Nigeria Decides: How will the economy react to the next President?

2 years ago

The past 8 years have been nothing short of hell. Whenever you think the country can't sink low, we surprise the odds by breaking ground and heading further into the abyss.

There are no mincing words when I say the Buhari administration has been hellish for every Nigerian. His ardent supporters will try to paint it differently but this level of dilapidation is beyond what the propaganda machine can paint.

This administration has failed Nigerians over and over again, taking us to depths unseen. We have seen virtually every single aspect of our lives damaged by this administration.

Seriously, no matter how bad I say it is, you won't understand unless you're here. The economy has crashed to unseen depths, the armed forces have suffered losses and our fundamental human rights have been trampled on times without number.

The most popular of the lot was the October 20th, 2020 EndSars nationwide protest that led to the untimely demise of unnumbered and unarmed civilians protesting against police brutality. Ironically, the protest to end police brutality which also had secondary requests that included increasing the salary of police officers was brought to an unfortunate end by the very police brutality we protested against.

The inference was that the powers that be do not give a rat's bum about the populace but it's not like we didn't know this all along. The violence against young Nigerians during the aforementioned protest was just a physical manifestation of the way the government perceives the average Nigerian.

Right now, we're neck deep in the election period with the presidential election only 8 days away. The Nigerian public now has to decide who the country's next president will be.

I'm not going to lie, I have very little faith in our electrical process. It is a system that is known to be very corrupt and often rigged to ensure the richest candidate wins.

Vote buying is a common theme in elections in Nigeria and the recent redesign of the Naira is meant to curb this corruption but the implementation has been nothing short of disastrous. Even until this very moment, Naira is scarce, bank networks are smashed and people can't simply buy things they're used to buying because everything is shit.

Another President Beckons

There are three main candidates in this election and out of the lot, I only care about the success of one of them. The other two are septuagenarians that look like they can't stand without support and talk less of run the affairs of a country that is knee-deep in shit.

My preferred candidate is Mr Peter Obi, an individual who, at least, looks up to the task. Don't get me wrong, I still don't like politicians but with this guy, I'm willing to make an exception.

When it comes to managing the economy, Peter Obi has a more forward-thinking vision and this view is corroborated by a recent survey carried out by Nairametrics that shows economists believe he is better for he economy. He is also the kind of guy that will allow democracy to prevail and not disregard the rule of law, like our current imperial leader and pseudo-elected dictator in office.

On numerous occasions, he's talked about the fact that he's not a saint but he genuinely seems like someone ready to work. People keep trying to take his words out of context to discredit him but I reckon that's politics.

In a sane World, Peter Obi would not be vying for the presidency against two others that have a criminal record and checkered histories with law enforcement in other countries but here we are. Nigeria has practised kakistocracy for as long as I can remember, and for once in our history, Peter Obi looks to be breaking the mould.

This particular election is more important than any other election I've witnessed in my life. The next President of the country has a lot of work cut out for him and we can't be electing people that look like they wear adult diapers.