“We need to vote for a candidate who is going to prioritise education, someone who will prioritise job creation, and even ease up business for young people…”
maryam laushi
By now I know most you have decided who you are going to vote for, however, ask yourself is your candidate the right candidate for Nigeria?
Following my meeting with the Nigerian ambassador to Turkey, Audu Ilyasu Paragralda, he discussed how in the 1980s he and his colleagues get free food in the university, half a chicken daily, free tea after 4 pm at every corner of the university and Jobs available to every graduate immediately after graduating from school. I said to myself these were the good old days, now in universities students cannot afford three square meals and after graduating, of course, you don’t have a job waiting for you.
I asked myself, what went wrong?
Then the ambassador continued to give a detailed explanation on how things began to deteriorate in the country. First, they introduced what he called “101” meal, 25kobo per meal, they protested that increase, however, due to the amount of scholarship stipends provided by the government, it was somewhat okay to allow the increase to pass and at the end of a university year they could still be able to buy a motorcycle.
During Obasanjo’s first tenure as head of state, he introduced a policy or a decree, called the indigenisation decree, which promoted the nationalisation of businesses from the colonial rulers. The summary of the decree is to create opportunities for Nigerian indigenous businessmen; to maximise local retention of profits and to raise the level of intermediate capital and goods production. Due to mismanagement, the decree failed as those who purchased those businesses couldn’t maintain it.
Fast forward to years later, the same people introduced a policy to allow investors from abroad to own businesses in Nigeria making only a few top 1% of the country wealthier than the rest of Nigerians.
What is the purpose of the above story to your vote on Saturday?
As a young person, before you vote for any candidate you need to know the ideology of the person, I wrote an article about Nigeria’s political ideology you can read it.
Atiku and the PDP are the right wings as seen above in the coming election, while Buhari and the APC are the left wings.
The purpose of the story is to inform you about the past in Nigeria when people had jobs immediately after university, I know the majority of you want such a time, you don’t need to know someone in the government to be employed, and you don’t need to bribe your way to a job. Nigeria can still achieve those good old days, I know in your head you are thinking this writer is naïve and how is it even possible?
Here is a brief How:
“We’ve got over 50 million young registered voters behind us. We will mobilise them to vote against any party that doesn’t give tickets to young women and men”
Itodo
Following the recently registered voters count INEC has announced more than 50% of the registered voters are between the ages of 18-35 this is a high number, hence if the youth come together and understand the ideologies of the government vote for the right candidates, Nigeria will be able to prosper.
The youths need to participate in politics in Nigeria, just because there are a lot of benefits to achieve when the youth participate. I know a lot of young people want to make a difference. However, they find it difficult to explain to their friends what are the benefits of youth participation.
Now, who should you vote for?
I will provide you with a detail of who not to vote for, then from there, you can conclude for yourself.
Firstly, anyone who gives you money to vote for them is not a candidate you should vote for. Of course, there is a lot of poverty and the money might solve a problem or two today. However, in the long run, it will back fire and ask yourself how often do politicians give you money when they get elected. My advice is collect the money 😉 then vote for the right candidate as the opportunity might not come again.
Secondly, what are the manifestos of the candidates you are voting? I know the majority of the young people going out to vote have not read the manifestos of either the APC or PDP. I will summarise those manifestos for you and probably make a short one-minute video for each manifesto. Read those documents and critically think which is beneficial for Nigeria. You can find the copies of the manifestos by clicking on APC manifesto or PDP manifesto. You shouldn’t vote a candidate blindly.
Thirdly, the candidates you are voting for, are they seeking to help your future and the future of your children? If yes then great and beautiful vote for them, however, if you see no future for your children then if you vote for the person, then you might end up regretting it at the long run.
Fourthly, analyse the complete body of work of a candidate (i.e. track record) and not a snapshot of a particular period of the candidate. In the past years, the candidate must have done something which might be outstanding or bad for the general public. There are rear cases such as in the United States, however, in a country like Nigeria, there are track records of candidates and their participation in how they govern the people.
I have a lot to write about who to vote for. However, I know most of us don’t have time to read long opinions; hence, I cut it short. Come Saturday vote wisely.
You can also read the reason youths need to participate in politics here.