When you move around Warri
and Effurun most of the roads are deplorable, potholes and gutters on the
centre of roads. But when you listen to discussions on the state of the roads,
the blame is easily cast on the Governor. But the questions are: Is the
Governor omnipresent and ubiquitous? Secondly, what is the role of the
representatives of the people that is the legislators?
The Governor of a State or
the President of a country are not ubiquitous, as such may not get to know
about the particular difficulty or challenge of all the communities in the
State or country at one fell swoop. That is why, every democracy recognizes the importance
and overriding role of representatives elected to represent the various State
and Federal constituencies, which are made up of different communities.
The essential duty of the
representative is to articulate and aggregate the needs and challenges of the
various communities in their constituency, and bring them to the attention of government. When you visit some communities, the critical question becomes:
The first line for drawing
attention of government to bad roads, dilapidated school or hospital buildings among others is the representatives of those constituencies and communities.
But rather than seek for
the general interest of their constituencies, representation has over the years
turned into the pursuit of self-interest. By bringing into existence the
concept of community projects, representatives were supposed to be guided by
the needs of their constituencies. But as it is today, representatives are less
concerned about the constituencies. They pick constituency projects based on
their pecuniary interest and profitability. They do this, because they are also
the executors of those projects.
Without doubt, once that
happens, the projects cannot stand the test of time, because those executing them
are the same people who are to critically question standards. On the hand, most
projects that the representatives chose to execute have little or no impact on
the generality of the constituents; it is either a street, lane or close of the
representative or friends.
The second line of those
who can draw government attention to difficulties and challenges in their communities
are the members of the society. There is nothing wrong if you post the images
of a bad road, dilapidated school and hospital buildings on social media. By so
doing you are only performing your civic duty of calling the attention of
government to the issue.
Criticism is the sandpaper
that smoothens and brings out the best in an individual, organization and
government. It is the responsibility of the governed to point out challenges
faced by their communities and bring such to the attention of government. But
to do so with revilement, abuses, insults and vilification is utterly wrong and
unacceptable. Unnecessary insinuation of negligence does not help any cause.
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