A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has said Nigeria’s western-style democracy has failed to deliver good governance and national unity, insisting it is time for the country to rethink its governance structure and explore alternative systems.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Monday, Agbakoba, a lawyer and rights activist, said the current model, copied from Europe and America, has not worked for Nigeria in the last 25 years of democracy.
“This is not the Nigeria I dreamt of. I thought things would have been much better,” he said. “Something is fundamentally wrong with a process that is not delivering. We need to reflect and ask ourselves whether this Western model suits us.”
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Agbakoba, 71, said countries like China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which, despite not being democratic in the Western sense, have made significant developmental strides. He questioned whether democracy, as practiced in Nigeria, is the only valid governance model.
“China is not democratic, but it works. They brought 900 million people out of poverty. In contrast, Nigeria continues to wallow in underdevelopment and inequality,” he said.
He said that Nigeria’s presidential system, modeled after the United States, has been poorly implemented, leading to marginalisation, exclusion, and disempowerment of the grassroots.
“The strongest problem in Nigeria is exclusion. Power is concentrated at the centre in Abuja while the 774 local governments are weak and almost nonexistent. That’s a disaster,” he stated.
Agbakoba noted the absence of a strong opposition in the country, saying many politicians are more interested in grabbing power than in nation-building.
“It’s a winner-takes-all system. Everybody wants to be in government. No one wants to be in the opposition. So, there is no accountability,” he said.
He said the recurring voter apathy in Nigeria is a sign that citizens have lost faith in the system. “People are not voting because they are not getting anything from the system. They are hungry, they are suffering. Politicians only show up every four years to make promises and disappear.”
He acknowledged some national conferences in the past, including the 2014 confab. Agbakoba noted that their reports have been ignored by successive governments.
“The problem is not the lack of ideas. The problem is that the kleptocrats who hijacked power do not want any reform. They like the system as it is,” he said.
He expressed his concern that the country is becoming increasingly unstable, and called for urgent national dialogue to rethink the structure of governance.
“We need a new model. We need a conversation. Nigeria is dangerously close to the edge, and we must be realistic about the gravity of the situation.”
He added: “Let’s face it—Nigeria is an extremely dangerous country right now. It is crying for leadership, and unless we act, things will only get worse.”
Agbakoba said he does not advocate for military rule but insisted that all options, including radical systemic change should be considered to save Nigeria from collapse.
“Do I have all the answers? No. But we have to be bold enough to ask the hard questions and look at alternatives. Nigeria is going down, and there are good people who can fix it if given the chance.”
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