Headline : OPINION… Nigeria: Democracy, Ominous Prophecies and Service Delivery

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No. of Paragraph 53

The problem with a key-note address is that, the speaker has to contend with an informed audience whose members are very conversant with all the issues which relate to the Nigerian condition or non-condition!! Some of them are even probably more informed on the issues of Nigerian democracy and service delivery. It is therefore something of a herculean task to come up with fresh perspectives on the Nigerian condition. What strikes me however is that the NPSA appears to be travelling on an old road. For one can almost yawn that the discourse for this conference is on democracy. Even for the casual observer , it is possible to ask: again? But then it should be appreciated that, the democracy project , or better still , democratization project can be described as an infinite process , in which on a perpetual basis , we will continue to work on this all important project .This is because at one level , it appears that there is really no alternative .

The point I am making here has been amply articulated by Adebayo Williams, a literary scholar whose academic interests border on the encyclopaedic . According to this scholar, in his work titled: The fictionalization of Democratic Struggles in Africa: The Nigerian Example- democracy is best seen as a process of perpetually becoming. He contends further that all arguments for and against it are stricken with intellectual futility since the thing at issue is indefinite. And if I may be allowed to add, the process is so indefinite that between now and eternity the discourse on democracy and Nigeria will endure. The NPSA is therefore to be commended for adding its own weight to this eternal preoccupation.

Understandably and naturally, I have given some thoughts to what will constitute the kernel of my brief discourse today. Matters have not been helped by the fact that the situation in this social formation is in a flux. Despite this flux, a certain and inclement reality appears to pervade the atmosphere. Living conditions continue to worsen with the concomitant and deepening misery of the populace. As far as I can recall, this regression or descent into hellish existence has been with us from the dawn of time. Here, permit me dear listeners, to recall one of the seductive phrases which in the seventies spoke to our unwholesome situation.

It was coined by our departed and inimitable colleague-the late Professor Ayo Olukotun. As far back as the seventies, Our dear and departed compatriot spoke along the following lines. Broken Promises In Search of Reasons…. What becomes clear from the immediate foregoing is that our current and dire situation goes back to the seventies and even well before then.

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