Fayemi calls for strengthening of democratic institutions

From Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti
|
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has said that the gains so far recorded in the country’s democratisation process remained an unfinished job that needs to be improved upon in order to serve the greater number of the people.

He advocated for a re- orientation for people who go into politics and strengthening of institution capacity of the state governments as part of factors that would aide democratic growth in the country.

Delivering the Executive Course 41, 2019 Lecture at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Plateau State, Governor Fayemi said Nigerians can commend themselves for the modest successes they have achieved since returning to democratic rule 20 years ago, because there is no “ready-made democracy” anywhere.

Dr Fayemi who spoke on the topic “Twenty Years of Democratisation in Nigeria: Looking Backward, Moving Forward”, said in spite of general dissatisfaction with the level of democratic development in the country, Nigeria has indeed made some appreciable progress in many fronts.

He, however highlighted a number of areas which urgently required radical improvement in order to deepen the nation’s democratic culture. These, according to him, include the need for citizen-friendly security agencies, inclusive governance and greater social and human capital investment among others.

Fayemi said the democratic process would become more functional and beneficial if it leads to people having a say in who governs them as well as having the benefits of their participation percolate to the grassroots.

According to him, “democratisation of the nation needs to move from just political to economic democratisation”.

“The wide difference between the haves and the have-nots in our country is such that has made constant confrontations inevitable. Unfortunately, these confrontations do not come directly as class contestation, they usually manifest insidiously as communal, religious, criminal or sectarian disputations.”, he added.

“One of the strategies to bridge the frightening gap between those at the bottom of the economic ladder and those on the cliff of the pyramid would be to adopt some social investment measures that take care of the poorest of the poor.