Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said democracy is not working for the political class and not the citizens.
The former speaker of the 8th House of Reps said poverty remained heavy on Nigerians. He said though Nigerians are alive and free, they lack the means to pursue happiness. stressing that majority of Nigerians are poor.
The 16 years member of House of Reps for Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa-Balewa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State said this while giving speech in Lagos on the theme “Democracy and the Free Market Economy”.
Dogara said, “Our democracy is not working for the majority of our citizens. Although they are alive and free, they lack the means to pursue happiness.”
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He argued that weak institutions may not be threat to the country’s 25 years of democracy since the return to civil rule in 1999. He said the poverty rate remained the greatest threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
Dogara said the high rate of poverty among majority of the citizens deprived the citizens from having political voices and prevented them from holding governments accountable.
“Poverty is a greater threat to democracy than weak institutions because it deprives poor citizens of their political voice and prevents them from holding their governments accountable; shattering public trust in democratic institutions,” he said.
The former speaker called on government and political leaders to work towards alleviating hinderances to democracy.
