It was during the Babaginda regime that the idea of limiting the number of political parties was first muted. The debate that followed saw the decreeing of two-party system for Nigeria. People did express the view then that it would further align the country into north and south. Subsequent evidence did not support this view.

The lack of an effective opposition party in Nigeria can be ascribed to the proliferation of political parties. Most of the Nigerian political parties are on the same ideological spectrum and as a result, one wonders why there are so many fragmented parties when they are pursuing similar policies.

A political party is really a gathering of people that share the same or similar ideology. In order to recommend the number of political parties Nigeria should have, we should first understand:

1. Nigerians political ideologies.
2. The support available to sustain the party.
3. The funding stream available to the parties.

From my various interviews with Nigerians and also having read various articles by Nigerians, I can conveniently classify Nigerian political ideologies into five groups:

1. Socialist (Often referred to as “left-wing”. This will include the communists))
2. Liberal – Socialist (This is left of centre).
3. Liberals (The “centre” party. This is usually 50% Socialist and 50% capitalist political views)
4. Liberal – Capitalist (Right of centre – more capitalist than liberal political views)
5. Capitalist (This is referred to as “Right-wing”.)

The above does not suggest five political parties, but it provides the number of ideological groupings and a starting point in identifying a suitable number of parties. If we agree that in any political party there will always be divergence of views on any policy matters, then we should also agree that some of the classification could be merged.

Religion, although it should never be allowed to be a political issue, is not associated with any specific political ideology. Every political leader finds religious justification for their mission. Generally, majority of Christian leaders advocate liberal policies while their Muslim counterparts advocate socialism.

In recent times, there have been moves towards promoting green policies that cater for the preservation of the environment. This policy initiative is effectively suited to the liberals. So the “Green party” as they often known in some countries is a new dimension of the liberal party.

It appears that majority of Nigerians are neither strictly socialist and nor strictly capitalist. But that does leave one with some difficulties. The main difficulty I found with Nigerians is that they have two extreme views of government that one is unlikely to find in centre parties. If other factors remain the same, election in Nigeria is unlikely to result in a landslide victory for any political party.

One very interesting view is that on health and education. A highly significant majority of Nigerians want education to be free at all levels and would want their government to take full responsibility for the provision of effective medical care. This view is essentially the way a typical socialist view government responsibility.

The second thing I found was that Nigerians are very averse to government running a business. They do not want government “interfering” (getting involved) in business; rather the government should only come in to assist when required (e.g. when a bank or major company is having a liquidity problem). A significant majority of Nigerians do not believe government can run any business. Part of this view aligns with that of a capitalist and part is that of a liberal and socialist governments.

For a political party to survive its membership should be sufficient to sustain it financially. There should be a legal requirement that each member should not be allowed to donate (as opposed to loan) more than a reasonable sum of money. The idea is to prevent one or two individuals’ dominance of the party.

Unfortunately one cannot use the results of the last two elections in Nigeria as basis to analysis the political alignment of Nigerians. But the 1993 election does provide useful data. However Nigerians have a tendency to vote for the “person” rather than the policies in the party manifesto. That kind of behaviour by the electorate isn’t unique to Nigerians but does create a barrier in this sort of analysis.

Evidence from other countries seems to support General Babaginda proposition that two-party system is the best. In most countries, while not decreeing a two-party system, they do encourage the predominance of two political parties. Perhaps this is where General Babaginda got it all wrong.

In the UK there are three main parties, Liberal, Labour and Conservative. However in the 90% of the spoils of general elections were shared between the two parties (Labour Party 58% and Conservative Party 32%).

The USA presidential election of 2004, George Bush (Republican) got 51% and John Kerry (Democrat) got 48% of the votes. Meaning that the two main parties got 99% of the votes! USA is in essence a two-party system.

As for Nigeria, I would suggest a three-party system. The way to achieve this is through strict conditions that each party must meet within four years of its existence. The strict conditions may include the following:

1. It must achieve a share of the national vote of no less than 15% in any one of the last two elections years or 60% share of the total votes cast in the last four elections.
2. It must produce a monthly updated register of members available for public inspection at its offices in all the states of the federation.
3. No member should donate more than N50,000 to the party.
4. All loans and advances made to the party must be publicly declared and repaid within 36 months.
5. It must produce within 90 days of its financial year-end, an audited sources and application of funds statement by a statutorily recognised firm of auditors.

