In a zoo far west of the sahara, the tourist comes with bananas for the monkeys, the monkeys collects it with excitement and display it’s talents for the tourists. When the show is over, the banana is on pending until another tourist comes. it’s high time the monkeys stop entertaining the tourists unless the tourists plant banana trees for the monkeys, so that they can enjoy it for a long time.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher propounded the principle of social contract during the enlightenment era in Europe. He proposed that there must be a common will in the society which will be as a result of social contract; an agreement between the politicians and the citizens.
In developed countries, there is usually a contract between the government and the governed. The government needs the votes of the governed before they get access into political offices while in return the governed request for social amenities and essential needs. Therefore, leading to a contract or an agreement between the politician who are seeking for votes and the citizens who have the vote and wants to live good life.
The above briefly explains what the principle of social contract stands for. The presence of social contract is the presence of democracy, invariably, where there’s no democracy there can’t be social contract and there will be poverty.
Little wonder the underdeveloped countries dwell in abject poverty because of the absence of social contract and democracy. ‘‘Today, Nigeria is the “poverty capital of the world”. If it is unable to change its current trajectory, it will be home to 110 million people living in extreme poverty by the year 2030”, according to World data Lab Projection.
Also, Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the North is the poorest region in the country, with Sokoto having the worst record of 81.2 percent. Adamawa and Gombe both have a poverty rate of 74.2 percent. Lagos and the south fare better. Our commercial capital has a poverty rate of 48.6 percent while Bayelsa has 47 percent. Poverty in this context is defined in terms of those who live below the threshold of $1.60 per day.
In Nigeria, with the poverty level, vote buying and selling has replaced social contract, the citizens now live in hunger, they therefore see no big deal in selling their votes, on the other hand, the politician who have little or no good intention have to buy their way into political offices by fire or by force and when they get to office they do little or none of the needful, reason being, the citizens has eaten their profit before harvest and anything done by the politicians seems to like look a favour.
This explains why every four years when it’s campaign time, it has always been a trade in vote with short term commodities unlike in developed countries when campaign time is that period to either bring another contract to the people or to further strengthen the old contract.
With the absence of real democracy in Nigeria, the politicians are on the higher table while the masses are beneath, so there can’t be an agreement which will lead to social contract, it has always been a master-slave relationship.
The master tends to draw the attention of the slave closer with items which won’t last when they need them to vote and the slaves, sell their votes while they bear the brunt for years.
So, it is rightly said that democracy is the foundation of social contract and social contract leads to development. The absence of social contract leads to poverty and underdevelopment which many Africans countries in general and Nigeria in particular dwells. Africa has not experienced the enlightenment era which Europe had witnessed over three centuries age.
The unanswered question is when will Nigeria leave the era of the dark ages? When poverty leaves, Nigerians can have a social contract whenever election knocks, instead of the vote selling and buying. Before there’s social contract in Nigeria, poverty of the mind and poverty of the pocket must be eradicated, that’s enlightenment era and democracy should be enthroned because on the foundation of democracy, social contract is built.
