The Rise of the Hereditary Privilegentsia in Nigeria

THE RISE OF THE HEREDITARY PRIVILEGENTSIA IN NIGERIA

By

AGU ONWUZURUOHA

CHIEF KNOWLEDGE OFFICER,

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING LIMITED, LAGOS

(IN THIS ARTICLE, THE AUTHOR ARGUES THAT ACCESS TO POLITICAL JOBS,INDEED MOST JOBS IN NIGERIA IS HINDERED BY A SPOILS SYSTEM WHOSE MEMBERSHIP IS DETERMINED BY BLOODLINES MORE THAN ABILITY)………read on

In medieval Europe, a theory that God has bestowed earthly power to kings, took root. This led to the DIVINE RIGHTS OF KINGS, or “Royal Absolutism”. In its pure form, a king is not subject to any earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God. Put differently, any attempt to remove a king or to restrict his powers was antithetical to the will of God. The Asian variant was more nuanced and was known as the MANDATE OF HEAVEN. The kernel of its logic was that Heaven rewards just rulers and would bless their authority and withdraw the mandate of despots. In Europe, for a period, a king could not be wrong and his children could mount the throne of their forbears and reign happily ever-after. The onset of the Enlightenment sowed seeds of doubts in people’s minds and led to the questioning of royal infallibility and bestowal of unearned privilege on a selected few. This catalyzed the demise of monarchies across Europe and brought into being representative governments.

A PANORAMA

In India, we now talk of the Ghandi Dynasty. It all started when Indian’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Pandit Nehru (1886-1946), died of a heart attack and was succeeded by Lal Bahandur Shatri. He died in 1966 of a heart attack and Nehru’s daughter, Indira Ghandi, was selected as Prime Minister. Indira Ghandi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguard for ordering the bombing of the Golden Temple at Amitshar (Sikhsim’s holiest shrine). Her son Rajiv Ghandi was elected Prime Minister and was in turn, assassinated by a suicide bomber. Rajiv’s wife, Sonia...