs leadership that will solve the problems of human family. YOU THE PEOPLE!

“Governance first and last is about the exercise of power to achieve political, social, and other objectives. Every scheme to govern economy, therefore, must confront the fundamental question; Governance for what? The primary purpose to be served by the proposed mechanisms for governance of the global economy is the first issue that must be resolves” .

The probable solution to global leadership at this crucial time is when the EU becomes one nation (if its possible) and takes over the mantle of global leadership; Europeans had enough experience and know-how to tackle every problem through diplomatic means. Or China to be the global economic leader; that may change global political, economic and social issues of this planet.

Abbati Bako,psc, bsis,UK, International Political Strategy and Communication Consultant, IPRC, Nigeria