Why Ideas Don’t Work in Nigeria

Nigeria is a fascinating place to the foreign observer. But more so to its citizens who live within its harrowing reality. It is a tale of the resource curse, the Dutch Disease, the paradox of plenty, the tragedy of the commons and every negative axiom. In a sense, Nigeria is living proof of the Dead Horse Theory and the Sunk Cost Fallacy, given how unwilling its institutions are to address the fundamental problems that beset the country. Instead of addressing our core problems, we flirt with different ideas and policies as band-aid.  Hence, we have a perpetual system where idea after idea, policy after policy, Nigeria remains dysfunctional. Nigeria, thus, can fittingly be described as a graveyard of ideas. It is a Valhalla where the souls of sound ideas come to rest in eternal bliss. These ideas may have worked elsewhere, but as soon as they make their way to Nigeria, Nigeria happens to them, and they asphyxiate to death.

If you are of the libertarian stalk, you probably think that democracy and capitalism, both held up as the gold standard for solving poverty and underdevelopment, are the solution to Nigeria’s many socioeconomic problems. The issue is Nigeria never claimed not to be a democracy or a capitalist system. If you are of the socialist bent, different putschists since 1966 when the country had its first coup, have pretty much ruled like socialist dictators, though, in all fairness, they never wore the garb of socialism like, say, Julius Nyerere. Yet, Nigeria was never the better for it. We’ve had the worst of both worlds.

We have everything a modern nation-state has: a constitution, a legislature, a judiciary, a so-called independent electoral commission, a stock exchange market, and just about any institution you find elsewhere in the world. Perhaps even, more than most African nations. Yet, Nigeria is a humongous failure of a country. When I look around the world and I see good things happening to some countries, I feel like the man in the Jesus-I-see-what-you’ve-done-for-other-people meme. If truly we all share the same ancestry as a species, why are some nations progressing, and why are we retrogressing in Nigeria? Why don’t good ideas work here? After all, Achebe argues that there is nothing wrong with the Nigerian character, land, climate, water, or air. Otherwise, one may be tempted to take a determinist view on Nigeria, given how the same ideas that worked elsewhere fail here.

One major reason ideas have consistently failed in Nigeria is the lack of (or should I say a dearth of) citizens and leaders who are willing to stake everything in pursuit of their ideological convictions. At the fundamental level, the problem isn’t the lack of ideology per se but the unwillingness of many of us to practice what we preach, even if it will come at a great cost. There are Nigerians of various ideological stripes. Whatever opinion you hold on how to grow the economy – free market capitalism, African or doctrinaire socialism – you won’t be hard-pressed to find Nigerians who believe these things. The problem is hardly no one is willing to do what it takes to see their beliefs materialise. And even if attempts are made, at best, they are mild and they ultimately fail.

We’ve come to accept Nigeria for what it is and not what it should be. This fatalistic attitude is particularly evident in politics. For some strange reason, when well-reasoned Nigerians find themselves in power (admittedly not many), they get assimilated into the system without even trying to implement their fancy theories. While I admit that I am ignorant of what goes on within the dingy corridors of power, it is extremely worrying that, almost always, it is the case that ideologically-driven Nigerians never put up a fight to see their ideas and ideals materialise when they get elected. This has created a culture that fuses everyone into the same political formulation. That’s why Nigerian politics does not have left-wing, right-wing, centre-left left or centre-right blocs. You can’t think of anyone who espouses conservative, libertarian, or progressive views. If the argument is we shouldn’t import Western political and economic thoughts, then which politician do you know espouses any traditional African political or economic thought? Nigeria is a multi-party democracy with a singular political ideology – corruption. But we would rather cover it up with veneer policies like Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), privatisation, deregulation, subsidy, subsidy removal, state creation, etc, which are often implemented haphazardly.

It’s very tempting to assume that our leaders are not educated when you see them surrounded by thugs, smugglers, drug dealers, and other riff-raffs. But that’s not true. Many of them are quite educated. A good number of them had successful careers as professionals or entrepreneurs before joining politics. Yet, these successes are not evident in their politicking.

It’s difficult to make ideas work without popular support. While I am not exactly making a case for populism, I acknowledge that ideas work best when they appeal to large swaths of the population. Maybe ideas have not worked in Nigeria because we don’t have leaders who are charismatic enough. Looking at global trends, one can easily see why Javier Milei won in Argentina. He has an ideology backed up by charisma. Donald Trump has captured the soul of the American right and even large sections of libertarians because he appeals to their populist instincts. These two characters are not conventional. They do not play by the book. They do not talk with the niceties of career politicians. And exactly because of that, they won.

Nigeria has a few charismatic politicians, admittedly, but they don’t have any ideology. An example is Dino Melaye, the singing senator. Another example is Ademola Adeleke, the Osun state governor known for his funny dances. Nigerians love characters like these. As long as you can make them laugh, you’ve won the hearts of Nigerians. That’s why comedy is a huge industry in the country. If Dino Melaye and Adeleke backed their charisma with well-reasoned ideologies, possibly they would have been able to build a cult-like following with which they could have defeated the establishment at the polls. But instead, they became the establishment. No one knows Dino beyond the fact that he was a senator and now an occasional amateur singer. Adeleke is not known beyond his relationship to Davido, his career as a senator and now governor, and his shameless dances. Though charismatic, both of them are not known for espousing any ideas.

I can only think of someone who has charisma and ideology in Nigeria and that is Omoyele Sowore. Hate him or love him, Sowore is quite populist in his approach to politics. He is totally not interested in hobnobbing with the establishment. And because of this, he respects nobody and has no godfather. He supports controversial things like the legalisation of cannabis. His interviews are a delight to watch because he speaks with no filter. He has paid his dues as an activist right from his days as an undergraduate. He has had his fair share of political persecution by the Nigerian state. Yet, he has not broken the glass ceiling that will launch him mainstream. Even in 2019, when he stood a better chance, for some reason, Nigerians didn’t vote for him. Of course, the emergence of Peter Obi dwarfed his popularity in 2023. Perhaps Nigerians do not just care about ideas, charisma. That has to be the logical conclusion. Nigerians will complain about how corrupt their leaders are and when presented with anti-establishment options, they don’t vote them in. Maybe we are afraid of novelty. Or maybe we actually like the way things are. If you refuse to engage in stomach infrastructure or vote buying, they will mock you as an idealist. They know full well that the parties and candidates that buy their votes are the very corrupt ones they complain about. When Gani Fawehinmi contested for presidency in 2003, it was said that he specifically told Nigerians he would not give them money to make them vote for him. He ended up getting a miserly 161,333 votes. Ideas don’t work in Nigeria because when presented with populist alternatives, Nigerians tend to vote for their oppressors still. They vote them in and then spend the next four years complaining. I’m not convinced a Javier Milei-like figure can win elections in Nigeria. And honestly, I don’t know what the solution is.