Literature

Nigeria is in serious trouble ? Prof. Ujo

Abulhameed A. Ujo, professor of Political Science, University of Abuja, was Resident Electoral Commissioner, Independent National Electoral Commission, Kaduna State, 1998 to 2002, member of the Presidential Electoral Reform Committee (set up by the late president Umoru Musa Yar?Adua) 2007, and many other electoral bodies. Using his wealth of knowledge and experience from his scholarly background and practical involvement in electoral processes, the veteran lecturer and administrator has over the years produced twenty-one books on public administration, management studies, comparative politics and electoral matters. The prolific writer, who specializes mainly on the Nigerian electoral experience, speaks to SUMAILA UMAISHA on his writing career, some electoral issues discussed in his books, and the need for the declining reading culture to be revived.

You have produced quite a number of books especially on electoral matters over the years. What is the motivation?

As an academic I?m attracted to writing books. I see writing books as a very important aspect of my profession. And looking at the development of textbooks, I found that Nigerians are not writing much on this very relevant subject. So when I finished my first degree and second degree I started writing. You know, in the academic profession you have to write or you will not be promoted. You don?t only have to write, but write good books.

What interests me most and inspired me into writing is that I realized that so many things are happening in Nigerian politics. And I felt if the things that are happening are not captured, the data will get lost over time. So I felt as a professional scholar the only contribution I can make to my country is to capture this data and reduce them into books so that people can read. It is addressed to politicians who may want to know more about politics.

Specifically, how many books have you written so far?

I have published at least six core books. But the total number of books I have published are twenty-one. As a student of comparative politics I write on subjects like Public Administration, Management and Comparative Politics. On electoral matters, I wrote a book on the 1982 elections in Benue state, in 1999. Before then I wrote on the 1979 elections in Kaduna state. I have also written a general book on election in 2000 after my service as commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Kaduna state. Later a gathered data from subsequent elections and wrote a book on election in Nigeria from 1960 to 2010. I combined the theoretical knowledge with the empirical aspect, because you can?t write anything without having a background in theory.

You seem to specialize mainly on electoral matters; why?

It is because apart from the theoretical aspect I have been involved in the practical aspect of elections in Nigeria. I have been a member of political associations and committees on electoral reforms. I have been involved in election administration. I was a resident electoral commissioner 1998 to 2002 in Kaduna state. I conducted the1998/99 elections in Kaduna state. While in INEC I was a member of so many committees and I?ve travelled out to so many countries.

Some of your books are very voluminous; for instance, your latest work, Understanding Election in Nigeria: The First 50 Years, comprises 618 pages. How did you get all the data?

I got my data using two methods; through primary sources, which is direct from the election results, interview with people etc; and through secondary sources like libraries, books, newspapers and journals.

Let?s touch on one of the current political issues; the deregistration of some political parties by INEC. Was that necessary?

Yes, it is. Political party is an institution of governance. And institutions are regulated when the need arises. In many parts of the world, political parties are not registered. Here in Nigeria in the First Republic we didn?t register political parties. Even in the United States, it is now that they started regulating the financial aspects of political parties. But because of the problems we had such as ethnicity that is why in the Second Republic they started the process of registering political parties. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida even created two political parties funded by government. But there were criticisms on the two-party system. So when Gen. Abacha came, he decided to introduce multi-party system by registering five political parties. And when INEC decided to register just a few in this dispensation some political associations went to court, and the court decided INEC cannot give new conditions apart from the one available in the constitution. So the registration of parties was liberalized. That was the beginning of proliferation of political parties that we have today.

The problem that this created was that initially political parties were being paid grant by government. So when Nigerians realized money was being collected people started forming political parties. So it became impossible to satisfy the system financially. Even to conduct election became so difficult. Imagine if there were a hundred political parties, how would the ballot paper look like? So, for logistic purpose de-registration of some of the parties is necessary. And since the constitution has been amended, giving INEC the right to deregister political parties, all the politicians are saying against deregistration is just noise. The legal backing is there. It is necessary otherwise the democratic process will be out of control.

How do you make out the time to produce these books, being a busy person?

Knowledge is like alcohol. The older it is the stronger it is. I don?t drink anyway, but I know. [Laughter] By the time you become a professor, you can write easily, because the entire body of knowledge is there. But you have to devote your time to it. Unlike some of my colleagues and students who have gone into politics and become governors, senators and so on, I focus my interest on writing. My aim is to leave an enduring legacy for Nigerians. It is a difficult path because you cannot make money from there.

You mean you are not getting much from your writing?

No. In Europe, when you write a core book you will live on it forever. But here even though the production of the books entails a lot of money, they are not being patronized. We have been advertising these books to election management bodies to buy them, but how many will they buy? If it were in Europe when a book of this nature is out all the libraries of the universities will buy it, virtually all politicians will buy it. In Nigeria it is not like that.

Why is it not like that?

The reading culture is very low. Even newspapers, how many people are reading them today?

What can be done to revive the culture?

The problem is from the social orientation of the people; the orientation is no longer knowledge based. Everybody in Nigeria is materialistic. So anything that promotes knowledge, the culture is not there. In fact, that is the root of the problem we are having in Nigeria today. If you look at every aspect, there is nothing going on in terms of research. Is only a few of us that are trying, and even the few of us that are trying, government is not even encouraging us. For instance, I presented my latest book to the federal government to buy for politicians and others, but they didn?t even reply. Unless this culture changes, and unless the reading culture improves, I?m afraid, we are in serious trouble.

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