Owerri – A Non-governmental Organisation, the Nigerian Social Contract, has called on government at all levels to work to overcome poverty, social exclusion and political instability in the country.
The group made the call at a programme tagged “The Nigerian Social Contract and Stakeholders Engagement” organised by the Omudodu Youth Foundation (a.k.a Ourmumudondo Movement) in Owerri on Saturday.
The National Coordinator of the group, Mr Charles Oputa, said that time had come for Nigerians to take the bull by the horn by invoving themselves in political governance for enhanced development.
He said that the Nigerian social contract had outlined various actions and intentions which political leadership in Nigeria should imbibe to overcome pervasive poverty, social exclusion and political instability.
“Nigeria is fracturing under the weight of structural contradictions as members of different groups contend against one another on allegations of marginalisation and oppression.
“Self-determination, regional autonomy or restructuring has become the new language of those protesting against public governance that spoil and impoverishes the citizenry.
“These structural contradictions in Nigerian politics is framed as a “nationality question”.
“Nigerians have lost the sense of belonging to a common notion that protects their security and welfare as Nigerians. There is a crying to address the nationality question,” he said.
Oputa said there was an urgent need to mainstream the “centrality of effective citizenship as a solution to the crisis of identity in Nigeria.”
He said that Nigeria’s efforts at governance had not positively transformed its huge human and natural resources into prosperity, freedom and peace for the Nigerian citizens and its residents and called for a change of action.
The Ourmumudondo coordinator, therefore, urged the South East governors to rise up to the challenge of good governance or face stiff opposition from the group.
Dr Sam Amadi, a Consultant to the Nigerian Social Contract, explained that the “Contract” is a set of commitment between Nigerian citizens, citizens groups, government institutions and public officials to utilise the resources of public offices in Nigeria to drive the economic and social welfare of the Nigerian people.
“The Nigerian social contract is a strategic initiative to cure the democracy and development deficits of public leadership in Nigeria through increasing citizens bargaining power in political negotiation,” he said.
Amadi, a former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC), said the formation of the Nigerian Social Contract stemmed from the fact that Nigeria, though one of Africa’s largest economy, was being rated the seventh worst country in the World Bank’s Human Capital Index.
He said the country, in June 2018, was also declared by the World Poverty Clock as having the highest number of poor people in the world with 86.9 million Nigerians being extremely poor.
“Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the worst under-5 deaths- the 4th country in the world with the worst infant mortality rate, worse than Sierra Leone, Central African Republic and Chad.
“In 2017, Nigeria’s electricity supply ranked the second worst in the world. Thus, Nigeria’s poverty and misery indexes are rising,” he said.
Amadi said that the quality of the current Nigerian politics could not resolve the deep social, economic and political crises of the nation.
“These crises are basically the crisis of social justice, the crisis of productivity and the crisis of public ethics. In fact, Nigerian politics reinforces and deepens these crises,” he said.
He said that only radical transformation of Nigerian politics could reinvigorate the search for social justice, economic development and ethical reorientation.
“These two facts inform the resort to a Nigerian Citizens’ Social Contract as a programmatic framework to transform Nigerian politics from an instrument of predation and violations of the rights of citizens to an instrument to entrench freedom and prosperity,” he said.
According to him, a central objective of the government should be the development of programmes for social, economic, political and cultural development of the Nigerian youth.
Amadi said the group was seeking for a legal system that by rule of law would be duly enacted and fairly implemented, a society that would promote the freedom, dignity and equality of all citizens and a public sector that would be efficient, accountability and transparent.
He said the group was also demanding for a democratic society that would be republican and right-based.
“The political empowerment and social welfare of young people, especially the female youth, is a central objective of social contract at every level of government.
“The social contract presents a challenge to elected officials and civil society leaders to think of how to mainstream gender justice into Nigerian politics beyond the present tokenism.
“The passage of the Not-Too-Young-To-Run is a good development,” he said. (NAN)
