A former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi says a new Nigeria will rise from the ruins left by COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant socio-economic challenges.
The former All Progressives Congress (APC) spokesman said that in post-COVID-19 Nigeria, ethnicity, regionalism, and religion will no longer be the most important factors for choosing a leader.
According to him, many young people will begin to demand pedigree, educational background, technical and political skills as the major criteria to become a leader in the country.
This, Abdullahi said, will greatly impact the outcome of the 2023 general election.
Abdullahi, who was a minister under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, disclosed this in an interview published by Sunday Sun.
He said, “Those who canvass ethnicity and regionalism will still continue with it to gain advantage. But we have gotten to a point where the majority of Nigerian youths that have been battered and affected by the COVID-19 and the general overall poverty index released recently by the National Bureau of Statistics will be asking a different kind of question.
“We used to think that those who read abroad have an advantage in terms of contributing to national productivity, but that advantage is not there anymore. It no longer makes any difference whether parents spend millions of dollars training their children abroad and those that read at home because they all are trapped by the problem of unemployment.
“I don’t know if it will be in 2023 or beyond, but all these youths will come together as a group to demand a different kind of result from our politics. An average Nigerian does not trust government at all levels anymore or the politicians. So, what should be the most important question to every Nigerian politician is how to regain the trust of the people.
“This reflected in the 2019 general election when new people came on board. Even though they did not make the impact they are expected to make, it was a vote of no confidence on the traditional politicians. It shows that if the youths have the war chest to mobilise the kind of resource and coalition, they will really make impact on the ordinary Nigerians who want someone to envision their future.
“If we politicians don’t propose a new beginning for Nigeria, people will no longer take us serious anymore. They no longer think that politicians have solution to the problem of this country anymore.
“So, post COVID-19, the issue of ethnicity of the president will not be the first consideration. Equity will be very important and there is nothing contradictory in demanding that the president comes from a particular side of the country, but we must insist that the person should be suitable. We should cautiously know that eligibility is not the same thing as suitability.”
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Abdullahi added, “The fact that someone is eligible does not make him suitable for the challenges ahead. The president can come from a particular region but must meet certain basic criteria, have the ability or competence to make Nigeria a better country.
“We are essentially entering into post non-oil economy and need a different kind of fuel to run it. We need a person suitable to drive that new engine that will not run on crude oil.
“If we are still stuckd in the parochial politics of where one comes from or ‘chop-I-chop’ kind of politics, we are going nowhere.
“Unfortunately our politics is defined that way, but going forward, we need to graduate beyond it. Look at the consideration for academic qualification for the president and governors, requiring only First School Living Certificate.
“It is possible to be a president, a governor and or local government chairman of Nigeria without any education. Other climes chose their leaders from the best of the institutions because it counts for something. If you are not educated and don’t have experience, what will be your reference and take-off point to analyse the situation you meet on ground?
“We have to correct it going forward because how do we hire the best hands and brains to run banks, industries, but go for illiterate to run government which has serious impact on the lives of the majority of Nigerians.
“How can this country make progress with such decisions? These are the kind of issues we should start laying emphasis on not ethnicity. We need to look at pedigree, educational background, technical and political skill.”