In his 2016 book: “Inside Job: How Government Insiders Subvert the Public Interest,” Dr. Mark Zupan focuses on government officials who find ways to enrich themselves while subverting the “national interest.”  According to Zupan, “National decline is typically blamed on special interests from the demand side of politics corrupting a country’s institutions. The usual demand-side suspects include crony capitalists, consumer activists, economic elites, and labor unions. Less attention is given to government insiders on the supply side of politics – rulers, elected officials, bureaucrats, and public employees. In autocracies and democracies, government insiders have the motive, means, and opportunity to co-opt political power for their benefit and at the expense of the national well-being.”

There is little doubt that Zupan’s prognosis aptly captures what happens in most governments around the world, including Nigeria where it is more entrenched with centrifugal forces known to work at cross purposes, especially on issues that bother on the wellbeing of the nation and its national interest. Most countries have remained at a dilemma on how to confront these entrenched forces of bad governance.

In Nigeria however, the Red Card Movement Nigeria (RCM) has taking it up itself to stand in the gap and awaken voters consciousness that the time to take their destinies in their hands is now. The Red Card Movement Nigeria is the brain child of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili – the convener of the movement – and other co-conveners from the six geo-political zones of the country. The movement which started on the 4th January 2018 was unveiled on April 18, 2018 at an elaborate event held in Abuja, the federal capital.

Reminding Nigerian voters of the crucial roles they have to play in determining the direction of governance, Dr. Ezekwesili pointed out during the Abuja unveiling that the effect of the cyclical truncation of democracy in Nigeria since the termination of the First Republic in 1966 is that key institutions, systems, principles and ethos that underpin democratic practice has remained extremely problematic and largely underdeveloped. One of such key institutions are dynamic, strong, inclusive and accountable political parties that can articulate sound policy positions and inspire confidence that they – the political parties -are capable of governing effectively when voted in by the electorate.

As a result of this lacuna, she said the movement is stepping in to sensitise Nigerians on the need to vote out bad leaders. To achieve this, the movement has outlined some programs that would be carried out in three phases. They include #OfficeOfTheCitizen; #RedCardToAPCAndPDP; and #MyPVCMyRedCard which would be carried out in the first phase. The Office of the Citizen highlights the fundamental importance of the citizen in the democratic process as democracy thrives on active participation. RedCardToAPCAndPDP is anchored on the pedestal that neither of the two main political parties have the capacity to effect sustainable growth and development; while MyPVCMyRedCard is aimed at galvanising Nigerians who have not registered to do so and obtain their PVC – the only way they can vote out bad leaders.

The second phase of the campaign include: #CitizensLeadershipCriteriaTool: The #CitizensElectableNigeriansRoaster; Before The People: A Dialogue between Political Parties And Citizens; Citizens’ Manifesto; A New Social Contract (aka #NewNigeriaOfOurDream) and Summit of the Alternatives. These would dove tail into the third phase of activities which is Public Debates.

Given the fact that only eligible voters with Permanent Voters Card (PVC) would be allowed to vote on election days, the RCM – during the first phase –will create massive awareness to encourage Nigerians who have not registered to do so and for those over two million citizens with over two million uncollected PVCs to go to the various INEC offices and collect their PVCs. This is predicated on the fact that as Nigerians obtains their PVC and can vote to choose who govern them at local, state or national level; the citizens would be influencing what politicians do on economic, social and political matters. The purpose of democracy is defeated if only a few people who are eligible exercise their right to vote.

This is one of the reasons why in the eighteen years since the Fourth Republic began in 1999 there have been three dominant political groupings – presently coalesced into two; the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives’ Congress (APC). The PDP governed at the center and majority of the thirty six states of the federation for sixteen years until it was defeated in the 2015 election by the APC. The APC meanwhile is the result of mergers of different previously oppositions political parties that had strong regional roots in some parts of the North and the South-West and complemented by a breakaway group from the PDP.

Dr. Ezekwesili stressed that a forensic audit of the membership of the two dominant parties would reveal the fluidity and mobility of the politicians who cross carpet between parties without ideological convictions or restraints. Some of the politicians in PDP and APC have at one time or the other been in all of the three dominant political groups which can so easily be redrawn at every election cycle. It is based on this critically flawed system that the RCM feels it is time to step into the gap and awaken the consciousness of Nigerians to break this pervasive recycling of bad leadership.

