THE 4 THINGS EVERY PRESIDENTIAL MANIFESTO MUST HAVE IN 2023
“I attempt to outline some ‘areas of concentration’ which we should look out for as the barest minimum”
The 2023 general elections are fast approaching, and as the major players begin to gear up for the campaign trail and its accompanying drama, the voters have also started scouting for worthy candidates. For as long as I can remember, the Nigerian electorate can best be described as a group of students who keep carrying over the same course every four years.
The issues in Nigeria are far too many and complex to attempt simultaneously; thus, promising to do so in just four years is building castles in the air. However, to untangle this web of challenges, there are certain places to start. In this article, I attempt to outline some ‘areas of concentration’ which we should look out for as the barest minimum before considering any candidate.
“…if Nigeria has a president who spends their entire tenure tackling the power problem successfully, he would have done more than previous presidents combined…”
Let’s start with ELECTRICITY.
One of the defining characteristics of third world nations is not just high mortality rate and unstable economies but epileptic power supply. In all the years of our existence, I doubt Nigeria can boast of uninterrupted power supply nationwide. If economic development is based on the sophistication of a country’s industry, the industries are heavily reliant on a reliable power supply system. Nigerians have become so used to the lack of power that the presence thereof scares them.
After injecting Trillions of naira into the power sector, Nigerians (individuals and companies) still spend a fortune on running generating sets. We keep speaking of the need for an enabling environment to create opportunities for people, and I believe power empowers more people than we can ever imagine.
Any serious candidate should have plans to increase power generation, ensure proper maintenance, guarantee effective transmission and minimize power wastage. Some individuals profit off the deplorable state of our power supply, and it takes guts to rescue the country from their grip.
I dare say that if Nigeria could have a president who spends their entire tenure tackling the power problem and does so successfully, he would have done more than previous presidents combined.
SECURITY
One of the hardest things I have had to endure growing up is watching Nigeria devolve into an insurgency/terrorism haven. The fact that it has continued for this long, and we have become numb to it, is even more worrisome. Hardly is there a geopolitical zone without its version of home-grown terrorism. From herdsmen killing in the west to secessionists calling the shots in the east to insurgents in the south to Boko Haram terrorists in the north. We have been roped into the same category with countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, and the US embassies advise their citizens to avoid Nigeria as much as possible.
Before talking about what insecurity does to foreign investors, it has turned viable land uncultivatable, budding human capital to refugees. It has reduced freedom of movement to a right that only exists on paper. The body language of the political class shows a laxity that only strengthens these unscrupulous elements. It is in this same state that certain people embezzled $2 billion meant for arms and ammunition.
As dire as these issues are, I don’t believe brute force is the only option. There is a need for intelligence. There is also a need for dialogue, although it has failed in the past. Most cases of insecurity we currently experience are sectional grievances that have blossomed into insurgency and have made the country ungovernable and hardly livable. We need a candidate who understands these complexities and possesses the will to take the fight to the gates of the enemy.
EDUCATION
You don’t need a Ted talk to convince you that any polity that disregards education for a year has created a problem for an entire generation that is hard to remedy. In the case of Nigeria, we are creating weaker links in an already weak chain. The budget for education in the last few years reflects the premium we put on the educational sector. (6.7% of the national budget in 2020, 7.5% in 2019, 7.04% in 2018 and 4% in 2016; a far cry from the UNESCO’S recommendation of 15–20%).
For every year that ASUU strikes and students are victimized by unmotivated and unethical lecturers, we move 10 years backwards as a nation. How a country of globally revered institutions deteriorated to its current state is beyond disgraceful. What is even more disgraceful is that many people in the present ruling class were beneficiaries of high-quality education.
Education goes beyond the four walls of the classroom and must include standardizing informal education and relevant skill acquisition and an apprenticeship program. We should consider adopting the German apprenticeship model where trainees split their days between formal classrooms and vocational schools and on-the-job time at companies.
This enforces the theory they learn in classes and opens them up to the other applications of their classroom knowledge. We need to overhaul our current educational approach and create structures around entrepreneurship and digital skills, making them more accessible.
Last but not least, RESTRUCTURING.
Restructuring is probably the most complex thing we need to undertake, and it means different things to different people. It also means many power players would lose their hold on power, leading to internal sabotage of the process. Restructuring is a big word, but as I understand it: it is decentralizing power from the federal government, thereby making the states more independent and responsible for their general health.
In layman terms, instead of all 36 governors going -plate in hand- to Abuja every month for stipends, they generate their revenue internally and contribute to the federal purse. In September 2021, Rivers’ state governor, Nyesom Wike, complained about how northern states who contributed the least to crude oil generation allegedly intended to share in its Value Added Tax (VAT). Such issues would not come up in a restructured Nigeria.
It would force states to look inward and generate ideas and solutions which are unique to them. It makes stakeholders out of consumers and would influence the creation of state police and other state-run parastatals.
This system is not new in Nigeria. We operated a polity close to this before the discovery of crude oil. The groundnut pyramids in the north, oil palm and cocoa plantations in the east and west, respectively, and fishery in southern Nigeria were products of the regional states.
Crude oil subverted these regional avenues for revenue and has made us abandon tourism, industrial and mining opportunities etc. A good candidate should not only be in support of but should have a clear and workable plan towards achieving a restructured Nigeria.
You may be wondering why I have focused only on the presidential candidates. This is because we attach a disproportionate level of importance to them than we do to the gubernatorial or senatorial candidates, but that is a story for another day.
If you were a candidate, what would be on your manifesto and why?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Kindly comment or send a mail to ajayiprimetobbi@gmail.com
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