Nigeria is at present the poverty capital of the world according to statistics from world multilateral agencies. There are about 18 million out-of-school children in the country and that is about the population of about three or fewer countries in Africa. There is high-level unemployment and underemployment and the insecurity level is vividly explained by the fact that Nigeria is one of the five most terrorized countries in the world. This is a negative for foreign direct investments and tourism.
The state of the health sector is explained by the fact that the President and many top government officials routinely fly to other countries for medical tourism. The former Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu is currently being remanded in prison custody in the United Kingdom over allegations about illegal organ transplant issues for the daughter who has an ailment. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has, as most times in the country’s history, been on strike for months due to disagreements with the government over conditions of service and staff welfare.
However, these and other myriads of problems affecting the nation are not yet issues on the front burner of most political party candidates for the various elective positions in the country, including the presidential candidates. Rather, the people are inundated with debates and counter debates about the religion and ethnicity of presidential candidates and their running mates. There is palpable tension across the country as fears rise about the grim prospects of a crisis-ridden pre-election period.
Some candidates and their party members and media handlers have been in the public space arguing over the issues of religion and ethnicity. This has in turn pitted supporters against each other largely on the support of lack of the same of one candidate or the other over religion and ethnicity. We might ignore this and pretend it is part of politics, but the toxicity of these issues cannot be healthy for any democracy. Candidates and their political parties must be more circumspect and cautious as the country goes towards the 2023 general elections. Political parties must re-strategize and be more sensitive to issues of patriotism, democracy, and development. Democracy cannot thrive in chaos or amidst bitter and divisive rivalry in a country almost on the edge of the precipice.
The Roundtable Conversation feels that the political parties and their candidates must focus on issues of national importance. Politics is about the future with an eye on the past for constructive assistance. Things must be done differently if we must make progress. The young people must be shown how teamwork can develop a nation. The resort to religious and ethnic bigotry is anti-development. The country must navigate away from the politically created differences and focus on humanity and development
In an era when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently published impressive statistics of young people that have gone to register to vote in the coming election, the Roundtable Conversation spoke to Umar Sani Yakubu, a young journalist in Bauchi State. As one who belongs to the largest voting demographic, we wanted to find out how the rhetoric about ethnicity and religion influences the participation of young people in the current political process.
Umar believes that the political situation in the country might be different given the development in the political space. He believes that there are a lot of experiences that would influence the actions of young people beyond what the politicians are saying. He believes that the Not Too Young to Run Bill was not a day’s work. The long and tedious fight to get the bill passed was a result of the realization that young people or any demographic can achieve whatever they put their minds to.
The politicians must be made to understand that the young people are very resolute and that their demands have not changed. Youth participation in politics has not been easy but today some inroads have been made as some if not all the political parties now have very vibrant Youth Wings and some young people have won some party tickets to contest in the next election cycle. He believes that the youths are beginning to understand that they can make a change and that it may be time to begin to reject certain abnormalities in the political process like vote-buying and selling. He believes there must be more advocacy by the educated young people to discourage other young people from being manipulated by the politicians.
The fight to discourage vote-buying and selling must be as persistent as the agitation for youth and women inclusiveness. There must come a time when those who violate the electoral process would be made to feel very ashamed of themselves. The fight against the corruption of the electoral process must be one that will stigmatize both the beneficiaries and the sponsors. The youths must understand that leadership is not a business transaction because those who buy votes will not be accountable but would want to get a return on their investment.
Umar does not believe that divisive politics on the basis of religion, ethnicity, or gender should be allowed to flourish. Leadership must be about cosmopolitan individuals who can build bridges and understand that the leadership that promotes development is about the communities, the states, and the federal government. Presidency is almost like a coordinator of all levels of governance with the legislative branches at state and national levels doing their duties diligently. The young people must be concerned not just about mundane things like religion or ethnicity but those with the exposure and experience to lead well.
He believes that the ability of a leader to get good hands to serve the people with him must be an area that the people must focus on. What is the mindset of those seeking to lead, and what is their capacity to utilize their education and experiences as patriotic citizens who want development? Leadership is best delivered by people with open mindsets about the differences that exist as positive forces for development. According to Umar, as someone who served in Akwa Ibom State during his National Youth Service year, he knows the value of mixing and understanding the cultures of people and understands that our differences should be a blessing and not a curse for democracy.
The Roundtable Conversation spoke with Towonifinni Mosiko, a Council Leader of the Kabba/Bunu Legislative Council in Akutukpa Ward in Kogi State. She had contested for Chairmanship of her local government and a house of Assembly seat in her state. However, she told the Roundtable Conversation that leadership should be about competence and vision. To her, the country is currently polarized along regional, ethnic and religious lines and needs leaders that can heal the wounds of poverty, insecurity, and a progressively weak economy, not those that exploit the differences.
The problem of the country is not about creed or tribe and Nigerians are looking for problem solvers and not those that weaponize what to them are our differences. As a woman who is serving her community at the grassroots level, she has seen and experienced the dire needs of the rural people whose problems is to feed their children, to have a good healthcare system that can attend to pregnant women so that child and maternal mortality can reduce and to get their children to get a good education.
The women want leaders who understand and are ready to solve the problems they encounter every day. They want to have good roads as an agrarian society and want a situation where they do not have to share their stream with animals and be under the fear of going to farms or sleeping with one eye open. She feels it is retrogressive to leave the issues the country has to whip up ethnic or religious sentiments of the illiterate poor who have been suffering without help.
Towonifinni believes candidates at all levels should as a matter of urgency focus on what they intend to do for the people that can develop the nation because poverty has no religion or ethnicity. A poor person in Kafanchan, Lokoja, Umuahia, Oshogbo, Potiskum or Ogoja would not mind who the president is as long as his or her problems of existence are solved. The political parties must understand that development is for the good of everyone and no playing to the gallery can help anyone win elections in 2023.
Umar and Towonifinni are two young people and the Roundtable believes they are educated and influential enough to understand the dynamics of political campaigns even if they are not candidates. The Roundtable Conversation hopes that the political parties and their candidates must listen to the voices of the young people they intend to lead if and when elected.
The global political climate has changed with the internet and technology and politicians must realize that as leaders they ought to be beacons to the younger generations who would take over the mantle of leadership in the nearest future. Political participation must be an opportunity to affect the lives of the citizens positively. There is too much at stake to be sacrificed on the altar of religion, gender, or tribe.
The recent rise in immigration and brain drain would hurt the nation if not halted by the best leadership choices. The people must have confidence in the political class to bring their best productive and patriotic energy to work for development. The young people are the tech/internet generation and communication and access to information have revolutionized the ways evaluations are made of candidates. The politicians must move with the times and leave parochial sentiments behind.
The dialogue continues…