By Gbenga Olaleye,
Engr. Victor Ojimadu is the Coordinator General of Imo Reform Movement. He is a co-founder of LaRedmond Nigeria, a real estate company with operating base in Lagos. In this discussion with Engr. Victor Ojimadu, he spoke on the Nigerian politics and development. Excerpts:
The Leadway Magazine- As a young man in the political space, I will not say you have seen it all but your impact has been felt by many. During the 2023 general election, the selfless role you and your team played to ensure Nigeria produced a good leader like his Excellency the former governor of Anambra state in the person of Peter Obi. The amazing thing is the selfless support you gave to Peter Obi, you and your team spent your money, time and energy for a man you never met.
But today, we shall not be talking about mr. Peter Obi but the state of Nigerian politics and development.
In my few years in the political space I just have few things to say. Our political landscape has taken a dive downwards and only if a conscious effort is made to revive it we are heading to a fall. Many see democracy and politicians as the problem of the nation and they rule out the fact that they are the nucleus of it.
Without wasting much time lets delve into the discussion. Nigerian politics and development are deeply interconnected and complex, shaped by maybe historical legacies, ethnic diversity, resources and wealth distribution and equity, which has posed a persistent challenge to governance.
Here, I will lay these down under three quick topics;
First our Political Landscape- Note, since the return to democracy in 1999, for about 26 years Nigeria has held several elections about nine times if I am not mistaken and our democratic process comes with flaws but we are making progress.
The key challenge in our political landscape is the lack of electoral integrity. Elections are often marred by rigging, vote-buying, violence, and judicial interference as inauspiciously witnessed in the 2023 general election.
Since independence corruption has remained a challenge to our national and economic growth. No public trust anymore because our public and political institutions lack the basic element to national development which is accountability. Mind you, people are the politicians and public office holders.
The lack of ideology and a systematic framework for execution by our political party system is a core issue. The parties are being driven by personalities and not by policy.
Policy guides vision but personality fuels greed. There is an Igbo adage that says as I explain “one that has a cap doesn’t have a head, the one that has a head doesn’t have a cap”, this has been the challenge of our political system.
Moreover, our ethnicity and religious identity have significantly influenced our true identity and have created a great divide that widens as days go by. They have affected our national unity and meritocracy, elections and appointments. Tribes are against tribes, religion is against religion and that is why many are demanding for true-federalism and not a republic as claimed as Nigeria is today.
Our ethnic and religion diversity fuels unhealthy competition for political power. One region wants to dominate and subject others.
The second is Economic Development– Nigeria’s economy is heavily dependent on oil and importation. In demand-supply theory, by buying you empower the seller, so, an economy solely dependent on importing all it consumes will soon exhaust its reserves. Oil has been the major source of Nigeria’s revenue creation and note that nothing lasts forever. Despite being Africa’s largest economy (by GDP), a significant portion of the population lives in poverty and unemployment is rising day by day, especially youth unemployment, is alarmingly high because Nigeria is not a producing nation. You see the reason why the 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, among his vision for the country is to build industries that will in turn transform Nigeria to a production nation and create jobs.
Today, many nations around the world are conquering challenges posed by poor infrastructures.
For example, in transportation nations that know better are building speed trains but our dear country Nigeria is still on locomotives. They are generating hundreds of thousand megawatts of electricity; we are still revamping our power stations and battling to generate 5,000MW rubbing shoulder with small Ghana. Do you know that Ghana is almost as the same size as Lagos State? Let me rest it there.
What about human capital development. Our educational system is in shambles. Last year our total budget for education was 3.52 trillion naira which represented 7% of the total budget. Our health care is underfunded and overstretched. Our security architecture is nothing to write home about. Insecurity is ever rising, banditry, herdsmen, boko haram, kidnapping, police brutality and separatist agitations and all of these play significant role to hinder development in several regions of the country. People are now fleeing from their homes because bandits have taken over their towns and farms and nobody is doing anything about it instead our leaders are busy preparing for the next election neglecting the urgent need of the people they swore to protect.
Lastly, the third area is the Peoples’ Potentials– Nigeria has increasingly educated population, with strong entrepreneurial and tech innovation potential of which more of them are youths. But what we have is a hostile, unaccommodating, opportunity barring and dream killer environment. That is why one who struggles here in the country to survive does well when he goes abroad. Our professionals such as doctors, engineers, skilled and intelligent youths are all leaving the country. I have lots of friends like that.
In Conclusion, I will tell everyone that as democratic institutions exist, governance often fails to translate into tangible development for the majority. The country has immense potential due to its human and natural resources but she is held back by systemic corruption, weak institutions, and identity-based politics.
Achieving meaningful development will require institutional reform, political will, inclusive governance, investment in people over patronage and above all you as a citizen should rise up to the occasion and demand your right, hold your leaders accountable and be truthful to yourself at least you owe yourself that. Lay tribe, religion and political affiliation aside and demand justice, equity, accountability and fairness.
