Nigeria’s election is days away now. It is more than an election. An opportunity for Nigerians to redirect the country’s fortune. Nigeria has to be rescued from capsizing from decades of misrule and economic decay.
However, the excitement that the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) would offer Nigeria’s most credible elections could be a mirage.
Poverty, hunger, and economic hardship faced by many Nigerians could threaten the credibility of the 2023 elections. Poverty is axiomatic in Nigeria. It is devoid of gender, religion, or ethnicity.
84 million Nigerians wrangle in extreme poverty, surviving below $1.9 per day, while 133 million (63 percent of the country’s population) are multidimensionally poor, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Unemployment bites harder on Nigeria’s youthful population, with 33.3 percent of the labour force unable to find a job at the prevailing wage rate.
Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) estimates unemployment to surge to 37 percent by 2023. Inflation at 21.34 in December 2022 is making a mess of household disposable income, workers’ salaries, and the 2019 minimum wage of N30,000. In a post-COVID-19 economy, stagflation and poverty have worsened hunger, especially in Northern Nigeria. These challenges could influence the 2023 election outcomes.
A total 93 million Nigerians registered to vote in the 2023 election. Leaders will be selected from 18 political parties. These political parties will jostle for a large chunk of the electoral share to emerge victorious. Political parties will rely on their campaign, their candidates, and their manifesto to woo voters before and during the election.
Some political parties will struggle to conduct a robust campaign due to certain factors. It is widely believed that those who control the economic structures of the state, run the show.
While this is not always the case, certain political players will devise other ways of winning elections. These alternatives are mostly against the set standards. However, the goal is victory; anything necessary could be done in man’s quest for power.
Nigerian politicians are tacticians. Funds or use of force are options to explore to victory. Funds through vote buying appear more appealing to procure loyalty and votes on election day temporarily. Where hunger and economic hardship exist, electorates could climb down on their desire for a better Nigeria.
The integrity of extremely poor voters on election day will stagger to money in exchange for their vote. Nigeria’s yearnings for a new Nigeria can be achieved if poverty, hardship, and hunger are held off on the “day of decision”. If not, wrong decisions will be made, and Nigerians will continue to suffer from leadership failure.
The promise to address poverty, hunger, and hardship are top of the manifestos of all political parties. Manifestos that political leaders in Nigeria regularly fail to manifest. Poverty will be used as a tool to coerce poor Nigerians in the south and north to sell their votes.
The credibility of candidates means nothing to a hungry man with an option to “sell his vote” and do the “right thing”. Jacob and Esau’s story in the Holy Bible exemplifies this fact. If mental and financial poverty is uncontested before and during the 2023 elections, an eligible voter’s thinking cap will be lost to sight.
Read also: How tribe, poverty will influence 2023 elections
Political leaders who brought hardship, hunger, and poverty to Nigerians cannot pretend to be the solution. Nigerians must make choices on who becomes their leaders and accept responsibility for the outcome of such decisions. Choosing the wrong leaders for another four years would torpefy Nigeria.
All Nigerians must resist vote-buying and the use of force on the “day of decision”. Nigeria’s present economic state must inspire every patriotic Nigerian to vote with intense zeal for Nigeria. We must jettison the old way of deciding our leaders or struggle in regret.
Looters of Nigeria’s commonwealth must get the message of a new and emerging Nigeria. Africa’s giant in the economy, population, natural resources, and economic potential must get leadership right in the 2023 polls.
According to Beta Metani Marashi, “people are more powerful than politicians if they exercise their rights”. In doing so, Nigerians must conquer poverty and remain resolute against poverty, hardship, and hunger when it matters most on “the days of decision”.
Victor is a development economist, policy analyst & oxford foundry fellow
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