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Less than a week ahead, the lid on campaigns for the 2023 presidential election would be officially lifted. From that day, September 28, till February 22, 2023, the presidential candidates of the various political parties would be on the streets, presenting themselves to Nigerians and marketing their programmes before them. As a teaser, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released a list of 18 candidates for the office. The key contenders: Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are among those cleared to contest. The battle line is thus drawn, in a way.
They are expected to tell us how they intend to rescue the country from its present sorry state. They should let Nigerians know their agenda to resuscitate the dilapidated social infrastructure, refloat the economy, halt the rising tide of insecurity, insurgency and terrorism in the land. Nigerians will demand from them their strategies to address the incessant strikes in the education sector, the collapsed energy sector, discouraging climate for business, sagging confidence of the citizens in the country and the monster of restiveness in some component units.
The expectations on them are indeed high, even when the resources are scarce. You won’t blame Nigerians for looking up to them to accomplish much. They have not received commensurate value for their investments in bringing the present dispensation into being. At each point since 1999, when the current civilian dispensation commenced, they have had their hopes for bettering their lot dashed. The 16 years of the PDP, from 1999 to 2015, left the country in ruins.
The succeeding APC and inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, have not made significant changes. The economy is still in a parlous state, insecurity remains high and youth unemployment unprecedented. The situation even seems more hopeless. More than any other time, Nigerians are leaving in droves to other countries in search of better life.
It is on these considerations that Nigerians expect a lot from the presidential candidates. In fact, many have rightly described the 2023 election as a defining moment or a watershed for the country. To paraphrase what Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson would argue in their insightful book, “Why nations fall: The origins of power, prosperity and poverty”, for Nigerians, the 2023 election falls into what the great economist, Joseph Schumpeter, called creative destruction. At such points in a nation’s history, the old order is replaced with a new wave of thinking; new sectors attract resources away from the old ones; new firms take business away from established ones; new technologies make existing skills and machines, obsolete. In politics, that approximates to paradigm shift in age and orientation for leadership. Nigeria needs the 2023 presidential poll to make a bold statement on departure from parochial and provincial ethnic and religious considerations in its politics to a genuine leadership recruitment process.
Renowned novelist, Chinua Achebe, captured it brilliantly in his concise work, “The trouble with Nigeria”, that “the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership”, adding that there is nothing wrong with its character as a nation or its land and climate. Over the years, Nigeria’s politics has been characterised by an absurd mentality expressed in the language of religion and region of birth. Consequently, characters that ordinarily do not have much to flaunt at individual levels or in their previous leadership positions at local levels, have made bold claims for the presidency, simply on the assumption that it is their turn to occupy the office. No nation survives on that line of thought.
There should be a radical exit from that unproductive mindset. The presidency is the hardest job in the world, says American essayist, John Dickerson, in his piece on the White House. According to him, when the national fabric rends, the President will administer needle and thread, or at least reach for the sewing box of unity. This is a big lesson for those aspiring for the office as well as their supporters. For a system that has been maliciously held down by a chain of undecisive leadership in the greater part of its 62 years of statehood, this is the time to stand firm and declare, “enough is enough.”
It is good that the presidential candidates of the LP, PDP, APC and NNPP, are people that have at various points in their life held public office and can be assessed on the bases of their antecedents and pedigrees. Some of them have also started telling Nigerians how they intend to reposition the country, if elected into office. That is the way to go.
The other day, at a forum organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Obi told leaders of Nigeria’s organised private sector that his administration would totally liberalise the entire power sector value chain, including transmission, to ensure steady power supply, if elected President.
He also vowed to encourage the setting up of more local refineries by private firms and to supply them crude oil in naira to refine for Nigeria’s domestic consumption.
“For me, the first thing I will do to ensure steady power supply is to liberalise transmission. This is critical if you are going to deal with our power sector. We will support the existing companies in the distribution and generation arms by ensuring that there is a dedicated gas supply, which is one of their problems today,” Obi said.
He added that his administration would be decisive in removing petrol subsidy, tackling the security challenges afflicting the country and putting a halt to crude oil theft, pointing out that oil theft could not thrive without people in government participating in it.
Atiku had taken his turn earlier at the forum, where he unfolded a five-point developmental agenda that encompasses qualitative education, restructuring to foster true federalism and stability, a dynamic economy for prosperity, safety and security of life and property, and unity in diversity.
Tinubu, Kwankwaso and others are yet to feature on the programme. Nigerians expect them to show up to unfold their blueprint and economic agenda for the nation. It won’t be fair on any of the candidates to evade the invitation, stay away or delegate proxies. Nigerians want to hear directly from them on their preparation for the office. This is the only way any of them who gets elected can be rightly assessed on performance.
