As Nigerians welcome the New Year with hopes and dreams for what it will bring, Vincent Kuraun, Ifedayo Ogunyemi and Funmilayo Aremu speak with some citizens of the country about their hopes and expectations.
The year 2022 was a difficult year for most Nigerians. Even the government was dazed by its innumerable onslaught that left the economy almost in ruins. Many businesses collapsed and common Nigerians struggled and only managed to keep themselves alive.
The year also witnessed the mass migration of Nigerian youths otherwise called “Japa syndrome” due to the many difficulties plaguing the nation, ranging from acute unemployment occasioned by economic stagnation, banditry, kidnappings, foreign exchange issues and inflation, among others. It is no surprise that the nation’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), according to data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed that about 63 per cent of people –133 million Nigerians out of an estimated population of 211 million– are in multidimensional poverty.
But what fate awaits Nigerians in the new year? Will things get better or worse? Some Nigerians, who spoke with Sunday Tribune, expressed hope for an end to their suffering and a better life for them and their families.
We expect new approaching to solving Nigeria’s problem —Mr Anderson Ezeibe, National President, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP)
By May 29 next year, a new government would have been in place and, as such, we expect a different approach entirely in dealing with trade union disputes because I can see that in this current dispensation that is rounding off, trade unions in the country did not find it so rosy with respect to trade dispute resolution.
In the educational sector, as you know, we’ve had a lot of disruptions in the academic calendars of tertiary institutions. Almost all the staff unions that operate out of universities were on strike for about eight months. Polytechnic lecturers were on strike for about two weeks during the warning strike. In 2021, we had a strike for over two months. Colleges of Education staff members were also on strike for a while.
I know that the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University (SSANU) was also on strike and the Non-Academic Staff Union of University (NASU) was on strike. It was really a harvest of strikes in the year that just ended.
What is worrying is the fact that the issues leading to these disruptions have not been completely resolved. We know that the university sector still sits on fragile peace, the same with the polytechnic sector and the colleges of education.
The renegotiation process that commenced in 2017 between the government and these unions, as we speak, has not been resolved and the implication is that conditions of service of workers in the sector have not been reviewed despite the terrible economic situation in the country.
So, next year, we hope that a new administration will bring a new perspective and approach to problem-solving, one that will engender partnership, one that will understand in totality what education and academics is all about and the real challenges in our tertiary education sector. That is our expectation.
We don’t know who is going to become the next president or party that will form the government. But like I said, our expectation is that the one that will be coming will be able to learn from the challenges of this present one so that we don’t have the kind of disruptions that we had in 2022.
Unfortunately, the kind of political system that we practice in the country does not really put one in a very good position to assess, in very objective terms, the ability or the capabilities of candidates or the parties that are contesting for office or to form the next government.
On the surface, if you’re going by what they are saying, which was also what was stated before, they all mean well. And every politician in Nigeria means well at the time of seeking office. What happens after they get to the office, you can see different matters entirely. So, unfortunately, as I said, we cannot rely on the strength of what the candidates are saying now to judge what they are going to do. It’s really very difficult. And we are not politicians canvassing for anybody.
All we can do at this time, as trade unions, is to appeal to any of them that becomes president of this country or any party that forms the next government to give education the pride of place because no country can develop beyond its educational developments, it is not possible. Education should occupy the pride of place in whatever campaigns or plans they have for this country.
We must make tough choices… petrol subsidy must go —Professor Adeola Adenikinju, Professor of Energy Economics, Director of the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CfPEEL), University of Ibadan.
If we have to have significant economic growth, we have to come together and make tough choices and whosoever becomes our leader after the election, he/she must come clean to tell the people that we need to make tough choices and the choices must involve both the leaders and the led. One of those areas is the issue of oil subsidy.
It has significantly impacted the economy negatively. We can no longer successfully hold on as we have done in the past. Oil subsidy must go so that we can see revenue to fund more development and we can bring investment to the downstream sector. Nigerians must be ready to give up oil subsidy.
We must be prepared to address the challenges in foreign exchange management. The CBN has tried its best because of the forex supply constraints that we have. The incoming government must try to boost foreign exchange supply to help the economy so we can at least get to produce an OPEC quota and we must find a way to make non-oil exports grow by providing incentives and infrastructure to support non-oil exports.
We must attract foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investments into the economy. Those are the only ways with which we can strengthen the naira and boost the supply of foreign exchange. We must also address frontally, the issue of revenue challenges that we have. Our revenue-to-GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world. We must find a way to boost the revenue of the government so that the government can perform and deliver dividends of democracy. The incoming government must find a way of boosting revenue so that we can experience a developmental government.