Where these conditions are not met and the party is dissolved, the party executive members will be prohibited from forming and/or be nominated executive member of any political party for 10 years.

In the past, a three-party system has been drawn along the three main ethnic groups (Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba). That was in the past. We should not underestimate the political progress and improved literacy level achieved in the country since then. In fact the conditions listed above for party registration and survival make it difficult for any party to survive simply on ethnic bases alone.

Nigeria needs an effective opposition party. It is time we focus on that.

Nosa Olotu, UK

Robot  Villager

# 1 It was during the Babag...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 20.09.2007 21:45

Sapele Man  Villager

# 2 One very interesting view is that on health and education. A highly significant majority of Nigerians want education to be free at all levels and would want their government to take full responsibility for the provision of effective medical care. This view is essentially the way a typical socialist view government responsibility. Nosa, Thank you for bringing this up for discussion. As for education, Awolowo made a mistake to have made Nigerians believe that free education at all levels was ever realistic in Nigeria or in any country. Today, all we have is a bit of this and that but none is up to standard. Education to secondary school level can be free but not university education. I know the entire economist's misguided debate about market failure and all. The market has a way of taking are of itself! As for Babaginda proposal that Nigeria should have only two parties, that was fine by me. I do not believe for one moment that Nigeria political issue was that. It is just that we have too many stupidly ambitious and corrupt people that everyone wants to be president at all cost in order to accumulate wealth. That is still the problem we have today. Posted by Sapele Man| 21.09.2007 04:00

Enforcer  Villager

# 3 =Sapele Man;2091563>One very interesting view is that on health and education. A highly significant majority of Nigerians want education to be free at all levels and would want their government to take full responsibility for the provision of effective medical care. This view is essentially the way a typical socialist view government responsibility. Nosa, Thank you for bringing this up for discussion. As for education, Awolowo made a mistake to have made Nigerians believe that free education at all levels was ever realistic in Nigeria or in any country. Today, all we have is a bit of this and that but none is up to standard. Education to secondary school level can be free but not university education. I know the entire economist's misguided debate about market failure and all. The market has a way of taking are of itself! As for Babaginda proposal that Nigeria should have only two parties, that was fine by me. I do not believe for one moment that Nigeria political issue was that. It is just that we have too many stupidly ambitious and corrupt people that everyone wants to be president at all cost in order to accumulate wealth. That is still the problem we have today. Sapele Man, I think you are making a mistake here. I cannot recall free education at all levels being a political view point of Chief Awolowo. Chief Obafemi Awolowo initiated a free Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1955 when he was a premier of the defunct Western region. The policy of Universal Basic Education System is still being adopted by the federal government. The free education policy of the federal government, as with many other brilliant ideas in Nigeria, does not accord with what Chief Awolowo intended. Chief Awolowo wasn't the Nigerian president or prime minister at the time. It is unfair to hold him responsible for the recklessness of the later day politicians who mis-sold social-economic policies to the electorate in order to win elections. Posted by Enforcer| 21.09.2007 08:16

Shoko Loko Bangoshe  Villager

# 4 Nosa, Where would libertarians fit in in your list of parties? They wouldn't fit into your right-wing party whose members believe in free markets and social conservatism. I don't understand the reason why you want to circumscribe political activity by limiting the number of parties. Would you limit the choice of car brands that were available on the market? How much more something as important as the choice of political leaders? Anyhow, I think that these days, in a free and fair election in Nigeria, the choice would be based less on ideology and more on the personality and perceived leadership abilities of the various party leaders. Posted by Shoko Loko Bangoshe| 21.09.2007 13:10

