A lot of good things seem to be going for Nigeria and for Africa too. On May 29, Mr Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated as Nigeria’s new president. This followed a presidential election held in March which he won. 

There had been fears about the conduct of the election, especially from outside Africa. In the event, the election passed off peacefully; the incumbent lost and conceded defeat, paving the way for a smooth transfer of power.

Mr Buhari was third time lucky, having contested and lost the previous three elections. For some observers, this is as important a lesson for politicians in other countries as his victory.

If you lose, you don’t have to take the contest to the streets and fight with stones and burning tyres. There is always another time.

Democracy is not about whether certain individuals must win, and when they don’t then it is absent.  In the end it is about people making their choice of a programme of governance that suits them.

On the eve of the presidential inauguration, another Nigerian, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, was elected to head the African Development Bank (AfDB). The AfDB has proved to be a very influential source of development and investment financing in Africa, and the person who heads it wields some clout.

The same good news cannot be said of another country in East Africa getting ready for presidential and general elections this month. In fact everything is going badly for Burundi. Burundians go to the polls on June 5 to elect their members of parliament and June 26 to elect the president.

Already, this has been overshadowed by violence and protests that have ended in some deaths, exodus of refugees to neighbouring countries and a failed coup d’état. It is possible some of the senior government officials that have fled are capable of leading continental institutions.

If things remain as they are, the incumbent will retain his seat; there will be no one to concede defeat and the people will endure the imposition of a leader on them.

The story of Nigeria and Burundi is really a tale of two countries that are different in almost every aspect.

Nigeria has restored optimism that governments can be changed democratically and peacefully; that Africans are not doomed to post-election violence  Burundi, on the other hand, shows up the political and governance failures that some of our countries still face.

It also reveals that regional organisations do not have a strong enough diplomatic whip to use against errant leaders. There are other differences, too.

Burundi is a small, poor country in East Africa. Not many people outside the region know where it is, or whether it even exists. But its future is causing the region endless troubles. Its people, especially political and government officials are laid back, almost indolent, and that may explain the country’s ranking in various fields.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy. Even if we did not know this, Nigerians would be sure to let us know about it. They are loud and brash, and tout their Nigerianness wherever they go. 

And they go many places as individuals or corporate organisations and make their presence felt. They feature prominently on the list of African billionaires.

You can’t say that of Burundi, although its rich class drive flashy cars, enjoy the finest wines and hang out in posh hotels, even as refugees. Even those not so rich fancy the good life.

The small country has nothing of note to export, except its troubles – neither minerals nor culture. Yes, of course, there are the famous drums, but even these are relatively unknown beyond parts of the great lakes region.

Now, Nigeria is Africa’s largest exporter of culture. Its sprinters and footballers compete with the world’s best. The latter are to be found in the world’s major leagues. Its writers have long occupied prime position in African and world literature. Today, its Nollywood films are more famous across Africa than the country that produces them.

It is conceivable that Mr Pierre Nkurunziza retires from playing football or from an equally vigorous prayer dance to a Nollywood film featuring some flamboyant pastor threatening his congregation with fire and damnation if they do not repent immediately and give him a tenth of their income.

You cannot put it past his officials to watch movies in which grubby witch doctors pull a fast one on unsuspecting supplicants. It is even possible all of them draw inspiration from them.

Of course, Nigerians also do lots of things in excess, way beyond what Burundians can do.

For instance, one cannot understand why there are chronic shortages of petrol in a country that produces huge quantities of petroleum (12th in the world). But they happen.

Nor can one understand why Boko Haram has proved difficult to defeat when Nigeria has one of the biggest and well-trained armies on the continent. In the past it has been known to whip and drive out of town rogue rebels in West Africa.

All these are symptomatic of weaknesses, not just in Nigeria, but in most of Africa - full of resources and promise but almost always coming up short.

You might say that Burundi and Nigeria are not really comparable. Still, they show what is possible and what is preventable.

jorwagatare@yahoo.co.uk