Apart from oil, all the other sectors are doing well and recovering well. The services and trade sectors are doing well, telecommunications and financial sectors are doing very well. The only sector giving us issues is the oil and gas sector and once we try to clear that and address some of the issues of banditry, insurgency and attacks in the agriculture-producing areas in the north, I think we will continue to have positive economic growth.
Mr Samuel Ibikunle, lecturer, Linguistics and Languages Department, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State
As a member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), I trust that the battle will yield greater results by next year. One of my expectations is that the Federal Government, whether it likes it or not, will pay the eight-month salary arrears. Then our salary is meagre and not worth it. We spend our money on things like publishing papers, attending conferences and furthering our education. Money is meagre in comparison to the situation of the economy, which is terrible. Things are difficult and costs are high. We can’t keep earning the same salaries since 2009. So, we expect a salary increase in the coming year; the government must increase our pay so that we can survive.
Another thing is, we expect people to vote wisely come 2023. We should not be involved in vote buying. We should come back to our senses. We have spent some years in agony, we have to wake up and vote for credible candidates. If a politician gives people N5,000 in exchange for votes, it won’t take the people five minutes to spend the money, and then face the consequences for four or eight years. If we vote credibly, there is hope for Nigerians.
On the issue of security, it is worrisome but there is hope if we vote for the right persons. A good government will have the issue of security and the welfare of the people as its priority. If we have a good government in place, I believe every issue will be sorted out.
Professor Taofiq Azeez, lecturer, Department of English and Chief Imam, University of Abuja.
With regard to education, I have no expectations because I don’t know if the election will hold, and if it does, I do know that they will tactically not want education to make headway so that they can give people false hope, so as to continue to send children to universities and waste their time and Nigerians are ready to waste their money to send their children to universities that will return them to the society without any hope or skill.
It is a very bad situation. It is a tragedy of tremendous proportions because once education fails, every other thing fails. As members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, I am not sure we are articulate about the problems of education. I, personally, do not think the last strike action was necessary, but I had to join as a member. We were supposed to solve a problem, but it ended up becoming a problem to be solved.
Objectively speaking, my expectation is that the situation with education will get worse. The eight-month strike reduced every sincere academic to penury. Nobody is happy working; everybody is in serious debt, we have deadlines; we are teaching, exams, grading, and some vice-chancellors are running us crazy and they think we will not crash.
So, I expect that there will be a serious tragedy in the education sector next year because we are human beings. The work we are trying to cover now is what we ought to have done in March/April for which we have not been paid. We cannot avoid going to work. Even if we go on strike for two years, it is unavoidable. If the government insists that there will be no pay, they should not trust ASUU that there will be peace. The peace we have now is the peace of the graveyard, by the time the students get frustrated, there will be a serious problem. The immediate future of education is bleak.
As for my expectations as a Nigerian, I stopped having expectations in 1999. I got to know through my brief participation in politics that no politician has the interest of this country at heart. I don’t understand democracy because if a party made their presidential aspirants pay N100 million and they are going to spend billions on their campaigns, meanwhile, all we need to sort out critical sectors amount to less than or equal to the amount we are spending to change the government, I don’t understand it.
I don’t understand why democracy has to be run the way we run it in Nigeria. I don’t understand why only the rich and the stinkingly rich, will have access to politics. We are putting the affairs and destiny of the nation in the hands of people who got there by virtue of their access, illegal access to public funds and they are practically buying these positions. I don’t have any hope for them., where people of integrity are shoved aside and are not able to stay in politics when they see what it takes, in terms of immorality, in terms of cultism, diabolical activities, and hypocrisy.
People who are devilish come out and talk about Islam and Christianity. There is no exception that I know of, they are all diabolical. In the midst of this hypocrisy, I don’t see why anybody should have hope. I don’t speak for others, but, I don’t see any hope except to recycle this tragedy: crisis upon crisis, insecurity, making the country ungovernable. Nobody should deceive anybody that they don’t know who is causing all the trouble or that they do not know how to solve the problem. But they dare not solve the problem, because solving the problem will take somebody away from an advantaged position. From my brief incursion into politics, I do not want to trust anybody. I don’t think we should vote for anybody who will recycle poverty, insecurity and the rest of them.