DoubleWahala  Villager

# 5 =Shoko Loko Bangoshe;20912489>Nosa, Where would libertarians fit in in your list of parties? They wouldn't fit into your right-wing party whose members believe in free markets and social conservatism. I don't understand the reason why you want to circumscribe political activity by limiting the number of parties. Would you limit the choice of car brands that were available on the market? How much more something as important as the choice of political leaders? Anyhow, I think that these days, in a free and fair election in Nigeria, the choice would be based less on ideology and more on the personality and perceived leadership abilities of the various party leaders. Very apt observation, SLB. Reading the title of Nosa's essay alone, which reads: "How Many Political Parties Should Be Allowed In Nigeria?", it presupposes some all-knowing, all-wise, all-seeing entity or group of entities, bestowing their self-determined number of parties upon us. In a true democratic setting, the number and relevance of political parties has more to do with the dynamics of the social/cultural milieu. Over time, by the natural process of attrition, certain political parties will become far more visible than others. Some will simply fade into oblivion and die off. Others will constantly lurk in the shadows, just sufficiently enough to make the dominant ones wary of becoming complacent. And so on. Government should only serve as a guide in terms of making sure that there's a level playing field for all. DW Posted by DoubleWahala| 21.09.2007 13:27

Sapele Man  Villager

# 6 =Shoko Loko Bangoshe;20912489>Nosa, Where would libertarians fit in in your list of parties? They wouldn't fit into your right-wing party whose members believe in free markets and social conservatism. I don't understand the reason why you want to circumscribe political activity by limiting the number of parties. Would you limit the choice of car brands that were available on the market? How much more something as important as the choice of political leaders? Anyhow, I think that these days, in a free and fair election in Nigeria, the choice would be based less on ideology and more on the personality and perceived leadership abilities of the various party leaders. Shoko Loko Bangoshe, I think Libertarians are right-wingers. Libertarians actually believe in, and pursue, personal freedom while maintaining personal responsibility. They also strongly oppose any government interfering in their personal, family and business decisions. They are essentially free marketers. Posted by Sapele Man| 21.09.2007 17:03

DoubleWahala  Villager

# 7 =Sapele Man;20912544>Shoko Loko Bangoshe, I think Libertarians are right-wingers. Libertarians actually believe in, and pursue, personal freedom while maintaining personal responsibility. They also strongly oppose any government interfering in their personal, family and business decisions. They are essentially free marketers. Au Contraire, I would argue that social conservatism is not envisioned by Libertarianism. DW Posted by DoubleWahala| 21.09.2007 17:33

Enforcer  Villager

# 8 =Shoko Loko Bangoshe;20912489>Nosa, Where would libertarians fit in in your list of parties? They wouldn't fit into your right-wing party whose members believe in free markets and social conservatism. I don't understand the reason why you want to circumscribe political activity by limiting the number of parties. Would you limit the choice of car brands that were available on the market? How much more something as important as the choice of political leaders? Anyhow, I think that these days, in a free and fair election in Nigeria, the choice would be based less on ideology and more on the personality and perceived leadership abilities of the various party leaders. Shoko Loko Bangoshe, There is no doubt that free market is a necessary belief of anyone aspiring to be a libertarian. You also need to accept that social conservatism isn’t a necessary characteristic of a libertarian. The two main beliefs that propelled social conservatism are the sanctity of human life and a limited definition of family. None of these beliefs preclude a libertarian from belonging to a socialist party, liberal party or a right-wing party or remaining apolitical. In conclusion, you cannot define social conservatism along the line of a specific political ideology, mainly because there is no one definition of traditional morality, which is a fundamental belief of social conservatives. Your second concern was that you weren’t clear about the reason why Nigeria needs to limit the number of political parties. The second paragraph of the article sufficiently answer that when it states: “The lack of an effective opposition party in Nigeria can be ascribed to the proliferation of political parties. Most of the Nigerian political parties are on the same ideological spectrum and as a result, one wonders why there are so many fragmented parties when they are pursuing similar policies.” The number and variety of cars in the street (i.e. competition) will drive down the price and therefore the policy to flood the market can be considered to be in the national interest. But this isn’t the same with political parties. It is not in our national interest not to have a strong opposition party as the case is today in Nigeria, is it? Of course voters will eventually determine the number of political parties. The article isn’t advocating decreeing three parties but recognising the effects of market failure and the need to have provisions in place to overcome the consequences. In other words, putting provisions in place to ensure that Nigeria has three strong parties rather than having a situation where parties are set up just to frustrate the opposition. Today in Nigeria, who really knows the link between AC and PDP (considering the conduct of their executives)? I do not share your submission that ideology is of less importance. Whatever their personalities and leadership abilities, we don’t want communists ruling Nigeria, do we? Posted by Enforcer| 22.09.2007 04:15

