"Why have the public institutions remained weak under the whims and caprices of strong individuals? How can we evolve strong institutions that work in the interest of the African publics? Do we need strong personalities to promote and defend our institutions? How can we do that without creating or feeding strong personalities that could become too strong, too dictatorial and turn to become threats to the same institutions they were meant to build and strengthen?"
The question of ‘what came first’ between institutions and persons (officials) is a huge one. In African countries where decades of reforms to strengthen institutions seem to yield no meaningful outcomes, the question becomes even stronger and remains significant in the quest by African countries to strengthen and/or build stronger institutions: should institutions build the person or the person should build the institution?
Circles of institutional reform projects I have witnessed in Nigeria have yielded little to strengthen such institutions in a deep, significant and sustainable way. In my 20 odd years supporting and managing governance projects, I have done legislative reforms, political party reforms, state and local governance reforms – each in short project cycle/terms of 2, 4, and at the longest, 5 years. The institutions I have supported remain fragile with no deep changes in spite of so much donor support. Should such donor support be jettisoned because it is not making impact?
It is taken for granted, normally, that strong institutions have the strength and capacity to coerce or restrain the excesses and whims of individuals that run and manage such institutions. What then do we do with situations and circumstances in most African countries where institutions have remained weak and have failed to develop over many years of independence? Why have the public institutions remained weak under the whims and caprices of strong individuals? How can we evolve strong institutions that work in the interest of the African publics? Do we need strong personalities to promote and defend our institutions? How can we do that without creating or feeding strong personalities that could become too strong, too dictatorial and turn to become threats to the same institutions they were meant to build and strengthen? Tough questions.
I think the strategic thing for governments to do is to prioritize which institutions we focus on to strengthen. Governments may prioritize and pick for instance, to focus on the justice institutions as well as develop a strong pillar of ethics institutions, systems and processes.
Why do I opt for these two? Whatever officials do in their quest to develop institutions, the question of public and personal interests, the mutual benefits and struggle between public and personal interests is at the core. And I think the mutual relationship between public and private interests and how officials and public leaders balance those interests in whatever official actions they take is very crucial.
I simply think that pursuing the goal of strengthening tens (or even hundreds of institutions - like in Nigeria with over 200 national level agencies) can be really daunting and nearly impossible. A prioritization is therefore, necessary.
For me, the two most important agencies necessary to tackle the issues of this mutual contention between public and personal interests are:
1. Strong ethic institutions with rigorous ethical codes, processes and mandates that define what constitutes private gain to officials, with clearly spelt consequences; and
2. A strong justice system and institutions - to enhance law and order especially in terms of dishing out punishment for erring unethical officials whose personal interests threaten the fabric and goals of public institutions.
Whether I am right or wrong about my choice of priority institutions that need to be prioritized for strengthening, my position is that African countries need to strategize, select and prioritize institutions that would be strengthened over periods - piecemeal by piecemeal, until reforms spread incrementally to the tens of other public institutions.