Research finding have frequently pointed toward the absence of good governance as the fundamental obstacle to Nigeria’s development. Bad leadership is identified among other critical challenges like weak institutions and absence of the rule of law, various types of instability, pervasive religious and ethnic affinity, and weak economic base. These, and other micro challenges can be advanced as reasons Nigeria has not achieved its developmental goals.

Another co-convener, Dr. Tony Akabuno pointed out that as democracy progressed over the nearly two decades since the 1999 transition there has been no commensurate improvement in the standard of living or quality of life of citizens, hence the need to place our politicians and their parties under serious public scrutiny. From readily available and verifiable data, both the past and present crop of politicians have roundly failed the people.

Akabuno noted that it is easy to notice citizens’ disaffection with the quality of economic, social and political progress the country had made since 1999compared to its contemporaries with similar history. For example, Nigerians feel the sting of frequent comparison of their country and Singapore which is often praised for its rapid rise from a “third to a first world country”. The high quality of the leadership of Singapore, beyond the famous late Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew, is often used a yardstick for Nigeria.

Nothing points to Nigeria’s abysmal failure as much as the paradox of its millions of poor people according to Mr. Daniel Balogun, a Co-Convener. Utilising the 2010 National Bureau of Statistics report Balogun compared the billions of dollars earned in foreign exchange to the state of the nation as exists today. He stated that eradicating poverty is a measure of how well countries are governed. A recent World Bank’s 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals, he noted, showed that 35 million more Nigerians were living in extreme poverty in 2013 than in 1990. So it means that between 1990 and 2013, Nigeria increased the number of its poor people by 68%. China decreased by 96% ,  India decreased by 35.5% , Indonesia decreased by 76%, Pakistan decreased by 80%, Brazil decreased by 67%, Bangladesh decreased by 60% and Ethiopia decreased 31%.”

In the same vein, Chijioke Mbaeyi, another co-convener added that no segment of the population feels the brunt and impact of bad leadership, poor governance and growing poverty and inequality like the youth. Annually, 3-4 million young people enter the labour market with grim prospects of being absorbed into decent work as failure to productively diversify the economy means that less than 100,000 such jobs really exist. This monumental level of unemployment has increasingly led to loss of social capital necessary to build stable communities. Again, endemic and systemic corruption and the impunity of bad leadership and governance paint a bleak and grim future for our country.

It is therefore not surprising; according to Mbaeyi that at no time in history – except perhaps during the civil war – has the future of Nigeria become a matter of intense public discourse like now. The reason for this, according to him, is not farfetched because in the last decade Nigeria has combined all the failed states indices that produce fragility – economic, security and political.

When governments fail to live up to their responsibility persistently, the Fund for Peace Fragile States Index classifies them as a fragile state. The lack of development, absence of shared prosperity and bad governance place a strain on the society and lead to the absence of peace and security. The more prosperous a society and its people become, the more stable they are likely to be.

Some of the features of a Fragile State listed include: a weak and ineffective central government with little practical control over much of its territory; Public services are epileptic; There is widespread corruption and criminality; There are refugees and involuntary movement of populations; and finally, there is sharp economic decline. With a score of 101.3 Nigeria is no 13 on the 2017 list of Fragile States.

Crisis like the recurring Boko Haram war in the North-East, the horrific Farmers/Herdsmen clashes in various parts of the country – especially within the North-Central region, the IPOB activity in the South-East and the militancy in the South-South have all placed deep strain on the capacity of the Nigerian State and its institutions. The consequence of this is the erosion of the legitimacy of the political class who are generally held accountable for the poor governance that led to these multiple crises.

As public debate start to coalesce around the problems of quality leadership and governance, the ruling and opposition parties which together account for more than 95% of Nigerian Politicians are now being called out by citizens for their glaring failures. The strong argument being advanced by most Nigerians is that the two parties and their members have lost touch with the problems confronting citizens and that failure to produce and admit new and young politicians into their parties has made them unable to evolve and adapt to the demands and challenges of the 21st Century.