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The 2023 general election is very crucial for the survival of our nascent democracy and the nation. Already, the political atmosphere is charged as presidential candidates are making lots of promises. The country is at a crossroads on account of so many developmental challenges. Due to rising insecurity, poverty and unemployment, there is so much anger and disillusionment in the land. All these are occasioned largely by the fact that we have had the misfortune of being saddled with poor leadership at every level of governance.
As political parties prepare to begin their campaigns for the election later this month, some of these issues will crop up. Thus, it has become imperative to draw the attention of the candidates, their parties and supporters on the need to have issue-based campaigns. Time for ethnic or religious profiling, mudslinging, combustive language, lies and hate speech is over. They belong to the past. On no account should any candidate or their supporters use such incendiary language in the coming campaigns. Poverty, hunger, insecurity, unemployment and the rest do not have ethnic or religious colours. What affects people in the North also affects people in the South, be they Christians, Muslims or traditional religion worshippers.
Almost every sector needs to be fixed. The economy is in distress. The rate of unemployment is over 30 per cent. Inflation rate is currently about 19.64 per cent. Millions of Nigerians are hungry as almost 100 million citizens are trapped in the poverty cage. We have the unenviable record as the poverty capital of the world. The black market exchange rate hovers around N700 to a dollar. The debt profile of the country is N41.6 trillion. It is billed to rise further by next year.
Security wise, we have not fared any better. Bandits and terrorists are terrorising the citizens. Travellers are waylaid at will and kidnapped for ransom. The unfortunate ones are killed. Schools and worship centres are not spared. Thousands of students have fallen victims. Just last June, some terrorists invaded St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, in Ondo State and killed no fewer than 40 people. The list of similar attacks is legion.
Education and health sectors are bleeding as well. Nothing typifies the poor state of our education system better than the current strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The union embarked on the long debilitating strike since February 2022 and there is no sign that it will end soon. This has crippled academic and other activities in the public universities. The health sector is also bedevilled by strikes. The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has had cause to go on strike on many occasions over welfare issues. Due to lack of job satisfaction in the country, thousands of our medical doctors have migrated to foreign countries for greener pastures. The number of Nigeria-trained medical doctors who migrated to the United Kingdom alone reportedly stood at 10,096 as of August 30, 2022. About 6.068 of this number moved to the UK since President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime started in 2015. Presidential candidates should be able to tell Nigerians how they intend to rescue the country from these problems. They should state how they are going to fix the economy and resolve the challenges in security, infrastructure, education, transportation, health, sports and other sectors with realistic timelines. We admit that nobody has all the answers to the country’s problems, but they must have answers to some of the central issues bothering Nigerians today.
To achieve this, we need to have a template that will drive the campaigns. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should provide such a template and also educate Nigerians on the importance of the election so that people will know what they are going into. The electoral body has started well by banning campaigns in churches and mosques. More of such guidelines are needed. For instance, there should be no room for thuggery or violence during the campaigns. Supporters of political parties must conduct themselves peacefully. Let the campaigns be issue-based and on no account should any state government stop opposition party members from campaigning or erecting billboards in their states as has been reported in some quarters. Any breach of these guidelines must be severely punished. The campaigns must be peaceful.
Good leadership and good governance can guarantee the citizens wellbeing and happiness. People expect that whoever they are voting must have the capacity to address the nation’s prevailing challenges. Lee Kuan Yew, the much talked about former Prime Minister of Singapore, did not transform his country from a third world status to a first world by pandering to primordial sentiments. He applied tested principles of effective leadership to arrive at his desired destination.
Despite being a black, former President Barack Obama of the United States (US) was voted into office because of his eloquence and brilliant ideas. Nigeria needs such disruptive leadership today. We must get it right in 2023 if we still desire to have a nation called Nigeria.
