The current preoccupation with what region or geopolitical zone will produce the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari is a needless distraction. It is, in the face of urgent and pressing socio-economic challenges, unserious.
In a country where poverty is clawing millions into the abyss of impoverishment daily and with an economy on the brink of another recession, debates over the region or geopolitical zone of the next president is a waste of time and a disservice to the country and its suffering people. It does not speak well of us that despite our completely broken health, education and social infrastructure, with little or no investments in these sectors and despite the record high unemployment rate, high dependency rate, security challenges, world-record maternal and infant mortality and malnourished rates, all we can be concerned about just months after an election is the ethnic and or religious identity of the next president.
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But we understand that in Nigeria we practice the politics of underdevelopment, where politics appears to be an end in itself and where politicians are so restless and impatient that they start to plan and prepare for the next election immediately after the preceding one. The end result is that there is little or no time left for real and effective governance. Every policy decision and choice therefore is made from a political lens and calculated to give advantage at the next elections.
This has made political competition in Nigeria and in most parts of Africa merely a struggle for the control of the levers of power and for the sharing of the spoils of power. The main and overriding purpose – the promotion of societal welfare and the public good – is intentionally or unintentionally relegated to the background.
Politicians may fail to be patriotic, they may concern themselves with how to capture and retain power, even to the detriment of economic growth or peace and security of the country. But the media, civil society and the general public must not toe that line. We have a much more important task – that of holding public officers to account – and we must not allow politicians and political jobbers dictate the national discourse.
Pray, in what way has the place of origin or religion of the president being an advantage or helped to grow the economy or move the country forward? How has the place of origin or religion of the president helped to build and equip schools, hospitals, roads, rails and other infrastructure needed to make life meaningful for Nigerians?
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Time is not on our side. The economy is on the brink of another slowdown, over 90 million of our people are living in extreme poverty and millions more are pushed into the dungeon of extreme poverty every month because economic growth is far below population growth. Worse, the government is facing both a revenue crisis and debt crisis; burdened by mounting external and domestic debt while unable to raise revenues to finance its expenditure. Our time and effort should be more concerned about these existential national issues.
President Muhammadu Buhari was elected for another four years earlier this year. This means all politics, or at least, talk of politics must be suspended for the next three and half years to give room for governance.
Besides, the president has said “leadership and a sense of purpose” can lift 10 million people out of poverty. Our preoccupation should be to press the president to reveal exactly how this will be done and insist that he, and his appointed officials, fulfil the promises made during his election campaigns. Squabbling over where the next president should come from is puerile and playing into the hands of political jobbers.
