For the last couple of months I have had a front row seat to a significant portion of the discussions on the state of the Nigerian polity that goes on in the Nigerian hyper-literate class. The discussions follow a certain pattern. They start off as policy discussions and degenerate into accusations of pro and anti Jonathan bias. It's like Nigeria's version of the Godwin law.

Another thing I've noticed about the arguments from both sides is that they both start from a central premise. They believe in the magic wand theory of governance. The magic wand theory of governance goes something like this:  all you need to succeed or enact a policy is decide to do it. As a result the "pro-Jonathan" people point to his stated desire to enact one policy or another, and the "anti-Jonathan" people point to him not saying he will do something. It's similar to the Underpants Gnome theory of South Park.

I can understand the lure of the Magic Wand theory, especially since Nigeria has a strong executive and it seems intuitive that the President can do anything if he puts his mind to it. However this turns out not to be the case: the independence of the legislature (despite being the same party) the power of the civil service unions, the private sector unions, the strength of the governors etc, means that there are a lot more checks and balances than are necessarily evident.


I think the Magic Wand is also attractive because Nigeria has so many problems that seem to have obvious solutions, if only people ignore their own self interest and pull together. The President is expected to be the person that can either order or coerce people to act against their own self interest. In this narrative the President effectively becomes indistinguishable from the Saviour.

This is not to say that the President cannot do things, as I said Nigeria has a strong executive. However I think he is constrained in a manner that both his fans and his detractors do not appreciate. While I understand that dismissal of constraints is a clear characteristic of Magic Wand thinking, it is still annoying when I run up against it in conversations. Though it is amusing to get accused of being both pro and anti Jonathan in the same debate.

In a nutshell, I'm basically saying that the next time you get into a political/policy argument about Nigeria don't only think about what should be done, think also of how it can be done. And how will you do this... I don't know... a Magic Wand maybe

Laters