Tunde Martins said he regretted not voting in Nigeria’s last general election. This is because his preferred candidate lost that election, partly due to many of his types who registered, had voter’s cards but refused to vote during the election.
Another voter, Stephen Oladimeji, who has a preferred candidate in the forthcoming general election, said he will neither vote nor entertain any persuasion to travel back home for the election. When pressed further, he said: “There will be violence and votes don’t count.”
Seeing the effect of the lacklustre attitude of people like him towards the 2019 general election, Martins was quick to say that “2023 will be different as I will be making my vote count for good governance.”
The above developments mirror the new narrative facing Nigeria’s next general election, which coincides with 24 years of uninterrupted democracy, the longest in the country’s history. The 2023 elections present a unique situation for the average Nigerian voter to confront the issue of trust deficit among the political class.
Read also: 2023: Experts call for multiple testing of electoral devices, training of INEC officers
Cheta Nwanze, a partner at SBM Intelligence, said trust in the government is low and it can be seen in the way citizens react to the government’s policies. He cited the recent announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria on the currency redesign, saying this has created a surge in the demand for foreign currencies because people are looking for ways to avoid being trapped by the government.
Tobi Adetunji, a political analyst, is of the opinion that the forthcoming election would be a serious political gamble for Nigeria because there is already a trust deficit in the country.
“We don’t know the way forward as the politicians are aware of this and are also playing the political game using ethnicity and religion, among other sensitive issues,” he said.
He told BusinessDay that working with the realities the country was confronted with in the last seven years, the citizens might need a miracle to make a change in 2023.
“A miracle in the light of credible leadership such as Lee Kwan Yew,” he said.
He added that all the policies of the government seemed anti-people and as such, trust cannot be ascertained.
As a result, Nigerian politicians suffer from a severe lack of public confidence, and the general public has little faith in their dedication to keeping their campaign promises.
Thus far, findings indicate meaningful youth engagement during the early stages of the 2023 election campaigns.
A recent survey conducted by the African Polling Institute (API) in partnership with BusinessDay which was aimed at gauging the perception of Nigerians towards the 2023 elections showed that the majority of eligible voters in Nigeria, particularly the youths, believe the country is on the wrong track.
The nationwide survey, which was conducted from July 18 to 22, 2022, showed that 87 percent of the respondents believe Nigeria is moving in the wrong direction, 7 percent believe the country is heading in the right direction, and 6 percent declined to comment.
In the Edelman Trust Barometer 2021, a study of social issues, of which trust was at the apex, showed that the trust level in Nigeria was low at 49 percent, covering four critical institutions: government, business, media, and non-governmental organisations.
A breakdown shows that distrust is highest with the government as its poor scores on trust impaired the aggregate. The government scored only 24 percent on trust with Nigerians. Media scored 44 percent, followed by trust in business at 62 percent, while trust in NGOs was highest at 65 percent.
Speaking at the launch of the Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo called for a process that would guarantee a rebuilding of the trust between the government and its citizens, including moral, social, and ethical reconstruction to be undertaken as well.
Osinbajo said the government must rebuild trust between it and the governed, between law enforcement agents and the communities that they serve, adding: “Never again should law enforcement agents find themselves on opposite sides of any conflict with society.”
