This is as he also said the ruling party has drifted from the expectations it was created for in 2013, adding that the party has not been different from other political parties.
According to him, since 1999, Nigeria has not been lucky to have a political party that is clearly functional and running its affairs democratically to deliver dividends of democracy.
The APC chieftain stated these in Abuja while speaking at the launch of the Big Ideas Platform by the School of Politics, Policy and Governance founded by a former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili.
The BIP was established to facilitate the generation and sharing of fresh ideas, innovative solutions and implementation strategies to address Africa’s plethora of challenges.
Lukman said that rather than investing in political parties, Nigerians, especially politicians, see political parties as a means to produce candidates for elections.
He said, “Almost as a generation, we have focused more at least since 1999, in terms of candidates for elections, and thinking that the most important thing in politics is to produce candidates while imagining that once that is addressed, we will likely produce good leaders and that has produced a lot of frustration.
“The big missing element is that over time, we have failed to invest in our political parties. As it is today, we don’t have any one party that is clearly functional, running its affairs democratically, in a way that citizens can access it and when they become members, they can explore the possibility of emerging as candidates.”
Lukman slammed the governing APC, saying the party has drifted from the reasons that led to its creation in 2013.
“My main point is that we have invested a lot in the creation of APC in 2013. And so far, it will appear that increasingly, APC has drifted from the expectation in a way that it has almost become similar to all the other parties.
“I come from a background whereby we believe in criticism and self-criticism. I’m not criticising APC because I don’t like it, I am criticising APC because I want it to be better. I am a member of APC and elected leader of APC, and I believe, until we search ourselves and begin to engage the issues and produce leaders within the party who will be accountable and who will run the affairs of the party based on the provision of the constitution, we are not likely going to produce leaders and government that will be accountable to citizens.
“I think until as citizens we commit ourselves to do that and make our parties better, our democracy will not likely be much better than what it is today,” he emphasized.
On her part, Ezekwesili said African governments must invest in youth, women and technology to improve the continent’s Gross Domestic Product.
The former Vice President for the World Bank (Africa Region), said with such enormous resources and a youthful population, there was no excuse for many Africans to be wallowing in abject poverty.
She said, “I have often said that there are three game changers for our country and those three game changes have been in great exhibition today. Number one big change in our continent is the young people. Africa’s mean age, or median age is about 18.6 years compared to the global average of more than 40 years. What that means is that this is the youngest continent.
“There is so much lock up in the young people. Africa’s young people are already showing the world that they can act globally, that they can compete globally. And that despite some of the challenges that hold them back due to poor governance, if they find their feats, they can even surpass the ideas that others put on the table. So Africans young people have economically proven to be a game changer.
“Another thing is African women. That is very clear. What data shows us is that Africa can actually increase its GDP by $360 billion by 2025. We just need to include our women in the developing process, and Africa stands a chance of such an increase in its GDP, considering that the continent’s GDP is still a paltry $2.3 trillion. It means that there’s so much that is held up in gender disparity.
“The third factor is technology. Technology has been Africa’s most insignificant revolution. We did not participate in the agrarian revolution and were not part of the Industrial Revolution.
“We were not really that much part of the early days of the knowledge revolution, but the ICT revolution has been our first participation and not even as a major producer of ideas of it, but just a consumer, we already began to learn how to participate in producing innovations within it.
“So even if you are the most pessimistic person, you have absolutely no business leaving today’s programme without a boast of optimism, that our young people and women joined with the capacity that technology offers, we will definitely be the ones that will determine the 21st century.”
