BY CHIEF CLEAVER UZEZI DANIELS
Public Policy Analyst/ Legal Psychologist
The word elite connotes a group of people that are superior to other groups in society in terms of ability, qualities and competence They are distinguished persons as egg heads of proven integrity, recipients of honours and accomplishments tied to their profiles.
An elite group comes through public acknowledgement and selection by an authority not necessarily by heights of education only. They are part of the trained and educated individuals in society in their respective class by their calling.
An elite is one who must have proven his mettle in strategic thinking in particular areas of calling or occupation in the economy or politics. The elite structure in a nation is the basis of true development and consistent growth without policies summersaults.
The elite groups in a nation are the groups that should form the leadership structure of strong institutions and national leadership selection.
The elites are trained minds, they are pragmatic, make wise and informed decisions on realistic goals and objectives for implementation plans.
The structure of corporate governance where you have the board of directors, chairman, and the management are a typical example of the classes of elites in the corporate organisations.
In our political settings, there is a dire need to change or provide for a group of elites selected on individual merits from different backgrounds to form a known body constututed and responsible for the selection of leaders. The elite groups should be broken into local, state, and national groups.
The national elite groups would be like a political party with the aim of ensuring the selection of the president and down the line select key functionaries for the state and local governments.
By this system, our political parties will be conducted through seasoned elites who are of distinguished and trained minds who, from time to, will select leaders into public roles as heads of government institutions.
By this system, the elections by adult suffrage of the poor majority masses and false promises by portfolio politicians and corruption syndrome would be abolished.
The case or point been canvassed here is that the down trodden masses are not the best platform to elect our political leaders. The poor do not possess the mindset to know and to choose a governor of their state or the president of the nation. They look for carrots and those who appear meek, nothing more. The poor never likes the rich as they see the rich as responsible for their poor conditions in society.
The masses are usually persuaded through campaign slogan on poverty eradification, food, cash sharing, promising political appointments, and employment at factories they have not built.
They poor are easily manipulated, and in Nigeria every four years, the politicians will lambast sitting government, to get elected and when they come, another party would parade decampees of the exiting government and get voted for by the poor masses.
The masses should develop themselves by training and education into some elite groups . Those interested in public leadership should cut their teeth and join a political party as members and grow up.
Nigeria should re-evaluate and assign roles to our elite groups who by their proven ability and qualities should be selected into local, state, and national advisory councils.
These are the groups that deserve national awards and are not to be eligible to contest elections. It's on national interest and patriotic conscience they are guided.
Lagos state government has from the time of Tinubu constituted an elite group called GOVERNMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL. This group has been responsible for the lagos state strategic decisions and the selection of candidates of proven ability and competence becoming leaders and governors in the state.
This kind of elite group in lagos state is the miniature of the Chinese communist party system. The Chinese presidents are not chosen by the people on the streets. Each president was selected by the Chinese communist party on ability and competence.
The communist party would not spend money on campaigns, and dolls out of huge funds on the electorate to vote for sponsored candidates. No electoral fraud cases and heated burden on it judiciary to deliver judgements.
In Nigeria every court judgement is perceived as money based, and tainting the judiciary as bad, whereas the litigants are the most corrupt elements. They want to win by all means, and by all means win at the court, too.
Firstly, I will want to advocate that our political system should be reframed into elites party membership sharing similar idealogy. Secondly our elections should be limited to political party members voting for their candidates.
Thirdly those who emerge from their party shall be made to face the national,state, and local government advisory councils to select the most qualified as the president, governor, or chairman, respectively.
The same process should be applied to the national assembly, state assembly, and counsellors elections.
The non useful roles for our elites and the fragile political structures allowing all comers and the masses as the electorate are the endemic pitfalls of the presidential system in practice and the leadership problems in Nigeria.
Let's build a home grown political system, as the Chinese did.
Today China is the second largest economy, a third world economy as Nigeria 50 years ago.