The year 2019 promises to be an eventful one for Nigeria and Nigerians. However, there is the belief among the citizenry that 2018 was a challenging and difficult year in which several unpleasant events shaped the landscape of the country.
It was a year that the nation’s economy finally moved out of recession after it slipped in mid-2016. The National Bureau of Statistics had said that the Gross Domestic Product GDP grew significantly in the first quarter of 2018.
Apart from the lingering Boko Haram insurgency in the northern region of the country, a major worrying incident Nigerians are praying against in 2019 is the frequent bloody clashes between farmers/herdsmen majorly in the north-central states which had claimed thousands of lives and destroyed property worth millions of naira. The worst hit states are Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, and Taraba.
There is, however, a renewed wave of optimism among Nigerians that with the general elections just few weeks away, a new crop of leaders that would meet their yearnings and deliver the much-talked about dividends of democracy would be ushered in after the elections.
There is a general belief among some sections of the populace that the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have failed to deliver on their numerous campaign promises. Ironically, expectations were high among Nigerians in 2015 when Buhari assumed office after defeating former President Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
With the elections barely weeks away, Nigerians are demanding free and fair general elections from the nation’s leadership. They are also asking for the repositioning of the economy, job creation and an end to the current strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Felix Oboagwina, a political economist, wants President Buhari to desist from acts that would put his name in jeopardy, lamenting that some of the president’s recent decisions do not signify that the general elections would be free and fair.
“Well, personally in 2019 I want a peaceful election that would be free and fair. So we are expecting Buhari not to be deceived into taking decisions that would not only put his name in the mud, but would put the country in fire this year. I am saying this because recent events have not pointed to the fact that the general elections would be free and fair. How can he appoint his niece to be the head of the collation centre of INEC? It is suspicious,” Oboagwina said.
Also speaking, Lola Ogunbanwo, an undergraduate, urged the Buhari administration to meet the demands of the striking university lecturers.
Ogunbanwo lamented that successive administrations in the country have given little attention and budgetary allocation to the education sector in spite of the sector’s importance to the nation’s development.
“It is a new year and as you can see, the universities have been shut for some months now. We are urging Buhari to meet ASUU demands so that we can go back to school. Is it because their children are not schooling in the country, is that why they are all behaving like this? If you look at this year’s budget, how much did they give to education, in spite of its importance to the nation’s development?” he said.
Ruth Uchendu, a lawyer, advised Nigerians to vote wisely and choose credible leaders who would deliver the dividends of democracy to them, while attributing bad leadership for the current precarious situation of the country.
“2019 is a very important year for Nigeria and Nigerians. For me, I don’t expect much from this Buhari administration. I am worried that Nigerians would again be blindfolded into voting the wrong candidate in the general election. The current APC government has failed us. There has to be a change and that change is Atiku and Peter Obi,” he said.
Iniobong Iwok
