The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has identified the major challenge that has hampered the growth of democracy in Nigeria. The firebrand speaking bishop who described the nation’s democratic experience as being in recession.
He stated that said democracy is foreign to Nigeria’s culture. He stated though democracy is the best form of government around the world, it remains foreign to our culture.
The bishop made this disclosure while speaking at The Platform Nigeria, a programme by Lagos-based church, Covenant Nation. The event was to mark the 2024 Democracy Day on Wednesday.
According to Kukah, unlike Europe where principles of democracy were founded on the thinking of several philosophers, Nigeria’s democracy was not founded on the country’s historical, cultural or anthropological experiences.
“What is missing in our conversation is that unlike where the principles of democracy were founded on the thinking of several philosophers from Plato, Socrates, Aristotle etc, our democracy has paid very little attention to our culture.”
“We have been involved in intellectual conversations about democracy. But modern liberal democracy as we understand it today, benefitted extensively from the work of people like St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas.
“It is also quite significant that Joe Biden even in his presidential address had to quote St Augustine. And it means, therefore, that it is the teachings and philosophies and theology of some of these scholars that led the foundation to what we call democracy today.
“Unfortunately, our democracy is in decline. It is in recession, precisely, because it is evident to us that what we are working with is not something that came from our own historical, cultural or even anthropological experiences.”
Kukah, therefore, expressed worries that because of Nigerians’ obsession with politics, they can’t think beyond a particular period.
“Nigerians do not want to hear about what will happen in 2040. This is because all their attentions are fixed on the politics of 2027.
Kukah also stated that the global economic recession is aggravated in Nigeria because mismanagement.
He regretted that the situation could have been averted if Nigerian legislators were alert to their responsibilities.
He said, “The legislators were instead preoccupied with their salary scales, fringe benefits and unnecessary foreign travels.
The bishop, therefore, bemoaned Nigerians inability to cultivate financial discipline and prudent management. He stated that this has caused the country to depend largely on internal and external borrowing to execute projects.
source: Channels TV
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