Edo 2012: When silence is not golden

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Edo 2012: When silence is not golden

Written by Callistus Omoregie Sunday, 04 December 2011

THE Norwegian political scientist, Stein Rokkan, writing on his country’s system, said: “The crucial decisions on economic policy are rarely taken at the parties or in parliaments.”

He compared the central area to the bargaining table, where government authorities meet directly with trade union leaders or other group leaders. These yearly rounds of negotiations mean more in the lives of the rank and file of citizens than formal elections.

Nigeria’s politics is not consensually well organised or cooperative as the Norwegian model, but there is a central core of similarity in respect of pressure group’s influence.

Democratic government is supposed to be government of the people, while politicians often claim to be speaking on behalf of public opinion, but how do rulers learn about what the people want?

Elections provide significant but infrequent opportunities for people to participate in politics. These are held every four years, but pressure groups provide continuous opportunities for such involvement.

The relationship between interest groups and government is not always adversary. Groups may be useful to government. Commissioners and civil servants often lack the information or expertise necessary to make wise policies.

Therefore, they frequently turn to the relevant representative organisations to find out the defects in existing line of policies and seek suggestions as to how things could to be improved. The ascension to power of Adams Oshiomhole on November 14, 2008 raised the spectre of labour influence in this regard.

Oshiomhole has been emphatic that unions, like any other groups seeking influence, will receive “fairness but no favour.” But the governor knew he was incorrect. Indeed, the governor- always in ‘khaki’ uniform- depicting the spirit of labour struggles, was not really telling the truth.

At the inception of the clamour for workers’ minimum wage earlier this year, Oshiomhole was one of the first governors that boasted he would pay the wage as soon as it was approved by the Federal Government, but no sooner was it approved than he reneged, a development that brought him and the workers in his state on a collision course.

Today, the wage is received in Edo with tears, as it is paid with the right hand and taken with the left hand via a high taxation regime. How does one explain a situation where a level 14 civil servant gets a monthly pay of N40,000 and pays a tax of N9,000 monthly?

How can there be civil rights when teachers are being impoverished with overtaxation, just to punish them for benefiting from the teacher’s unified pay structure?

Only the other day, the Secretary to the State Governor, Simeon Imuekheme, flew a kite that every Etsako person ought to take it as an article of faith to vote for Oshiomhole in the 2012 gubernatorial election.

This, he emphasised, does not need to be for the good work alone, but that the governor is their son, irrespective of the criticisms. Good talk.

Do you remember Imuekhemen? Imuekhemen was Lucky Igbinedion’s wonder boy, who was brought from the Board of Internal Revenue to become Igbinedion’s Head of Service. He was part of those years of locust.

When Igbinedion exited, Imuekhemen sneaked into Oserheimen Osunbor’s administration to swear by the gods that Oshiomhole was not a fit and proper person to contest the 2007 election in the first place, let alone to challenge Osunbor at the tribunal.

With the coming of Oshiomhole, he concocted a new song, this time flying the ethnic card that it must be Oshiomhole forever, non-performance and credibility notwithstanding.

Nosakhare Isekhure, the celebrated chief priest of Benin, is not as lucky as Imuekhemen, but today, as Oshiomhole’s employee being the Chairman, Governing Council of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), he has joined the chorus band singing that Oshiomhole be allowed to continue, with a tacit admission that his Bini tribe has always failed in the leadership position of the state; whereas the international rating of the state university he heads is going down daily for lack of basic lecturing amenities.

The Binis will now recollect with nostalgia the like of Air Iyare, the Imafidons, the Omo Osagies (aka B2), the Akpatas and the Oba Akenzuas for the roles they would have played if they were still on the scene. Yesterday, their words would have stood against the world and would have inspired men. They had played their parts well. But, where are our Edo intellectuals?

As people at the centre of activity in the societal growth process and by virtue of their familiarity with modern ideas and technology, it is time Edo intellectuals climbed down from their high horses and reversed their positions of detachment and cold aloofness. They should demonstrate commitment and involvement in the practical problems of Edo State.

This is, indeed, imperative because in a society in which diverse and determined groups, working through propaganda and pressure, assume the representation of the collectivists, the silence of the intellectuals is no longer golden.

• Omoregie is a public affairs analyst based in Benin, Edo State

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