As the 2015
elections draw closer to the choice of our thumbprints - or as it may seem, the
major contending parties and candidates, of recent, have dealt several blows on
themselves through various means. Some have even been physical, but majority
have been carried out mainly through the mass media. For instance, we have seen
the opposition APC blame the ruling PDP and the President of a mass volume of
corruption, mismanagement and negligence
on the part of duty to a nation of over 150 million tax paying, hopeful,
agitated citizens. The APC has also tried in every way possible to portray
their party and prospective candidates in a positive light, a light that has
now formed a halo around the heads of these candidates enough for some to
perceive them as angels of democracy and good governance.
The ruling PDP, on
the other hand, has made sure of appropriate retaliation to these blames which
they receive as stereotypes and misconceptions, and has instead ascribed most
of them to the APC and its
members. The presidential spokesmen on many occasions have strived to dent the
budding image being portrayed by the APC
and other members of the opposition. On one occasion, the presidential
candidate of the APC, General
Muhammadu Buhari, and his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, a distinguished
professor of law, were tagged ‘semi-literate’ by one of the ruling party’s
spokesmen, Prof. Oladipo. This is the level at which both parties have gone,
not with the original intent to disgrace each other, but to strip themselves of
their political relevance in order to win the votes of the eligible voting
masses.
However, these
actions taking against each other by these political parties may not be
directly significant to the ordinary Nigerian public. Thus, people only look
forward to seeing the development and goodwill that can be bestowed upon the
Nigerian society if a candidate were to emerge at the end of the 2015 general
elections. With this in mind, there are some key characteristics that Nigeria’s
next leader must possess in order to win the hearts of Nigerians, with his eyes
focused on the nation’s primary seat of power, and with the people of the
nation as his topmost priority.
The power sector,
which has been riddled by mismanagement of resources and supply shortages, has
left many Nigerians downtrodden with regards to the poor power situation in the
economy. Nigeria is, no doubt, tired of empty promises made by leaders who have
sought the tactic of ‘‘promise before, and fail when in power’’. President
Goodluck Jonathan is one of the sorts, but is not an exception to the myriad of
his precedents who may have done even worse at fulfilling theirs. It is indeed
obvious and still rather unimaginable that Nigeria hasn’t achieved the feat of
constant power supply. More saddening is the fact that through comparison and
various forms of parody, Nigeria- once known as the giant of Africa- has been
directly or indirectly intimidated by their neighbouring Ghana and South
Africa, below the map. These countries to which Nigeria once offered constant
aid are now above her in terms of living standards and experience constant
power supply. Above the comparison is the fact that the industries are gasping
for breath as many of them are dying for power attention to survive. For sure,
any president who is able to find a lasting solution to this problem may have
just solved 40% of the economy’s problems.
It is often said
that people are as good as those they surround themselves with. I may want to
disagree with the speculation that our own GEJ does not have the appropriate
think-tank in his cabinet or inner caucus; however, it may be a case of
personal characteristics and levels of perception on the part of these advisers
and ministers. The current situation may also have come about as a result of
the archetype of uncontrollable greed inherent in these supposed people of
caliber. This level of incompetence of the part of the commander-in-chief has
led to the rise and rise of various security, economic, and even international
issues. Protests have been sparked up to address the high demonstration of
corruption carried out right under the nose of the president. So incriminating
is the fact that it is demonstrated by the president’s right-hand men – those
who can assure him of financial support during his campaigns into the
elections. We need not exhaust much of the important space on this write-up
about his wife, our first lady. Summarily, our next president will win our
hearts simply by providing the appropriate and efficient machinery, transparent
enough to blurt out corruption from the roots of the Nigerian socio-political
atmosphere.
Education has to be
taken very seriously. Very seriously I tell you! The past ASUU (Academic Staff
Union of Universities) strikes that have lasted from 8 months to 1 year are
definitely nothing to write home about. We all know that the tertiary
institutions hold enough weight in terms of the voting populace. Any president
who would be able to correct the educational system, hence, provides adequate
financial support to these institutions and sets up effective machinery that
would include both students and lecturers. This machinery would ensure that
these funds are well spent on the development of the tertiary institutions to
the knowledge of the students. The setting up of a transparency portal or
institute that would ensure that lecturers do not harass students or vice versa
may also aid the smooth sailing of this machinery. The resultant effect is that
the president need not waste money campaigning in these institutions even if he
were to go for a third term (which is of course impossible).
The agricultural
sector has been abandoned for many years since we discovered “blood money”
(oil). This vital sector which sees that everyone survives and has enough energy
to drill for oil, climb national assembly gates, appear fresh on CNN and so on
has been abandoned. Agriculture was once the power house of Nigeria, but as
obvious as this is, the government of the day has chosen to embrace oil wells
in order to make other countries happy and increase fuel prices for our own
people. The purpose of highlighting this is not to point fingers at anyone, but
to state clearly that if agriculture is properly funded and cred for as much as
our first lady cares for her appearance, then employment rates will triple, and
Forbes had better prepare to announce Nigerian farmers on their rich-list soon.
Finally, I have no
best to save for the last. I strongly believe that every sector of the Nigerian
economy is vital to its development as much as 2015 is vital to the survival of
GEJ and GMB. Nigerians like any other people can never be satisfied, but they
can be happy if our next leader does the right thing. Cast your votes and don’t
complain afterwards if you didn’t. Let’s hope for change. Let’s move forward.
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