citizens

The Cycle of Good Education and Strong Institutions

ByGrimot Nane Zine June 13, 2020December 29, 2021

Formal education is one of the most overrated things in human development people on the African continent can gain, maybe elsewhere too. Education in the formal sense is an “institutional thing,” i.e. the stuff of institutions. It is not just the stuff of classrooms and ivory towers. Institutions rely on education and education has to be meet institutional and societal requirements through governance for it to serve any useful purpose in society. The symbiosis of institutions and education is both valuable and undeniable. In a nation where institutions are unenforceable, we must expect the education curriculum to be inadequate in many senses. Education is not just the acquisition skills but also the awareness of the requirements of civil participation in a just or improving society.

Corruption | Elections | Governance

Nigeria Needs a Fearsome Electorate

ByGrimot Nane Zine March 6, 2018December 30, 2021

Nigerians have habitually allowed bad leaders and kakistocrats to enter positions of power and govern them either by means of coup d’etas or fraudulent ballots with relative ease and the resultant dissatisfaction is left to be managed by even worse leaders. The cycle of bad leader to bad leader to worse leader has thus become a solidly stable equilibrium in the nation, escaping it seems unlikely. Most Nigerians wonder endlessly how this habit can be broken or bad elections ended in order for good leaders to come into power and foster best governance possible in the society. All by itself this is a very mistaken expectation.

Elections | Governance

Nigeria’s “Tale of Two Election Day Silences”

ByGrimot Nane Zine March 29, 2015

There was considerable peace and “silence” during the 2015 Nigerian general elections yesterday. It was good news that apart from the “I am above the law” behaviour of some senior politicians there might have been no incidences of chaos or violence at all. The inefficiencies of (Independent National Electoral Commission) INEC would have usually caused alarm but Nigerians demonstrated they can be patient, tolerant, well-behaved and disciplined in the face of delays, procrastination and uncertainty like any other nationals. Really! Nigerians silent when they would usually vex and “rake”? Read More “Nigeria’s “Tale of Two Election Day Silences””

Corruption | Governance | Institutions | Social Crisis

The Ontology of the African III: The Leaders

ByGrimot Nane Zine August 30, 2014January 5, 2022

The African leader like the African he rules has a derisory ontology. With billions of dollars stashed away in foreign accounts, endless terms in office and the excessive paraphernalia of power, these have become the identifiers of the African leader. The one destined lead African nations seem unable to escape it, either by choice or curse. From a people do their leaders emerge; they are no different from their compatriots except by rank and vocation. At least they look African, which is part of their ontology. No one cares where an African leader got his education, his tenures in office, her family background or his religion except for a few. No one cares about his ideology or philosophy. That is how derisory the ontology of the African leader is. He is nothing to anyone, but those he represents and whose stomach he fills. For most of these leaders, their citizens are utterly ashamed of them.