The Progressive Agenda

Who is a progressive? The term is used in Nigeria today in much the same way we abuse other terms-“reforms” or “reformers”, “Christian” or “Alhaji”, ”Honourable”, “Chief”, “Doctor”, “mega”, “Mogul” etc such that the term becomes almost meaningless! If a politician joins a party which has allocated to itself the tag of “progressives”, he or she immediately becomes one. When he decamps to the opposition, he ceases to be a progressive, and when he returns he retrieves the progressive logo. We have for instance seen a trend in which any party the ACN is negotiating a merger or alliance with becomes progressive while the partnership discussions are in progress, and stops being progressive once the discussions break down.

Today some people describe General Muhammadu Buhari as a progressive. Recently the ANPP, which in my view is the most conservative political grouping in Nigeria (it is in fact to the right of the PDP which is a centrist party), has also received the “progressive” toga once it commenced alliance talks with the ACN. Put in historical context, the ANPP would be to the right of the first republic Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). General Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is also a far right grouping (which is why most advisers and supporters of General Abacha would be comfortable therein) with no policy platform that would recommend it as progressive.

Perhaps I could suggest some individuals who most “progressives” would agree can use the term-Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mallam Aminu Kano, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Professor Chike Obi, Chief J. S Tarka, Chief J. S Olawoyin and Alhaji Kashim Imam. What did these people have in common? They were socialists or social democrats. Their policy orientation was centred around social investments-mass education and health services and employment generation, for instance. They were concerned with egalitarian policies aimed at emancipating the “masses”. They typically were federalists recognising the fact that the best constitutional structure for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious nation like Nigeria would be a strong federal arrangement.

They were constitutionalists, who believed in law and order, constitutional supremacy, separation of powers and an independent judiciary and were always willing to use the judiciary to advance the constitutional order. They were democrats who believed in the supremacy of the popular mandate over other forms of power bases. Because of their need to communicate with the masses, they were usually close to the press, which they recognised as the major instrument of connecting and mobilising their audience. Many of them in fact worked as journalists, owned newspaper houses or at the first opportunity set up broadcasting outfits as an instrument of mass mobilisation and public education and communication. Chief Awolowo or Mallam Aminu Kano if they were raised from the dead, would fall down and die again if they saw some of the people we now describe as progressives!

How can we recognise a true “progressive” in these times? I suggest that you can decipher a progressive politician in 2011 Nigeria by what his political and policy agenda are. In my view the progressive agenda is, or ought to be federalism and constitutional reform and restructuring to re-enthrone a true federal system in Nigeria; reform of the political party system in Nigeria to create at least one ideologically-oriented, internally-coherent and democratic, mass-based truly progressive political party; enactment of the freedom of information bill to strengthen public accountability and citizen control over their government; investments in the socio-economic rights of the citizenry especially public education and health services, full employment, mass housing and urban mass transit; improvement in public infrastructure particularly transport and power; agriculture and solid minerals reform including land reform; development of a mortgage finance system to finance housing to low and middle-income workers etc.

This is or should be the progressive platform, not just seeking to frame opportunistic and non-ideological alliances that cannot stand the test of time, and that at best would produce a fractious and unstable government.
Nigerian progressives should be negotiating on the basis of a clear progressive agenda. They should be seeking to persuade the Nigerian people that they are truly different from the rest of the pack, in substance rather than form or by mere propaganda. They should design a political platform and articulate clear policies and communication that can convince the Nigerian people that progressive politics is not dead in Nigeria.