As for Nigerians, they are free to hope for anything. As for me, I only put my hope in Allah and I relate with only my creator. I don’t believe in anybody created by God. I want to see next year as another month. January is another month. Whatever comes up, I only pray to God to make it happy and peaceful for me. As for corporate wishes, hopes and aspirations, I stopped that in 1999. I won’t preach it to anybody because I am not an anarchist.
Mr Lucky Mapak, Master’s degree student, University of Jos, Plateau State
I have lost hope in Nigeria completely. So, I am not expecting anything different in the New Year. They all seem to be birds of a feather. I don’t have any expectations for the education sector, considering the budget that was just presented and the percentage given to education. I think it is so abysmal. It doesn’t show that the government is ready to revamp the education sector. I am not sure about that unless there is a swift change.
If the security tends to be neutral, it will improve, but when the government controls the security, I doubt if any improvement will happen. And now that the country is going towards an ethnic kind of government, considering ethnicity in choosing their preferred candidates, once it is perceived that an ethnic group is excluded from the government, then the security issues tend to heighten again. So, it depends on the leader that comes on board and I doubt if he will be allowed to work as he wants to. I expect that more people will leave the country in 2023.
Catherine Agu
Indeed, 2022 was a tough year for many Nigerians, but I hope to see better change in 2023, starting from a reduction in the prices of food items, availability of petrol, insecurity challenges, education to medical sectors being taken care of and a whole lot happening right now in the country.
I hope to see a Nigeria where people will no longer wish to “Japa” and those who already left would wish to return. For the 2023 general election, I hope for a free, fair and credible election that we may have true leaders elected to lead us and change the ugly situation of this county to a better one. I really have high hopes for 2023 and I believe that Nigeria will be better.
Mr Dibie Anthony, Businessman
I hope that 2023 will be a very productive year, not only for me because I am into production. I run a business where we produce beverages. So, 2022 was not as promising as we expected, but we are hoping that this New Year will be very productive and also profitable for us.
Though some people found the year good while some other people found it not so good, it was as if 2022 was a 50-50 thing for some people. But as we enter the New Year, which is an election year, I personally hope that Nigerians will eventually wake up and elect leaders that will turn the country around.
Nigeria needs responsible, accountable and transparent people who will also help to unite the country because these are the elements that Nigeria needs right now. Nigeria is behind in so many things. I hope that we choose a leader that will represent every Nigerian.
Mrs Ugochi Bertha Ikwue, Public servant
My expectations, hopes and aspirations for 2023 are to see a great country where our leaders can create an enabling environment for youths to come in and maximise their potential, a year that our unemployed youths can have the job of their dreams, a year that prices of basic commodities will be reduced and controlled.
I am hopeful for a year where our leaders can be truthful, committed, and can lead us right and not autocratic leadership. I am looking out for a year that insecurity can be contained to the barest minimum, where we can walk on our streets without being afraid of being kidnapped, and a year during which armed robbery and banditry can be checked and controlled.
We need a leader that is godly, that will not be self-centred. A leader that will move the country forward through infrastructural development. We need a leader that will make life easier and better for the people; a leader that will change the country from a consumption to a production one, and a leader that will feel the pains and suffering of the people.
Mr Patrick Ikyaagyer, Public Servant
As we enter into another year, it will be of great benefit if we as citizens can sit down and reflect on the current happenings in the country considering the fact that 2022 was a very hectic year for many Nigerians.
So, as we go into another year, which is a very promising year for our dear country, I enjoin all people of this great country to, first of all, sit down and meditate on the current situation in the country as we speak before taking a decision on who will be in charge of the country in 2023.
Onwuka Chukwuebuka Nathan
The issue with Nigeria is leadership. It is not because we are not a good country or the resources or what it takes to be a better country, but because of the kind of leaders that we have. What is happening to us is because of the leaders that are in control, those in power, and the politicians.
Though I would admit that some other factors may have also contributed, the majority of our problems come from our leaders. We don’t have good leaders. We don’t have people that are actually willing to make the country move forward. If you look at our economy, it is in a bad shape and if you look at the past years, you cannot say it is getting better, it is getting worse each day.
Nigerians are going through a lot; you can look at the increase in food prices. Even the cost of electricity now is something else, as the tariff is high. If you want to talk about cost of transportation when you are moving from one place to another, It is very high. Things are very hard and in 2023, I don’t know the magic that is going to happen because the economy is not looking very good and it is not showing any sign that things will improve. I believe things are going to get harder in 2023.
The leaders are not actually helping and now we are talking about the election. Everybody is after their pockets and that is the simple truth. I cannot say there is any politician that I can conveniently say that when this person comes into power, there will be a drastic change in the economy.
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