Shoko Loko Bangoshe  Villager

# 9 Hello Enforcer. There is no doubt that free market is a necessary belief of anyone aspiring to be a libertarian. You also need to accept that social conservatism isn’t a necessary characteristic of a libertarian. The two main beliefs that propelled social conservatism are the sanctity of human life and a limited definition of family. None of these beliefs preclude a libertarian from belonging to a socialist party, liberal party or a right-wing party or remaining apolitical. In conclusion, you cannot define social conservatism along the line of a specific political ideology, mainly because there is no one definition of traditional morality, which is a fundamental belief of social conservatives. In fact, a libertarian is NOT a social conservative (which is why I raised the question about who exactly a right-winger is). Let me expand on that: Most people regard a typical right-winger as: - being economically liberal - believing that government should not be heavily involved in regulating market activity and thus they favour less regulation, free markets, the promotion of business; - socially conservative - believing that government should be heavily involved in determining society's behaviour, and thus they are pro-family, against abortion, against liberal sexual attitudes, for tough law enforcement). As it happens, libertarians are both economically and socially liberal (in other words, they believe that government should neither be heavily involved in controlling economic nor social activity. So they aren't true right-wingers as defined above. Neither would they fit into a liberal party (if you define liberal as the reverse of 'right-wing' as defined above - economically conservative, but socially liberal). So they wouldn't easily fit into your pre-defined political spectrum, which is why I raise the issue of circumscribing political activity. If you have the time, visit this site to read more about the two-dimensional political spectrum and find out why you can't easily define people in terms of 'left' and 'right': http://www.politicalcompass.org/index You can also take this test to see where you stand: http://www.politicalcompass.org/test Your second concern was that you weren’t clear about the reason why Nigeria needs to limit the number of political parties. The second paragraph of the article sufficiently answer that when it states: “The lack of an effective opposition party in Nigeria can be ascribed to the proliferation of political parties. Most of the Nigerian political parties are on the same ideological spectrum and as a result, one wonders why there are so many fragmented parties when they are pursuing similar policies.” The number and variety of cars in the street (i.e. competition) will drive down the price and therefore the policy to flood the market can be considered to be in the national interest. But this isn’t the same with political parties. It is not in our national interest not to have a strong opposition party as the case is today in Nigeria, is it? Well, I don't agree that the reason there is a weak opposition is because there are too many political parties. I think it has more to do with the tendency for the dominant political party to use its advantage any way it possibly can to entrench itself, as well as the tendency for Nigerian politicians to want to join the winning team, irrespective of ideology. If you look at the First and Second Republics, there was this tendency for the dominant political party (NPC and NPN) to expand their empire as time went on - and there were carpet crossers from other political parties who came over to join them. I think that even if you had two parties, eventually you would end up with an all powerful party and a weak, nominal opposition party as time went on. I think that what makes for effective opposition is a charismatic and visionary person around whom other people can coalesce to challenge the dominant party. If you open up the political space to as many parties as possible, then the person can easily form their party and grow it using his personal abilities. However, if you limit the political space to just two parties, then in effect you are locking such a person out of the political space or forcing him to join a party whose views he may not share and whose leaders may view him with suspicion. Of course voters will eventually determine the number of political parties. The article isn’t advocating decreeing three parties but recognising the effects of market failure and the need to have provisions in place to overcome the consequences. In other words, putting provisions in place to ensure that Nigeria has three strong parties rather than having a situation where parties are set up just to frustrate the opposition. Today in Nigeria, who really knows the link between AC and PDP (considering the conduct of their executives)? Well back in 1999, wouldn't you have thought that the APP and the AD offered an effective counterweight to the PDP? Would you have predicted that they would fade into the weak opposition that they are today? I do not share your submission that ideology is of less importance. Whatever their personalities and leadership abilities, we don’t want communists ruling Nigeria, do we? Sorry - I should have explained myself better. What I meant to say is that there isn't that much of a quarrel over ideology these days - most of the dominant political parties espouse a pro-market approach. However, there is still a big question over who has the ability, charisma and temperament to make the changes required for development. Posted by Shoko Loko Bangoshe| 22.09.2007 05:00

Son of the Delta  Villager

# 10 In the first place we should ask ourselves if Nigeria has got any political party! Posted by Son of the Delta| 22.09.2007 06:17

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