2023: Please Don’t Lose Focus
American author, James Freeman Clarke said “A statesman thinks of the next generation; a politician, of the next election.”
Fortunately or unfortunately whichever you prefer, Nigeria has a greater preponderance of politicians than statesmen, who have been preparing for the next election even before the winners of the last were officially announced. If tradition persists, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will conduct the general elections including the presidential, senatorial and some gubernatorial contests come February 2023. Fast approaching is the final quarter of 2021, and just as fast as the increasing tension in the political atmosphere. The stalwarts are already trying to outplay each other and not holding back any tricks on the table, evidence is the current disarray in both major political parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressive’s Congress (APC). It has become a recurrent ritual before every election, Nigerians only wish the same energy was employed towards furthering their cause.
One of the debates on the upcoming elections is the issue of rotation, whether it’s about what region the presidency should go or if it should be entirely forgotten and replaced with merit. My favourite argument is that each region has competent people and what we need are fair systems to select them. Beyond that, I consider the entire discussion a cunning means to distract Nigerians from the major issues at hand. After the last six years of the current administration, it goes without saying that there’s too much at stake in the 2023 general elections for us to “lose focus.” Our decisions in 2023 will determine if the country finally falls off the precipice or returns to course.
The decision of who captains the ship cannot be led by simple sentiments, they must be led by an objective assessment of their personality and competence. It’s not a job for an ordinary do-good or someone that can only be managed. We’ll need a “Fix-it”, an over-achiever who can dextrously steer clear of the sea-mines and through the existing challenges to put our nation back on course. Inevitably Nigerians would miss this person if they aren’t able to focus on the major issues and fall for the usual distractions.
Among the major issues are Security, Health, Education and Economy, usually everything else flows along. We’ll need to pay rapt attention beyond mere rhetoric to their specific solutions to the plaguing problems in the respective sectors. Rather than ask silly questions like “where are they from?”, we should ask how pragmatic and practicable are these solutions?
The next captain will be inheriting a mammoth of security challenges that have defied the military experience of President (Gen.) Muhammadu Buhari. In 2023 we’ll need a president who understands the crisis beyond kinetic warfare, not in the sense of prayers or incentivising terrorists to repent. They must view it holistically as an issue of unemployment and poverty. It should be someone who isn’t shy of stating his opinion on state police and has a logical reason for taking such a stance. Based on their past records, do they have the will to take on alleged sponsors of this crisis? We should be interested in what position they took during the organic #EndSARS protests, it speaks to how much priority they place on military and police reforms. By what nomenclature do they address the marauders kidnapping students from schools, shooting down fighter jets and attacking military facilities? Terrorists or bandits? That way we’ll know if the candidate will be a commander-in-chief or a coward-in-chief, I’ll certainly prefer the former.
When they look at the health sector, do they consider it an emergency or a manageable situation? We should ask if they want to salvage the situation or overhaul it. A candidate who intends to build more tertiary hospitals will come off to me as a charlatan who does not understand the issues. Only a discussion about strengthening the Primary Health Care Centres, Mass Health Insurance and improving regulations of the sector will be of my interest. They should entertain us with intelligent solutions to the brain drain in this sector, not a plan to lock the borders. Does the manifesto suggest they are committed to fixing this sector or seeking medical tourism remains an option for them?
According to UNICEF, “one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria.” The World Bank also says that only 20 per cent of those who complete primary school can read. Our basic education is in shambles despite being the most important function of government, as it pertains to educating her citizens. We should be interested in a candidate that seeks to improve our literacy rate, which is currently at 62 per cent. Or someone with a practicable magic bullet to end the recurrent ASUU, SSANU and NASU strike. Will they increase their funding, let universities fund themselves or privatise them? The discussion of vocational schools as a way to solve unemployment should also be on their table, just like in China.
We cannot afford to repeat the mistake of not knowing our next captain’s economic philosophy, Capitalism or Socialism. Is the manifesto about liberalising the economy or taking more control of it? Nigerians should seek a clear and detailed plan on how their next president intends to reduce our dependence on oil and diversify our economy. They should also question his view about job creation. Do they believe in the fantasy of every Nigerian receiving loans and enterprising their way out, or “ease of doing business” that allows businesses to grow and attracts Foreign Direct Investment? What will their policy be towards the tech ecosystem? Nigerians should be interested in their position on the current ban on crypto-currency, and if their reasons are logical or they are merely pandering to the public. We expect them to tickle our neurons with brilliant strategies to solve unemployment and poverty.
Then, of course, there’s the burning issue of restructuring. What does it mean to them and how sincere are they about it? We must confront them with the already existing documents such as the Steve Oronsaye report and the 2014 National Conference report. Those who intend to organise more conferences should be ready to explain what these past reports don’t already cover, and justify wanting to waste taxpayer’s money all over again. Are they willing to break what their predecessors have enjoyed when it’s their turn for the interest of the state?
These are a few of the issues any serious candidate should be brainstorming about before they fully get into the ring. 2023 will have to be a year of honest and painful conversations. Candidates who are too shy or ignorant to discuss them should be dismissed by the Nigerian people. A President that clearly understands the above-listed issues is less likely to be nepotistic. We’ve seen Nigerians concern themselves with the major issues before. They did it in 1993 when Moshood Abiola contested against Bashir Tofa. We focused more on their philosophies than our primordial sentiments. Nigerians understood their country needed saving, we are at that point again.
Even beyond the office of the President, we must interrogate our leaders at every level; state, local and ward before we hand them our mandate. J.F. Clarke was right about politicians being only bothered about the next election, but the masses must take responsibility as statesmen and fight for the next generation by making the right decision in 2023. We can’t “lose focus”.
Twitter (Latid13)
LinkedIn (Afolabi Olatide).
Comments are closed.