The essence of a Social Contract for governance 

In governance the society functions as a system run by individuals, also known as public officers. The major public officers are democratically elected by the general public (entrusted to represent them) through a political process of nomination and voting at the polls; while some other public officers are appointed to functional positions in the civil service. Man (as both a social and political animal) lives and operates in a society that otherwise would generally appear to be disorderly, based on the fact that human interactions in the cohabited space (coexistence) are prone to the following possibilities: disagreements on issues and matters of interest; manifest conflicting methods and approaches in tackling common problems; or they could differ in opinions; and/or exhibit behavioral attitudes and characters that are unacceptable to the each other. Hence, the ensuing frictions are bound to cumulatively create chaotic activities and disorderliness that are uncoordinated and get out of control within a specified environment. In order to bring activities and everyone under control and avert quarrels and the risks of fighting and killings, rules and regulations are collectively set and generally agreed upon by every stakeholder. This is done with the aim to achieve an objective through the appointment of individuals to efficiently discharge the duties and effectively execute the authority and power bestowed on them officially that emanate from the people’s mandate.

A social order is solely established and aligned in the system, with a major target of protecting every stakeholder (especially individuals who are vulnerable and may not by any means be able to provide such services for themselves or on their own). By governance therefore, societies, organisations, systems, especially nations of the world, are operated in a manner that protection of lives and property becomes the essential and the most critical function to be performed by those put in authority through a democratic process (known here as the social contract between the “led” and the “elected leaders” that manage the affairs of the nation). The protection function or the targeted assignment is multifaceted in the sense that, it includes the military services of protecting the territorial integrity of the nation, the economic protection of the national economy for growth and development through barriers put on international trade; social services rendered on a daily basis (spanning from educational or health services to social justice sought through courts by aggrieved individuals seeking redress in the Judiciary, which is taken as the last hope of the common man) among many others.

The process of governance and its effects is totally a different ball game for different economies and in different nations. In most cases they may be peculiar or unique to the very location and clime where they are operational. This peculiarity may be based on cultural differences that exist among different peoples in the global village. One clear fact is that they all have one common denominator, which is the “degree of performance” as generally adjudged and rated, to either be “good governance” or “bad governance”. Both performance ratings in public administration have their respective key indicators (with specific reference to environmental, social and governance factors), characteristics, the way they impact the society (positively or negatively), the nature of their social consequences especially on moral behaviour perceptions; the economic implications on the ways business operations are conducted for commercial activities; and most importantly, its environmental effects that are obvious whenever certain regulations are not strictly observed or kept. The bottom line of the entire issue lies in the fact that the people to whom the responsibility of managing the country and its economy determine the direction of achievable goals in their stewardship performances (whether good or bad governance).

In Nigeria today, the governed (the civil society, both young and old but, mostly the youths that have been badly violated through bad governance over the ages) under a “social contract” that was always signed through the once-in-four-years political process, have been grossly violated and abused in their own rights by these politicians who have breached the trust of those that voted them in. They never deliver nor render the expected democratic dividends to the electorate. These masses are suffering a great deal, associated with bad economy and the hostile state of the nation (high inflation rate, growing unemployment rate, rising violence, kidnappings, armed banditry, etcetera); while these politicians are busy amassing wealth for themselves under this social contract, abandoning their primary duty and core assignments of extending the benefits of good governance and the attached democracy dividends down to their constituencies for their subjects. This high level of corrupt practices carried out by those entrusted with the management of the affairs of the nation, has sparked off a political consciousness and created awareness like never before, especially among the Nigerian youths, who have now vowed, “never again”; that “enough is enough”!

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