Issues facing presidential aspirants as election debate knocks
Once upon a time, aspirants to political offices paid lip service with the word ‘I will’. Now, Nigerians are more interested in ‘how’ and the modalities to be put in place to effect these campaign promises.
This is on the back of the presidential debate that is scheduled to hold tomorrow, Saturday, 19th January 2018, when political aspirants vying for the post of president in Africa’s most populous nation will be engaging in a debate on their plans and policies to get the economy on a sustainable path, if elected.
However, while it is necessary that Nigerians insist that any presidential aspirant who wants to govern the people must attend the debate, it is important to highlight key issues affecting the life of the common man. This is meant to avoid ambiguous campaign promises.
Businessday took a survey across analysts, technocrats and experts from all sectors of the economy, who highlighted critical areas of the economy that require urgent attention. Some of these include
Education
The Nigerian education system has suffered a lot of maladies ranging from poor funding to examination malpractice. Issues such as meeting the United Nations standard of 21 percent, lack of investment, failing infrastructure and poor staff remuneration have intensified brain drain in the sector.
Figures from the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) conducted by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Nigerian government show that the number of outof-school children rose from 10.5 million in 2015 to 13.2 million in 2018.
For over three months, the Academic Staff Union of Universities has gone on strike vowing not to go back to the class rooms except the government meets its demand. The government, on the other hand, has been nonchalant about the issue as several meetings between both parties ended in deadlock.
Nigerians have resorted to using the exit door to study in the country’s West African neighbour. Ghana has become a mecca of sorts for Nigerians seeking quality education.why must this continue?
Health
Despite warnings from the World Bank and the founder of Microsoft Corp., Bill Gates, that Nigeria needs to invest in human capital development, particularly education and health, health gets paltry sums in annual budgets. The health sector has witnessed numerous challenges, including lack of investment, brain drain and poor investment.
Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to the health sector has averaged four percent since 2001,despite hosting the 2001 Abuja Declaration, where it pledged alongside other member states of the African Union to commit at least 15per cent of its national budget to health.
Experts say for the health sector to work efficiently, a compulsory health insurance scheme targeted at both the formal and informal sector must function efficiently.
Government also needs to create an enabling environment that will see more private investments into the space. This is one issue that should dominate discourse at the debate.
Insecurity
The problem of insecurity has hampered growth and development of the country, especially in the north eastern region of the country.
A report from Amnesty International, a London- based nongovernmental organisation, focused on human rights, showed that at least 1,813 people have been killed from January to June 2018 across 17 states. This figure almost doubled the entire 894 death toll of 2017.
This is excluding the 276 school girls that were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria, by the Islamist sect group, Boko haram. These incidences have heightened fears in the minds of young female children who seek knowledge in the region.
That said, the issue between farmers and herders clash in the Middle Belt region of the country is another worrisome issue that has plummeted growth in the agricultural sector, which in turn has hindered food sufficiency in the country.
“The clash between farmers and herders has killed more than 3,600 people since 2016, most of them in 2018”, Amnesty International said in another separate report documenting the upsurge in violence.
“Of the 310 attacks recorded between January 2016 and October 2018, 57 percent were in 2018, the rights group said. These attacks were well planned and coordinated, with the use of weapons like machine guns and AK-47 rifles,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty’s Nigeria director.
Presidential aspirants need to tell the public how the problem of insecurity that has hindered growth and development can be tackled.
Unemployment/job creation
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics has put the rate of unemployment at 23.1 percent in Q3 of 2018, from 18.8 percent the same time the previous year. This excludes the number of underemployed Nigerians that currently stands at 20.1 percent.
In nominal terms, a total of about 3.1 million people have entered into the unemployment trap in less than a year, pushing the number of unemployed Nigerians to 20.9 million, from 17.8 million in Q4 2017.
With the country’s population growing at an average of 2.6 percent, the government needs to open the economy to attract investments, which in turn will create more Jobs for the teeming population, analysts say. This is one issue that should not be glossed over at the debate.
Inclusive government
Over time, there have been power tussles between the executive arm of government and those in the legislature, which has slowed down economic growth and progress in the country.
It took both parties about seven months to get the 2018 budget signed into law. The signing was not even devoid of the usual rancour.
This also caused major delays in the appointment of public officials that were sent by the president. One of such case was the Monetary Policy Committee unable to hold a meeting due to delay from the National Assembly in approving some of the new member-names sent. There was also a delay in the approval of the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Ibrahim Magu.
The Petroleum Industry Bill that aims to bring sanity into the oil sector has been covered in dust in the office of the president for over four months. Similarly, the Electoral Bill, which was aimed at giving a levelplaying field and upholding free and fair elections, was rejected by the president.
That said, there is also the issue of Niger Delta crisis where pipe lines were vandalised, in addition to crash in global oil prices that sent the country to its first recession in 27 years.
Any debate without issues around oil and economic diversification is incomplete.
Power
Power is one of the basic infrastructures that impact both the elites and the masses.
In 2018, the electricity sector received the highest number of complaints, according to data from the Consumers Protection Council.
These complaints ranged from poor electricity supply, estimated billings, and illegal disconnections.
These issue have hindered the growth of start-ups with little capital to invest in their businesses as many complain of high cost of operations. Energy occupies 40 percent of expenditure for manufacturers and creative enterprises, and presidential aspirants must tell Nigerians what they are bringing on the table in this respect.