JOHN ONYEUKWU
John Onyeukwu , is a lawyer and public policy analyst with interdisciplinary expertise in law, governance, and institutional reform. He holds an LL.B (Hons) from Obafemi Awolowo University, an LL.M from the University of Lagos, and dual master’s degrees in Public Policy from the University of York and Central European University. He also earned a Mini-MBA. John has managed development projects on governance, public finance, civic engagement, and service delivery. He can be reached on john@apexlegal.com.ng
- Markets suffer, institutions weaken, societies fracture
Politics is not a side show. It is the main theatre in which nations win or lose their future. In Nigeria, and across much of Africa, getting politics wrong has become a costly habit, one that drains potential, distorts priorities, and delays progress. And the bill is now due. We cannot continue to treat governance as a game of chance or a platform for personal gain. Every policy misstep, every electoral compromise, and every failure of leadership adds to a growing debt of distrust and underdevelopment. The future demands seriousness, not slogans.
From the perspective of Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), politics sits at the intersection of justice, power, and prosperity. It is where society decides how resources are allocated, how rules are enforced, and whether values like equity, liberty, and accountability prevail. When this process fails, as it too often does in Africa, everything else collapses in a domino effect: institutions, investor confidence, economic planning, and even public trust.
The Nigerian paradox is especially stark. Blessed with natural and human capital, yet trapped in cycles of underdevelopment, the country continues to underperform. Despite being Africa’s largest economy, over 63 percent of Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty (NBS, 2022). The roots of this lie not in economic illiteracy, but in political dysfunction. A country that squanders oil booms, mismanages public trust, and undermines its own institutions is not suffering from scarcity, but from strategy.
History offers a stinging contrast. In 1960, Nigeria’s GDP per capita was on par with that of South Korea. Today, South Korea’s GDP per capita exceeds $36,000, while Nigeria’s remains under $2,400 (World Bank, 2023). What explains this divergence? South Korea, and its fellow Asian Tigers, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, built developmental states anchored on political will, disciplined leadership, technocratic efficiency, and long-term planning. They invested heavily in education, industrial policy, and export-led growth while cultivating strong institutions that outlasted political cycles. Equally important, these countries prioritized national development over narrow elite interests, maintained meritocratic civil services, and created stable environments that attracted both domestic and foreign investment. Their leaders understood that markets need sound politics to thrive, and acted accordingly.
By contrast, Nigeria’s post-independence trajectory has been marred by rent-seeking politics, weak institutional autonomy, and a persistent failure to convert national plans into national progress. Political transitions often reset, not reinforce, policy direction. Development is seen as a slogan, not a sustained national project, and continuity in governance remains elusive.
This erosion of governance shows in the data. A recent Afrobarometer survey reports that only 33 percent of Nigerians trust the presidency, and even fewer trust the legislature. Confidence in public institutions is collapsing. The problem is not just who holds office, it is how the state functions. Or fails to. In short, legitimacy is bleeding.
Across the continent, the alarm bells ring louder. Coups in the Sahel, third-termism in Central Africa, and shrinking civic space from Nairobi to Kampala tell the same story: when politics loses its moral and institutional compass, democracy becomes decoration. In such contexts, economic performance falters not for lack of entrepreneurial energy, but because governance collapses the operating environment.
Yet the solution is not beyond reach. Nigeria must invest in governance, not just infrastructure. Roads and bridges cannot substitute for the rule of law, effective institutions, and credible leadership. Independent institutions must be protected, not politicized. Regulatory bodies, anti-corruption agencies, the electoral commission, and oversight institutions must be insulated from partisan capture to perform their mandates with integrity. The judiciary must be empowered, not captured, its independence is the backbone of justice and economic confidence. Political parties must become platforms for ideology and reform, not vehicles for patronage and ethnicity. They must cultivate ideas, build internal democracy, and groom future leaders, not just recycle elite interests. Without deliberate political renewal, no volume of foreign investment, oil revenue, or youthful energy will transform the country. Governance reform must become the national project of our time.
As philosopher John Rawls reminded us, justice is the first virtue of institutions. Without it, society unravels. In business terms, poor governance increases uncertainty, raises transaction costs, and deters investment. You can’t run markets efficiently in a state of political dysfunction. Africa’s future hinges on whether it can get politics right. If it does, the continent will rise not only in GDP charts but in dignity, in opportunity, and in global influence. If it does not, no amount of natural resources or youthful demographics will save it.
“Bad governance is Africa’s biggest disease,” warned Kofi Annan. And it remains the continent’s most untreated one.
The cure lies not just in elections, but in embedding accountability into the very architecture of governance. A new political culture is needed, one grounded in competence, ethics, and public purpose. Politics is destiny. Let us choose it wisely.
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